Under the current climate, it really doesn't matter how Aston Villa win as long as we win and get as many points as possible.
So, I'm quite happy with beating Everton 1-0. In fact, I'm extremely happy and Kevin MacDonald has done himself proud since taking over. He should pat himself on the back, expect quite a large bonus at Christmas and be ready the next time he is needed, because unless we are bringing in Jose Mourinho from Real Madrid or Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger or Carlo Ancelotti is going to walk out on their current club, I suspect he might be needed again quite soon.
That is me speaking quite broadly, as there is one or two managers available with Premier League experience that I'd quite like, but I don't think they will come and seeing as we are limiting ourselves to a manager with Premier League experience, Kevin MacDonald should probably be ready for when called upon and I hope the club do look after him for what he has done.
But enough about today. To the Everton match.
What the Papers Say
Phil Shaw, The Independent
Everton dominated to an almost embarrassing extent. Arteta forced the first of several flying saves from Brad Friedel with a long-range free-kick, though the American was helpless in the 18th minute when Steven Pienaar's angled shot smacked the bar. Villa drew a fine double save on the hour from Howard who denied John Carew and Ashley Young. By then, Moyes had sent on Louis Saha for the ineffectual Jermaine Beckford. Saha soon tested Friedel and Rodwell's back-header drifted inches wide.
Sandy Macaskill, The Telegraph
The watertight Villa back four held firm as wave upon wave of Everton attacks drove against them. Somehow they kept a clean sheet after Luke Young popped up to provide the game’s only goal, his first for 22 months.
Stuart James, guardian.co.uk
The Villa caretaker, who was more animated on the touchline than in previous matches, would have been breathing more easily if his side had taken one of the opportunities they spurned on the counterattack.
The Manager
Kevin MacDonald
Let's be fair, the performance of the players - not necessarily in their football - although their football was very good at times - their desire to win a football game must surely instil belief in them from the supporters. If ever they doubted the belief in those players to want to play for Aston Villa, especially after we didn't play particularly well last week, it should be removed after that performance.
Man of the Match
Man of the match goes to Brad Friedel with 153 votes and it is hard to disagree with that. In second place was Luke Young with 113 votes and again, hard to disagree with that.
Final Analysis
It was, as Kevin MacDonald has suggested, a gutsy win. Everton dominated but we defended well and we ran for everything. Basically they did for MacDonald what they did for the previous manager, which is pretty impressive and now, we sit in fourth place in the league. Okay, it is only three games but it is still nice.
My views on MacDonald are in the open; I'm all for him getting a crack of the whip but the manner in which he has spoken about the job or actually not spoken about the job, doesn't instil confidence and one of the things I want the manager to have is confidence. I also don't think it will be him, however, if he got it, I hope he would be give a fair crack of the whip - but he also has to understand that there is no going back if he makes the decision to say yes or to call up Randy and ask for it.
At the end of the day, we battled and we got three points, but we now turn our attentions to today and the last day of the transfer window when we know nothing is going to happen, because basically we were told nothing is going to happen, so the rumour of Curtis Davies leaving for Celtic should be dismissed and everything else you hear today should also be dismissed. Or should it?