retired_confal2

Good read, and another interesting idea for a story. This should be fun Spav, I just hope it won't turn into a long succession of reports about the Arse, ManUre and Chelski games...

retired_confal2

Around ten seems right to me, maybe a bit less as you may send up supporting the same club(s) two or three times at different stages of the season.

retired_jgirl87

Thanks Dave, the final number will be interesting.

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Aston Villa are equal top after three games with a 100% record and a goal-difference of 10-3. The media are predicting that we will get a bollocking tomorrow night. Can’t they see that Palace are also undefeated? Surely we deserve some credit for our start to our return season in the Premier League. I will personally write a letter to each of those biased journos in the main newspapers telling them what twats they are when we come away from Villa Park with the three points tomorrow evening. Manchester United is second from bottom with one draw and two defeats from their opening three matches and yet the morons from Fleet Street don’t seem to be giving them nearly as much grief as we’re getting and we are in 5th place – go figure!!

Wednesday 25th August 2004:

Aston Villa v Crystal Palace – Villa Park, Birmingham

It was an ominous start to this match when there was no sniff of any goalmouth action for either side in the first 20 minutes. However Wesley Beckles made the opening chance from defence after 22 minutes when he robbed Bierofka and sent a brilliant 40 yard pass down the right wing for Andy Johnson. He ran to the bye-line and crossed to the near post where Nicky Ventola volleyed beautifully, but Sorensen got his body in the way. After that Villa took control of the midfield, but it took a while for them to fashion a chance. It was Angel who took a pass from Samuel after 34 minutes and swivelled around Lucic to fire a shot that the outstanding Gabor Kiraly held after a diving save. Kiraly also had to tip Cole’s header over the cross bar in the 39th minute. Not much else of note occurred, so it was 0-0 at the break.

The clearest chance of the second half occurred in the very first minute. Bierofka broke free on the left wing and crossed to the far post. We were a man short in defence and no-one had picked up de la Cruz. He had time to pick his spot and he powered a header back across goal towards the far corner. Kiraly brilliantly dived backwards to claw the ball away and Beckles tidied up the rebound with a hefty boot down the park. Dougie Freedman rifled in a fine half-volley after 63 minutes, but the ball flew straight into Sorensen’s arms from 18 yards out. Late on Kiraly saved our bacon with two excellent saves. Firstly he dived at Barry’s feet to steal the ball as the Villa wing-back cut into the box unmarked after 81 minutes. Secondly he tipped Mellberg’s goal-bound header over for a corner with 3 minutes remaining. It was our worst effort of the season so far, but the 0-0 kept us unbeaten after 4 rounds and that is much better than the bloody media had predicted for Crystal Palace.

Aston Villa 0
Crystal Palace 0

Aston Villa: Sorensen, Delaney, Mellberg, Laursen, Samuel, de la Cruz (Vassell), Hendrie, Hitzlsperger, Bierofka (Barry), Cole (Moore.L), Angel.

Crystal Palace: Kiraly, Beckles, Lucic, Granville, Lakis, Riihilahti, Hughes (Watson), Kolkka, Johnson (Borrowdale), Ventola, Freedman (Shipperley).

My MOM: Gabby Kiraly yet again. This guy just has to be the best off-season signing by any club in the Premier League.

Can’t get enough of: The long throw-ins of Greek winger Vas Lakis. So threatening!!

Over-rated foreigner: Daniel Bierofka – despite all the hype over his opening 3 games for Villa, 18yo Wesley Beckles dominated him today. Must try harder!!


Next up: Crystal Palace v Fulham – Selhurst Park, London

retired_jgirl87

My Dad was on the phone to me last night. After the usual chat about the family, the weather, the bloody French (a personal bugbear of Dad’s) and his darts team, we finally got onto football. Son, why don’t we take in the Fulham game this weekend? he asks. I already have a ticket in with the hard-core Crystal Palace fans, I tell him. Palace!! he replies, since when are you a Palace fan? I give a sigh. Dad is obviously going senile – he can’t even remember which football team his son supports anymore. I explain how I have been a Palace supporter for ages, but he won’t let go of the notion that I supported Fulham at some stage in my life. Dad, maybe you should go and see your doctor if your memory is getting so bad, I tell him. Listen you smug little twat, he rages, I know you’re a slimy fair weather fan – I hope Fulham spank your arses on Sunday. And with that, he hung up. Poor Dad, I hope that Alzheimer’s disease isn’t setting in.

Sunday 29th August 2004:

Crystal Palace v Fulham – Selhurst Park, London

I’m getting a bit worried about our lack of goalscoring up front. Today we dominated the opening period in terms of possession, but we couldn’t actually work up a decent shot on goal. Fulham had come to play defensively and hit Palace on the break with their speedy forwards Radzinski and John. Worryingly, that pair created more chances for Fulham with much less possession of the ball. Boa Morte forced Gab Kiraly to make a good save after 12 minutes and Bauri fired one just over the cross bar after 19 minutes. However we came closest in the 24th minute when Vas Lakis volleyed Nicky Ventola’s headed flick against the cross bar from 12 yards out. When Ventola fired over from 8 yards from Dougie Freedman’s pull-back, I knew we were in for one of those nights. Thankfully we have Kiraly in goal for us this season and he saved our arses at the end of the first half by denying Diop’s header with a flying save and then smothering the ball at the feet of Boa Morte when he burst through the middle. 0-0 at half-time.

It’s sad to report that we could only manage one attempt on goal during the second half. That came in the final few minutes when we won a series of corners, but all we had to show for it was a header by Lakis that went six inches over the cross bar. Prior to that, only some abysmal finishing by Fulham and the continued heroics of Kiraly kept our unbeaten run intact. Second half substitute Clark was looking for a hole to bury himself in after 56 minutes when he missed an open goal from 5 yards after Kiraly parried fellow substitute Cole’s shot to his feet. Cole was denied gain shortly afterwards by Kiraly and there was a mighty round of hooting after one Cole effort was so wayward that it went out for a throw. But I shouldn’t make too much fun – at least Fulham were having shots on goal. In the end we had a 0-0 home draw and we have been unbeaten in our opening five games. However we’ll have to improve if we are going to keep this run going at Tottenham after the international break.

Crystal Palace 0
Fulham 0

Crystal Palace: Kiraly, Boyce (Granville), Beckles, Borrowdale, Lakis, Riihilahti, Hughes (Watson), Kolkka, Johnson, Ventola (Andrews), Freedman.

Fulham: van der Sar, Leacock, Goma, Bocanegra, Bonnissel, Bauri, Diop (Clark), Legwinski, Boa Morte, John (Jensen), Radzinski (Cole).

My MOM: Gabby Kiraly – I know it’s repetitive, but the Hungarian international is performing way above the rest of the team.

Major coincidence #1: Both mine and Joonas Kolkka’s birthdays are on the same day. Spooky!!

Major coincidence #2: I bumped into Dad after the game. He rubbed his Fulham scarf in my face and then scuttled off!!


Next up: Tottenham v Crystal Palace – White Hart Lane, London

retired_jgirl87

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Premier League - 31st August 2004------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |1st | Chelsea | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 1 | +15 | 15 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |2nd | Arsenal | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 2 | +11 | 15 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |3rd | Aston Villa | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 3 | +11 | 13 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |4th | Liverpool | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 13 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |5th | Newcastle | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 10 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |6th | Crystal Palace | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 9 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |7th | Bolton | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 9 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |8th | Southampton | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 7 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |9th | Fulham | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 7 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |10th | Tottenham | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 6 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |11th | Birmingham | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 5 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |12th | Man City | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 4 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |13th | West Brom | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 | -4 | 4 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |14th | Everton | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 15 | -7 | 4 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |15th | Charlton | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 12 | -8 | 4 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |16th | Middlesbrough | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 3 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |17th | Norwich | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 11 | -7 | 2 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |18th | Portsmouth | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 12 | -8 | 2 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |19th | Man Utd | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 1 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |20th | Blackburn | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8 | -6 | 1 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_suzannechua

Man Utd certainly doing well!

retired_jgirl87

Yeah, you don't see Manchester United in that position too often.

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Two wins and three draws from five matches for Crystal Palace has shut up a lot of the doubters over the team’s ability to adapt to the Premier League. Certainly my work-mate Andy isn’t giving me as much mouth as he did at the start of the season. Crystal Palace has earned some respect, especially after that 0-0 draw at Aston Villa a couple of weeks ago. However this week we face Andy’s team Spurs. I think a decent wager is in order and once I take the cócky bugger’s money that should shut him up for a while. Tottenham have already had too many draws to be a real danger to the teams at the top of the table and 10th place is about where I would expect to see them remaining for the rest of the campaign.

Sunday 12th September 2004:

Tottenham v Crystal Palace – White Hart Lane, London

Spurs started with a slick passing game and we were chasing shadows for the first 10 minutes. After 7 minutes Redknapp hit an outrageous free-kick from 35 yards which crashed against the cross bar and rebounded to safety. But our good fortune was short-lived as Davies switched play with a long pass from the right to the left to Atouba. He knocked it inside to Redknapp who instantly directed it to the feet of Kanoute. Before Gabor Kiraly could even dive, Kanoute had smashed it into the net from 12 yards to put Tottenham 1-0 up after 11 minutes. I had been hoping that Spurs might have been a bit toothless up front with Defoe out injured and Keane only on the bench as he returned from injury himself. Silva Sousa was Kanoute’s partner in attack and had a great chance to make it 2-0, but Kiraly dived bravely at his feet after 17 minutes. It was clear that Kiraly had taken a bad knock to his thigh, but he battled on bravely for a few minutes before succumbing. Julian Speroni replaced the player that had been responsible for our great start to the season and I must admit that I was a little bit worried for our chances. Speroni calmed his nerves with a fine save from Redknapp’s low shot after 26 minutes, but he was beaten all ends up by Tottenham’s second goal after 33 minutes. Atouba made space down Spurs left and found Redknapp on a forward run. He laid a pass off to Taricco and the full-back curled it first time past Speroni from 25 yards for a spectacular goal. King headed just over from a Davies corner in the 38th minute as Spurs continued to dominate Palace. From my position in the grandstand I had a perfect view of Silva Sousa beating the offside trap after 44 minutes. He angled in from the left and laid off a pass for Kanoute who powered it at goal, but Speroni just got his hand to it. Unfortunately it rebounded to Davies and the Welsh international simply sidefooted it back into the unguarded net. That made it 3-0 to Spurs and Palace were looking decidedly second-rate as half-time arrived.

Tottenham spent the majority of the second half playing in second gear. They were very happy with their 3-0 lead and they were comfortable just playing the ball around. Neil Shipperley came on for the anonymous Andy Johnson after an hour and Spurs replied by sending on Keane for the final 25 minutes in place of Silva Sousa. It was Keane who finally put the stamp of authority on Spurs performance when he found the net after 77 minutes. Brown worked some space on the left and feed Keane who was inside. Just like Taricco in the first half, Keane fired it firmly at goal from 25 yards. There was more power and swerve than Taricco’s shot, but it was still the same result and Keane cart-wheeled away in his usual goal celebration. At 4-0 the game was well and truly out of Palace’s reach. It had been a humiliating end to our five game unbeaten run.

After the game I quickly disappeared into the toilets and got rid of my Crystal Palace shirt into my backpack. A quick trip into the Spurs Store got me a brand new Spurs jersey with number 9 and Kanoute stencilled on the back. I looked at the match programme and saw that Tottenham’s next game was away at Aston Villa next Saturday. We’d have a good chance of picking up three points at Villa Park next weekend based on the way in which we had whipped Crystal Palace 4-0 today. Yes, with Spurs in 6th place and the team’s form on the rise, we were really going places this season.

Tottenham 4 Kanoute 11, Taricco 33, Davies 44, Keane77
Crystal Palace 0

Tottenham: Robinson, Mabizela, King, Naybet, Taricco, Davies, Carrick (Davis), Redknapp, Atouba (Brown), Silva Sousa (Keane), Kanoute.

Crystal Palace: Kiraly (Speroni), Beckles, Lucic, Granville, Lakis, Riihilahti, Hughes, Borrowdale (Popovic), Johnson (Shipperley), Ventola, Freedman.

My MOM: Freddie Kanoute scored one and made another and was a constant thorn in side of the Palace defence.

High-point #1: Taricco’s quality curling goal in the first half. Superb!!

High-point #2: Keane’s vicious half-volleyed goal in the second half. Brilliant!!


Next up: Aston Villa v Tottenham – Villa Park, Birmingham

retired_embartl

Here's hoping you'll be a Villain for a long time (from) next match

retired_greenhaml

The way the viewpoint changes so quickly is brilliant! I know that's the entire essence of the story, but I just want to commend you on a job well done so far....

retired_jgirl87

Thanks BoN, here's your answer.

Thanks for your comments, Legend.

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It’s just over three weeks since I was last at Villa Park, back in the days when I followed Crystal Palace. Of course, that was before I saw the light and changed my allegiance to the mighty Spurs. Aston Villa still hasn’t lost since then and they are in 4th place with a 4-2-0 record and 14 points. Mind you, they’ve beaten no-one of note and I wouldn’t call wins over Middlesbrough, Norwich, Manchester City and West Brom earth-shattering. With my new favourite Freddie Kanoute in top form, I expect that we’ll end the Villan’s unbeaten run and move ourselves up the table from our current 6th place.

Saturday 18th September 2004:

Aston Villa v Tottenham – Villa Park, Birmingham

It’s reassuring to see that despite Aston Villa dominating the possession in the opening quarter hour, they are unable to seriously trouble our defence. Mauricio Taricco has his hands full with Bierofka on Villa’s left, but the German’s distribution and crossing was poor. Out of the blue the first scoring chance fell our way in the 21st minute as Sean Davis picked up Jamie Redknapp’s pass and fired in a 30 yard shot which crashed against the cross bar, then rebounded to safety. Freddie Kanoute shot wide from a good position after 32 minutes and Villa finally fashioned a chance after 38 minutes when Cole cut in from the right and forced Paul Robinson to spread himself well to block the resulting low shot. That’s pretty much it from a bland 45 minutes of first half football and it’s 0-0 at the break.

As a Spurs fan, the second half didn’t offer anything to cheer about. I can’t believe that the players couldn’t even fashion one chance in 45 minutes of football. Thankfully we had Paul Robinson in goal and he was the reason that we got a point from the game. Aston Villa could only manage to create three chances from all their possession, but they were all gilt-edged opportunities. In the 61st minute Laursen met Bierofka’s cross with a fine downward header, but Robinson dived to his right to scoop it away for a corner. Barry’s overlapping run in the 68th minute saw his cross headed towards the far top corner by Hendrie, but Robinson again dived acrobatically to claw it away. Villa’s final chance came in the 83rd minute as substitute Luke Moore finally beat Robinson when he flicked on a cross from his brother and fellow substitute Stefan Moore, but Michael Carrick was on hand to head the ball off the line. A poor 0-0 draw was the final score, but sometimes you just have to take those results when you’re on the road. Still, the main thing is that we didn’t lose – nobody likes to see their team lose, do they?

Aston Villa 0
Tottenham 0

Aston Villa: Sorensen, Delaney, Mellberg, Laursen, Barry, Park Ji-Sung (de la Cruz), Hendrie, Hitzlsperger, Bierofka, Cole (Moore.L), Angel (Moore.S).

Tottenham: Robinson, Taricco, King, Naybet, Edman, Davies, Davis (Mendes), Redknapp, Atouba (Carrick), Kanoute (Defoe), Keane.

My MOM: Paul Robinson – I hope it’s not a bad sign when it’s the goalie who is consistently the team’s best player.

It’s sad when: You travel all the way to Birmingham and you only get to see a boring 0-0 draw. Damn!!

It’s even sadder when: You get home and watch the reply on the telly in case you missed something. Damn, damn!!


Next up: Tottenham v Fulham – White Hart Lane, London