Thoughts and issues regarding the past and present of a great football club by "The Chronicler".

Thursday 3 January 2013

The January Fixtures


Having gained just a tad bit of confidence at Swansea, the way would appear to be open in the next two matches for Villa to restore more sense of self-belief in facing two lower-league teams in the cup competitions.

Easier said than done, of course, as such opposition has often proved to be the banana skin on which many a top-flight club has slipped, but nevertheless an opportunity to raise self-belief. An early goal against Ipswich might just be the tonic needed to press ahead and gain a solid win and a good base to face up to the League Cup semi. With this tie, memories of Tranmere Rovers in 1994 (nearly 20 years ago!) are ignited, of course, but we got through then, didn't we?!

Then, assuming those two matches are tackled successfully, the next-up arrival of Southampton would not seem to be so daunting and that 1-4 slip at St. Mary's would seem to be that further back in history. But it is a match which Villa 'must' win ... the opportunity is there to start generating space away from the bottom three and it must be taken. As also with the end-of-month home match against Newcastle.

In-between and we face Albion at the Hawthorns. Well (as things stand) the Baggies do not seem too daunting a prospect and a point gained there will go down very well indeed.

So, let's start to look forward to a good month. And, who knows, by the end of the month we might be:

1. Several places away from the bottom-3;
2. In the League Cup Final;
3. Going forward in the FA Cup, and...
4. In the possession of Paul Scholes (well, we can but hope!).
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