Seven Seconds Away....

ONE song I do not expect was played on the team coach back down the M6 was that 90s ditty by Youssou N'dour and Neneh Cherry.

"It's not a second..Seven seconds away...Just as long as I stay....."

That's how close Villa were to a decent point and an unbeaten start.

The match report would therefore have sounded something like: "Villa showed bags of character in battling back twice to snatch a late point...."

But what we ended up with was an inquest into quite why Villa didn't really show up at Stoke.

You probably had to go back to the defeat at Portsmouth in March or to Fulham in February for an occasion where Villa were quite so listless.

There had been so much expectation heading to the Britannia, but ultimately an inability to head away set-pieces cost Villa dear.

Martin Laursen has rarely endured such a torrid afternoon, Ashley Young was strangely timid in not wanting to take on Andy Griffin, and the front two were lifeless.

The biggest disappointment was probably Brad Friedel. Dominant and confident against Manchester City, Friedel was a jibbering wreck when that last exocet came into the six yard box.

But we should keep things in perspective.

The opening win was not top four, and the first defeat was not bottom three.

This is a new back five- well, a new back three with Laursen partnering Curtis Davies who has returned after many months out.

They will take time to gel. And if Stoke reproduce that show, they'll give most a game.

So where are we? No midweek Carling Cup to look forward to.

No Leicester's, Burnley's or Doncaster's to throw a spanner in the works.

Just a routine European encounter that fails to spark the imagination because Villa more than did their jobs over in Iceland with a comprehensive victory.

And even with half a dozen fringe players thrown into the mix, Villa can't possibly cock this one up.

If the unthinkable were to happen I'll run naked along Broad Street buying a pint in every bar.

Of course the 'unthinkable' does happen occasionally in football.

The best I can remember was a League Cup tie between Watford and Southampton in late 1980, I think.

Laurie McMenemy's Saints walloped Graham Taylor's Watford 4-0 in the first leg at The Dell. Game over.

Not quite. Watford won the second leg 7-1 to progress 7-5 on aggregate.

Me and my school chums spent the morning telling jokes that McMenemy was due to start advertising the drink: "7 Up".

How very droll.

As for tomorrow's game?

Luke Young and Carlos Cuellar, who is back doing a little bit of training but wouldn't be fit in any case, are both ineligible.

I think we are all expecting Craig Gardner, Zat Knight, Nathan Baker, Moustapha Salifou, Marlon Harewood, Nathan Delfouneso, Wayne Routledge and Isiah Osbourne to be given some sort of role, if not a start.

Let's hope there's a few goals and a bit of excitement.

But most of all let's hope there are no injuries and that the players are fresh, ready and focused for the biggest game to come to Villa's shores since Blues were in town (and we all know how they were sent packing).

If Harry Redknapp thought he was getting stick off the Villa fans, that's nothing to the abuse a certain 'goatee-bearded Spanish waiter' (as one Villa fan described Rafa Benitez to me) has got coming.

Bring it on.