I see the result at the weekend hasn't got people carried away. Me, I always thought we were going to win, it was my banker bet of the day, but I was worried some would see it as us turning the corner. We haven't, although it is possible.
Everything in life is possible, but some things are harder than others and one thing I'll put money on .. actually, I'll leave it there for today. We beat Norwich, it was always going to happen, so we should just be happy with got the three points and the manager got his win rate up to 27.3% - he is getting closer to what I expect from him.
I'm actually very surprised it is what it is. When the fixture list came out, I had us down for a few more points than we currently have and that is with all things considered.With the Spurs, Swansea, Bolton, Manchester United and Liverpool coming up - things could start to get interesting.
Gabby Agbonlahor
So, nobody will be surprised to learn that Gabby won the man of the match vote. One thing this manager is doing is getting the best out of Gabby. Hands up, I didn't think it would last this long, so I'm very happy and surprised.
I want to see it last longer and if it does and Gabby can keep this up, he's going to be the type of player that will tempt other players to come - if he sticks to his word and stays at the club he has always loved - but I think he will. Or that should be, I like to think he will.
I'm also going to make a bold statement about Gabby. That performance against Norwich was as close to as good as we got out of Ashley Young playing on the wing. Don't get me wrong, Young had some great games, but when you mould everything up, the performance from Gabby was very close to it and for all the times we groaned and moaned about Ashley, although you can not question his work rate, if we can see that from Gabby just a little more consistently, we will be saying Ashley who by the end of the season.
That performance pretty much guaranteed him getting a call up to the England squad and if Bent, who isn't going to be sold according to the manager (remember he said that about Downing) can just read him a little better, we should start to see quite a few goals from these two players. It was actually, fun to watch at the weekend.
Jenas
Just wanted to mention something about Jenas. He has a bit of culture. When he came on against Norwich he had a little run and played a perfect pass through the defence to Gabby. It was sublime and if he delivers more like that, he can stay. Really, when he did it, I smiled. It was just fantastic - if anyone can find a clip of that, post a link before for those that don't remember.
Google Pages
Lastly today - The Villa Blog has a Google+ Page here so if you are using Google+ please add us to your circle - you'll be added back and as and when the service gets a bit more meat on it, I'm sure it is going to get a bit more interactive - we might even start hanging out.
With a smile on my face, I go off to work.