Gillingham vs Aston Villa – Why confidence could be our downfall – Match preview

January 4, 2009 by Martin Banks
Filed under: Aston Villa, Match Previews 

0pic3In the FA Cup we have become pretty used to being unceremoniously dumped out by Manchester United in the 3rd or 4th round, so when this year’s draw came out the hat and we had Stockport or Gillingham, a wave of relief (or shock) passed over Villa fans. But for us to go into this game thinking “We’ll win this easy” can be just as dangerous as when we go into previous FA Cup games against Man U thinking “We’ve got no chance”. Cockiness got us stung in the League Cup, when we were beaten by QPR in a game we failed miserably to control.

We must avoid this today against the Gills.

The FA Cup’s prominence is a helpful factor, being a Saturday game rather than a midweek game sandwiched in between important league fixtures. So we should head into this game with a full strength side, rather than a mixture of A- and B-team players. The problem with playing fringe players in these games is that a) they are not as accustomed to playing as a team and b) they can let their heads drop very easily and play desperate football, as has been seen 3 times this season.

The third round of the FA Cup is famous for it’s shocks and it will do Villa well to take heed of yesterday’s examples of this. The 2 richest clubs in the world both failed to win at home against teams struggling in lower leagues. Chelsea were held by Southend who are in the bottom half of League One and the Want-to-be-somebody Man City got spanked by the Used-to-be-somebody Nottingham Forest. Man City’s owners could buy all of Forest’s players and their ground and not make a dent in the surface of their wealth, but as is the beauty of the FA Cup, they couldn’t buy a victory yesterday.

The chosen ones

Carlos Cuellar is still out but is believed to be ready in time to face Midlands rivals West Brom next weekend. Martin Laursen and John Carew are still out for a while, though neither have a real idea of their expected return date, just a case of cross your fingers and wait and see. Wilfred Bouma is expected back this month but towards the back end of it.

The team then, will most likely be the same eleven that have stepped out for the last couple of games, with the possibility of seeing a few of the more trusted fringers, such as Craig Gardner, Brad Guzan and Nathan Delfouneso.

Watch the game

Here at AVB we always recommend going to the game as the first and foremost way to watch the Mighty Villans, because our boys can’t hear you cheering at your telly. So if you wanna watch the boys, get your ass on the M40 and head down to Kent.

For those who can’t make it to Gillingham today (be it for a crap excuse like “My mom cooks a bad ass Sunday Lunch and I don’t want to miss it” or a decent excuse like several thousand miles of ocean), there are plenty of other ways to see it all take place. For UK readers its as easy as ABC, well as easy as ITV anyway. Even your nan’s black and white TV, with the dial to tune in channels, will pick this one up.

Those outside the UK can get it on any of these channels:

Al Jazeera Sport +1
C+ Fútbol
Diema
Fox Soccer Channel **
France 4
G Sports 1
Nova Sport (Cze)
Sbs net (6 eren)
Setanta Ireland (roi)
Sky Calcio 1
Sky Sport 1 (Italy)
Sky Super Calcio
Sport 1 (Ned)
Sport TV1
SportKlub (Cro)
SportKlub (Hun)
SportKlub (Pol)
SportKlub (Rom)
SportKlub (Ser)
SportKlub (Slv)
SuperSport 3 (ZA)
Ulster TV
Viasat Football (Swe)
Viasat Sport (Nor)
YES Sport 2

And for those who don’t get any of those channels either, try looking for a stream here. It is also available on Sopcast, if you can get it to work!

Make sure you watch it then and check back in the morning for a match report and to find out who we’ve got in the next round.


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