Well, last night is over and we've moved on. Sure, there will be a few that are still disappointed, Martin O'Neill certainly was last night, but as Aston Villa fans, we are used to it, we accept it and we move on. It's not nice writing that, but it's the way it is.
Yes, they played okay football and we had chances, but so did Rapid Vienna and they took what they had to take to go through to the next round. Bottom line, we didn't.
But the team did okay. Milner looked lively, Delph looked good and better than he did on his debut, which is all positive. I mean, imagine if he keeps getting better with more confidence, what he could turn into.
Culler looked very good and despite some having concerns about Beye, I quite liked that he was willing to get forward. With time our confidence in him and his confidence in his ability will make it all better. Nick Shorey has alse looked good going forward the past couple of games, but this is his second season. Beye just needs a bit of time, I think he will be a good player for us.
But Rapid Vienna are not the best team in Europe. They would struggle in our league and we ultimately failed to do enough. We failed, because we are a long way off and while we do only have a few days left of the transfer window, we will actually be happy with anyone now, because we are that desperate.
I know this will be seen as a negative post, but it's just a realistic one in my view. This is Martin O'Neill's fourth season and unless he has an ace up his sleeve, I fear we are going to struggle to repeat the top six finishes of the past two seasons and if that happens, they'll be some baying for blood.
But we have to give him time. He has to be allowed the time and if he is, and we don't get what we want this season, we have to give him next season. This isn't a defeatist post, we've only played two games this season, like I said, it's a realistic one for me.
As for the attendance last night, the club really only have Martin O'Neill to blame for that. He gave up on this tournament last season so why should they expect the supporters to put anything into it this time round? Still, it's a nice gesture from the club to reward those that went and maybe the season after next, when we are playing in Europe again, they'll take it more seriously and they'll be more prepared.
Right, more later but in case you were not aware, you now have to be registered to post a comment but we are also moving servers now so unless you are seeing 'YOU ARE ON THE NEW SERVER' at the top right hand side of the site, you are still on the old one and if you register your account won't be active on the new one.