League cup final

[Archie's penalty]

That's it. It's all over. Will this be a good or bad thing for us next week?

[Terminal Boardom]

how vidic didn't get sent off is beyond me. mates saying that dowd didn't because it's so early in the game, which is ridiculous... it was a foul, last man, denying goalscoring opportunity... sonko against pompey (i think) 2 years ago, same situation, and red card, no complaints.

Ironically, it was against Villa in 2006.

Dowd has been hugely lenient to the Man Utd players; as well as Vidic, both Rafeal and Carrick should have been carded.

If Villa play this formation against us in a week, I would hope that we go into the game playing a 451, Mills/Ingi in central defence with Ryan and Griffin as fullbacks, with Church up front (for his pace against Dunne), Sigi and Kebe wide, Tabb, Howard and Gem (if fit) in the middle, with either Tabb of Gem going man to man on Petrov; don't give that guy any time on the ball, or he will pick out one of Young, Agbonlahor or Heskey with a killer pass.

Here's hoping for extra time, and maybe a red card or 2 for Villa!!!!

Exactly what I was thinking

[Wimb]

That's it. It's all over. Will this be a good or bad thing for us next week?

Debating that myself, I'm hoping they will be deflated and if we played them Weds I think we'd win. However I fear that by Sunday they'll be revved up again

[Victor Meldrew]

how vidic didn't get sent off is beyond me. mates saying that dowd didn't because it's so early in the game, which is ridiculous... it was a foul, last man, denying goalscoring opportunity... sonko against pompey (i think) 2 years ago, same situation, and red card, no complaints.

Ironically, it was against Villa in 2006.

Dowd has been hugely lenient to the Man Utd players; as well as Vidic, both Rafeal and Carrick should have been carded.

If Villa play this formation against us in a week, I would hope that we go into the game playing a 451, Mills/Ingi in central defence with Ryan and Griffin as fullbacks, with Church up front (for his pace against Dunne), Sigi and Kebe wide, Tabb, Howard and Gem (if fit) in the middle, with either Tabb of Gem going man to man on Petrov; don't give that guy any time on the ball, or he will pick out one of Young, Agbonlahor or Heskey with a killer pass.

Here's hoping for extra time, and maybe a red card or 2 for Villa!!!!

Exactly what I was thinking

Great minds and all that.
I'm sure we will go with 4-5-1.
Two straws of encouragement today:-
(1)Collins is still a bit of a donkey.
(2)None of the midfield 4 are great tacklers-Young and Downing are bottlers and neither Milner nor Petrov (forgetting for a moment their appreciable other assets) are solid tacklers either.
I hope that Bryn and/or Jem are available and we can do what others have often done in the past against us by being physical in central midfield.
Also I wish the earlier poster hadn't put the mockers on things by saying about Heskey not scoring-I remember the same being said before our Premiership game away at Wigan when he proceeded to score a cracking goal and tear our defence to ribbons.
By this time next week our fate might be known although of course replays lately have been good news against the odds.

[chilipepper91]

We need double marking on Agbonlahor and Young, and tightness to Milner and Petrov, so 5 in the middle is all I can see. is Mills back for the game too? Would be a great advantage if he was. Cuellar didn't look up to much on the right back position so if we can get him isolated against Kebe in the form he's in then that would be a good move.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

how vidic didn't get sent off is beyond me. mates saying that dowd didn't because it's so early in the game, which is ridiculous... it was a foul, last man, denying goalscoring opportunity... sonko against pompey (i think) 2 years ago, same situation, and red card, no complaints.

Ironically, it was against Villa in 2006.

Dowd has been hugely lenient to the Man Utd players; as well as Vidic, both Rafeal and Carrick should have been carded.

If Villa play this formation against us in a week, I would hope that we go into the game playing a 451, Mills/Ingi in central defence with Ryan and Griffin as fullbacks, with Church up front (for his pace against Dunne), Sigi and Kebe wide, Tabb, Howard and Gem (if fit) in the middle, with either Tabb of Gem going man to man on Petrov; don't give that guy any time on the ball, or he will pick out one of Young, Agbonlahor or Heskey with a killer pass.

Here's hoping for extra time, and maybe a red card or 2 for Villa!!!!

You're both right. Dowd was the Sonko one against Pompey. Lee Mason sent Sonko off against Villa.

[chilipepper91]

how vidic didn't get sent off is beyond me. mates saying that dowd didn't because it's so early in the game, which is ridiculous... it was a foul, last man, denying goalscoring opportunity... sonko against pompey (i think) 2 years ago, same situation, and red card, no complaints.

Ironically, it was against Villa in 2006.

Dowd has been hugely lenient to the Man Utd players; as well as Vidic, both Rafeal and Carrick should have been carded.

You're both right. Dowd was the Sonko one against Pompey. Lee Mason sent Sonko off against Villa.

In which case, even more shocking

[Jack Celliers]

Will he get a spell in the Championship now?
Not sending off Vidic was a shocking error, and I don't think there is a grey area at all: he just bottled it.

[Wycombe Royal]

Will he get a spell in the Championship now?
Not sending off Vidic was a shocking error, and I don't think there is a grey area at all: he just bottled it.

Agbonlahor was going away from goal and more defenders were arriving in the box, therefore no red card. Should have been a yellow though.

[Royal With Cheese]

Will he get a spell in the Championship now?
Not sending off Vidic was a shocking error, and I don't think there is a grey area at all: he just bottled it.

Agbonlahor was going away from goal and more defenders were arriving in the box, therefore no red card. Should have been a yellow though.

That fact Dowd didn't give any sort of card make me think it would have been red and not yellow had he not bottled it.

[Wycombe Royal]

Will he get a spell in the Championship now?
Not sending off Vidic was a shocking error, and I don't think there is a grey area at all: he just bottled it.

Agbonlahor was going away from goal and more defenders were arriving in the box, therefore no red card. Should have been a yellow though.

That fact Dowd didn't give any sort of card make me think it would have been red and not yellow had he not bottled it.

I think he didn't give a yellow because the foul was not dangerous or cynical, Vidic just got it wrong. I would have given a yellow just because of where it was on the pitch, but then again I'm not a ref and I do not know the rules inside out.

[Royal With Cheese]

Understand where you're coming from but If that had been 20 minutes from the end he would have probably sent Vidic off.

[soggy biscuit]

How did number 23 get on?

[Wycombe Royal]

Understand where you're coming from but If that had been 20 minutes from the end he would have probably sent Vidic off.

Possibly, and a different ref would probably have sent him off after 4 minutes. That's the thing with football though it's all down to interpretation and opinions.

If Agbonlahor was about to take a shot or was running directly at goal then yes it would have been a red, but he wasn't.

[Jack Celliers]

Understand where you're coming from but If that had been 20 minutes from the end he would have probably sent Vidic off.

Possibly, and a different ref would probably have sent him off after 4 minutes. That's the thing with football though it's all down to interpretation and opinions.

If Agbonlahor was about to take a shot or was running directly at goal then yes it would have been a red, but he wasn't.

I suppose there are grey areas then, if people think Agbonlahor hadn't been running at the goal and trying to take a shot when fouled.
He bottled it though.

[PieEater]

Agbonlahor was going away from goal and more defenders were arriving in the box, therefore no red card. Should have been a yellow though.

Only because he'd had his shirt tugged by Vidic that forced him to slow the ball down to the speed he was, he was well in front of Vidic before then running at the goal. The number of other defenders in the box is irrelevant if they were no where near the attacker, Evra was the only one there and he was near the penalty spot. He could have done nothing to stop Aggy shooting so is irrelevant. There is no "last man rule".

I think he didn't give a yellow because the foul was not dangerous or cynical,

So you're ok with the (cynical) shirt tug? The foul was also worse than two others that Villa players got booked for shortly afterwards.

[TheMaraudingDog]

Vidic should have been sent off but the ref evened things out when he didn’t send off the Villa right back for a horrible 2 footed studs up over the ball lunge at Evra.

[Hoop Blah]

Agbonlahor was going away from goal and more defenders were arriving in the box, therefore no red card. Should have been a yellow though.

Only because he'd had his shirt tugged by Vidic that forced him to slow the ball down to the speed he was, he was well in front of Vidic before then running at the goal. The number of other defenders in the box is irrelevant if they were no where near the attacker, Evra was the only one there and he was near the penalty spot. He could have done nothing to stop Aggy shooting so is irrelevant. There is no "last man rule".

I think he didn't give a yellow because the foul was not dangerous or cynical,

So you're ok with the (cynical) shirt tug? The foul was also worse than two others that Villa players got booked for shortly afterwards.

That's spot on PieEater.

No excuses, he was 15 yards from goal with nobody apart from Vidic close enough to do anything about it. If Vidic hadn't fouled him it was undeniable a clear goalscoring opportunity and so he should've got his marching orders.

Even if it wasn't a clear goalscoring opportunity I think it's a mandatory yellow card for shirt pulling (unless that directive only lasted a short time of course) so how he escaped a card of any description is beyond me.

[TheMaraudingDog]

Oh yeah, LOL @ a Villa fan who I was giving shit to shouting “f*ck off back to London you Manc c*nt”

[No Fixed Abode]

Lets just say the standard of refereeing is sh1te lately. Not saying this cos of the Vidic incident but there seems no consistency accross the board. Kalou brought down the San Siro, no penalty - Baletti does exactly the same against man City, penalty and sending off.