lenred

Great draw - very happy with that. Home draw. Chance for another scalp against a Prem team who will be under massive pressure to perform. Looking forward to it. Bring it on!

As fantastic as the start has been (and it has) and as good as the actual football that's being played is, it's the improvements off the pitch especially in LJs demeanour that are giving me most hope. Last year there was blame and persistent platitudes coming out at every corner from him. Wild celebrations on the pitch if we won and quickly running off the pitch if we lost. Talk of Europe in 5 years. Cringeworthy online media (see the interview with the two coaches). Things like that grated me a lot. However, this year LJs demeanour seems to have changed. He seems more level headed as it stands. And the club does also. The true test of course will come when we do go on a downturn (as we inevitably will) but I think the signs are good, that LJ and the team have learnt from last season and I'm feeling positive. Long may it continue.......

Yeah I gave him a clap for exactly that reason. He seems a bit of a dying breed. He's the antipathy of the 'modern day footballer', has had a great career, is funny and self deprecating and was great for England whenever called upon. Seemed the right thing to do at the time! I did get a few strange looks though but sod it!

Personally thought it was a very very good and very vocal turnout last night and we did ourselves proud both on and off the pitch. It was a cracking night of football. Anyone that thinks that teams like Stoke, WBA, Everton etc don't take this cup seriously are wrong. Maybe the big 4/5 don't but with a Euro spot at stake and little chance of silverware elsewhere this cup does still mean something.

Oh the irony of that haha!!

Fair play mate. Indeed they are becoming a more usual sight and when I see them at Temple Meads or at the Airport for example I generally think little of it. I guess the point I was trying to make originally (not very well evidently!) is that I've not seen them before at AG so it made me wonder if there was a specific reason they were there other than the heightened risk after the further attacks in London last week.

I KNOW! Blimey, cool your boots. My sincerest apologies if me finding the sight of police brandishing automatic weapons unnerving ANNOYS YOU. Not a usual thing is it. But THANK YOU anyway!

Well yes, obviously. Still, was an unusual sight to see.

Yeah. Was pretty unnerving seeing that walking in!

Good forum to be fair - although of course not a patch on OTIB! Most of the posters seem realistic and were complimentary about us. I liked this comment in particular: 'although I don't see any brilliant teams in the Champ, I see improvements in a lot of average teams. (Wolves, Bristol City, Cardiff etc).' Although it's not a massive endorsement in shows that we are now getting noticed at least. Really good to see other teams fans recognising us and comparing us with the like of Wolves and Baaadiff, recent Premier League teams, and that they are obviously seeing an improvement in our set up.

Yep, I hold my hands up and said a few weeks ago that although I was a massive fan of his I thought he wasn't the same player anymore after his injuries and that we'd need to invest in his position in order to improve, but he was absolutely immense today and it was as good a performance as he's ever had. Happy to eat humble pie.

Only reason I know is that the bloke who fitted our cooker earlier this year was a Villa ST holder and he was chatting to me about him as it was before we were playing Brentford. Said he's a lovely bloke and big Villa fan #crapstoryalert !

Massive Villa fan though isn't he BBSB?

I know there'll be a few of these humble pie type posts on the site tonight but I'd like to congratulate LJ and City on that performance. I was very much an 'LJ out' type last season but that today was one of, if not the best performance that I can remember from us. We were absolutely outstanding and it was so so pleasing to see us a) not get our heads down after we (undeservedly) went 0-1 down and b) keep attacking when we got the lead and c) see Korey Smith back to his absolute best. To a man we were incredible. That was a champagne performance of the very highest quality against a proper club and team. I doff my hat to you LJ, your staff and your players. Long may it continue.

Completely agree with this view. It's been a trait of ours going back years that we've had very little fight and know how within the team and I'm very glad that this seems to be changing. Different level but Phil Neville talked last night about how Man Ure struggled in Europe for the first few years of his career until the team realised that they were too nice and had to 'play the game' in order to compete and of course they went on to be very successful as a result. Think we need to do the same, albeit at a lower level, and hopefully we're seeing the signs that we're changing for the better and getting tougher and more street smart. Can only improve us for the better.