It’s time for the return with Legia Warsaw.
Another Thursday night and the last one at Villa Park before the end of the year. This time we welcome Legia Warsaw, who we played in the first match and who reminded us that getting out of the group stages wasn’t going to be as easy as we thought.
Their supporters have got a bit of a reputation so they haven’t got as many tickets as they should have. What they do bring over will no doubt wander round town wearing black and shouting a lot. Then they’ll get to the ground en masse, shouting a lot. After that they’ll stand all through the match chanting and probably drumming away regardless of what’s happening on the pitch. Some would say that was making an atmosphere. The rest of us will tell them to shut that racket up, we’re trying to watch the football. No doubt there will be fireworks. There always is. There’ll also be a lot of diversions because when we go away we get inconvenienced, but when we’re at home we get inconvenienced. And the traffic will be horrendous and the trains will be delayed. The weather forecast’s horrible as well. Ain’t life grand?
On a happier note the Villa are playing, which means life is very grand indeed. The opposition are the same as they were two months ago, with the added bonus that this time we should have worked out how to beat them. That match preview said “We’ve got Alex Moreno and Jacob Ramsey inching their way towards fitness” and they still are because our boss has done many great things but he still can’t solve the rule that every Villa injury has to be at least three times worse than it looks. Whatever the team he puts out, we need to win to avoid another round in the competition. It shouldn’t be a problem. We said that last time.