Holtecast - An Aston Villa Podcast

Jack and Robert return for another Holtecast. And we've got our third manager in three episode. First Paul Lambert, then the double-headed beast that was Scott/Andy Marshall, and finally we're onto Tim Sherwood. We take a look at whether or not Tactics Tim is a good fit at Villa Park.And over the weekend something strange happened: Villa scored two goals and beat a Premier League opponent. Now, it wasn't in the league, but still. That's a win! And it sends the club to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup, one win removed from Wembley.We've also bumped our recording time from Wednesday mornings to Thursday mornings. If you're sitting on the edge of your seat eagerly awaiting the Holtecast every week (bless you), you'll find it on the feed sometime later on Thursday and here on the site on Friday. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We were going to record at our normal Wednesday morning time this week, but Robert had a scheduling conflict and thank heavens for that. We would have spent half an hour speculating about the news that we can now spend half an hour actually talking about!After losses to Chelsea and Hull City since last we had an episode, Aston Villa have finally put Paul Lambert out of his misery and sacked him. We take a look at the leading candidates to replace him and what they might do once they get here.And of course we preview this weekend's rubber match against Leicester City. After splitting the series in the Premier League this season, they head to the FA Cup for a Sunday draw in the fifth round at Villa Park. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jack and Robert are here to talk about Aston Villa, even if thinking about this club is seemingly more than they deserve right now. Remember the win over AFC Bournemouth in the FA Cup? Well, a 5-0 demolition by Arsenal in London has put an end to the good feelings we had for a hot minute. It was fun while it lasted.And then the club didn't have anything to offer us on transfer deadline day. But since we've last recorded, Villa did add Scott Sinclair from Manchester City. We'll cover the January window in full and discuss Jack and James' grades for the window. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jack and Robert are back after an Aston Villa w... wi... win? Is that how you spell it? It's their second in the month of January, but this weekend sees the club try to get back on track in the Premier League, where they haven't won since December 7. Unfortunately, the challenge will be stiff, as Villa travel to the Emirates to take on Arsenal, who currently sit in fifth.We'll have a recap of the FA Cup victory (with 2 [two!] goals!), and a look at what Villa might do as the transfer windowcloses. We'll also be welcoming on Zito Madu to talk about the Arsenal match. Zito is one of the best football writers around, and he plies his trade on The Short Fuse as well as on SB Nation (where he writes about more than just football). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jack makes his triumphant return this week and it's just in time, as we've got a lot to talk about. We'll be giving a look at last weekend's Liverpool match and determining if there was anything about which we could get excited. And we'll wrap up by taking a look at this weekend's FA Cup clash against Bournemouth and determining if there will be anything abut which we can get excited.And in between? Well, nothing but a little transfer news, some slaking of Gabby Agbonlahor, Carles Gil, and the failed Holte End protest. And of course, we'll get your questions. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jack and Robert are back this week! Wait, no. Jack is busy doing important things, so Robert is back this week! But to prevent you from having to hear me drone on by myself for a while, we've brought in our very own Adam Clark to make his first Holtecast appearance. And what a time to join!We've got a recap of the dreadful Leicester City match, a look at Aston Villa's limited action in the transfer window, some talk of new boy Carles Gil, the big protest planned [takes a huge breath] AND of course the Liverpool match set for this weekend. We ALSO end up taking some listener questions See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jack and Robert are back with the first Holtecast in 2015! Since we last talked, Villa have scored two goals in five matches and still have a record of 1-3-1 in that span. So how does that work? We'll be diving a bit into the holiday results to see if we can figure anything out about this crazy mess of a team right now. And then of course, there's the big story looming over everyone's heads right now: the January transfer window! Will Fabian Delph leave? What about Ron Vlaar? Will Paul Lambert be able to do anything useful given what are surely limited funds?We'll also take a look, at roughly the midway point of the season, at Villa's best and worst players of the year. As always, you can subscribe to our audio feed using iTunes, Stitcher, BlogTalk Radio, or pretty much any other podcasting service you can think of. And if you like video instead, feel free to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thanks for listening! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Aston Villa lost to the Baggies last weekend. And this weekend they've got the resurgent Manchester United, who they'll have to face without Ashley Westwood, Tom Cleverley, Kieran Richardson (yay) and heavens knows probably someone else. So, yeah, we'll talk about that.But let's look at some other stuff too. Namely, it's only two weeks until the January transfer window opens. With injuries seemingly never going away, what can Aston Villa do to make themselves better on what will likely be a limited budget? Will making Cleverley permanent be a thing that the club do, and if so, will it be the only thing? Is there any chance of a Fabian Delph for Mousa Dembele swap with Spurs?As always, you can watch on YouTube or subscribe to our audio on BlogTalk Radio, iTunes, Stitcher, or any other podcasting service you can think of! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We've got two things on our plates today, and both involve midlands rivals. We start by talking about last weekend's win over Leicester City. What about that tackle on Westwood? Wasn't it great that Ciaran Clark is amazing? Alan Hutton too? And are Leicester our new least favorite team?Of course they aren't, because then we turn our attention to West Bromwich Albion, or as I prefer to think of them: Wet Sandwich Albatross. We preview this weekend's derby match where it will be decided, once and for all, which team reallyis the pride of the midlands.As always, you can listen here, or feel free to subscribe to the audio via any podcasting service you can think of. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alright, let's get the big issue out of the way first:VILLA WON! VILLA WON! VILLA WON!For the first time since our September 18 episode, we're doing a post-win podcast. Isn't it glorious?But to make things even better, we're joined this week by Sam Tighe, lead football writer for Bleacher Report UK. If you don't know Sam, get familiar with him. He's quickly become one of the brightest football writers around, and he writes frequently on Villa. For instance, here's his match report from Tuesday's win. Also make sure to follow Sam on twitter, where he can be found at @stighefootball.And as always, thanks so much for listening. You can subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher, BlogTalk Radio, or practically anywhere else you can get podcasts regularly. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Holtecast, like football after the international break, is back! And, like football after the international break, we're battered. Battered down by watching Villa play seven matches since September 13 and not grab a win in any of them. But that doesn't mean that we've given up hope entirely! No thanks to circumstances, of course.This week we dive into everything that has happened since our last episode. And given that it was a break, there's a surprising amount to cover. Ron Vlaar got injured, Villa got connected to his replacement, and lots of meaningless international football went on. But we spend the bulk of today looking ahead to Monday's match against Southampton. How can Aston Villa's anemic offense unlock the Premier League's best defense? Can it be done?As always, you can subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher, BlogTalk Radio, or any other podcasting service that you may have. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jack and I have taken two weeks off of podcasting since Villa won at Anfield, and this is still our sixth episode since Villa have last gotten three points. Goodness. But like it or not, at least the draw at West Ham staunched the bleeding a little bit this weekend. Thanks to a heroic effort from Brad Guzan and an anti-hero-like effort from West Ham's strikers, Villa managed to come away from the match with a point.But they didn't score, and they never really looked as if they might. It's been, obviously, a big problem all season, and we dig into that a little bit. And with the international break upon us (Again? Already?) we ask one question: what's one thing that the club could change over the break that would lead to better results starting with the Southampton match?We've got that and plenty more in this week's episode of the Holtecast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You may have noticed that we did not have a podcast last week. This was a deliberate move, as Jack and I decided that 30 minutes of cursing was probably not something that we wanted to broadcast to the world, and that's all you would have gotten after Aston Villa's absolutely pitiful 2-0 loss to QPR.But cursing or no, we can't take a two-week hiatus. So we're back, and Villa have now lost six straight matches, and only scored once since September 13. Things are as dire as they can be after the loss to Tottenham - a loss that saw the only routinely competent-looking Villa striker get a straight red card and a three match band - and we needed a way to cope. So we asked Steve Green to join us. Steve is one half of the duo that brings the absolutely amazing Aston Villa Reviewpodcast to life and we get the chance to pick his brain for all things Villa.If you would like to, please subscribe using whatever podcasting service you prefer. Be sure to check out Aston Villa Review, and you can find Steve on twitter, too.

Alright, losing 3-0 to Arsenal is fine. Doing the same to Chelsea? Acceptable. A 2-0 loss that was competitive for 82 minutes to Manchester City was even, dare we say it, encouraging. But 3-0 to Everton? A team that had allowed more goals than any other in the Premier League? Well, that's just infuriating.And it doesn't help that Aston Villa played terribly to boot.Jack and Robert are back to dissect yet another loss. Four in a row in a stretch that we knew was capable of producing exactly that kind of run. And in fact, that's the only thing keeping most Villa fans sane right now. Lose 3-0 to QPR on Monday, though, and you can bet we all lose that tenuous grasp. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jack and Robert are back, and so, too, are Aston Villa. After an international break that saw plenty of players out on duty (and one injured) the club are ready to take on Everton at Goodison Park this weekend.And after three straight goalless losses, it sure would be nice to see Villa get SOMETHING from this matchup. The good news, of course, is that Christian Benteke is back, and he should help add some potency to what has been an absolutely anemic attack. So we've got coverage of all this and more on today's Holtecast! Remember, you can subscribe on YouTube, or to our audio-only feed at iTunes, Stitcher, BlogTalk Radio, or anywhere else you get podcasts. Thanks, as always, for listening! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jack and Robert return for another week of thrilling Aston Villa news, commentary, and discussion. Heading into the international break (in which Fabian Delph and Brad Guzan will be featuring!) Villa are coming off of three consecutive losses. 0-3 to Arsenal, 3-0 to Chelsea, and 0-2 to Manchester City. And the weird thing? That's not really such a terrible record in that stretch. We talk a bit about the latest loss, in which Villa saw a great chance at upset go begging and take in the state of the team a bit. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We took last week off, and Aston Villa gave us another 3-0 loss. That's two in a row, but to Arsenal and Chelsea. Not bad teams to find yourself losing to. But even with those losses, this is a club that's in a vastly better position than they have been in for years. 10 points through 6 matches is better than most of us would have hoped for, and it's good enough to have Villa sitting sixth in the League. Jack and Robert return this week to talk about those matches, but also to focus on some of Villa's upside right now. In addition to being sixth, great showings from Joe Cole, Jores Okore and some guy named Christian Benteke in VIlla's U21 match are causes for renewed hope. As always, feel free to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or anywhere else you subscribe to such things. We're going to start making the audio version available to subscribers a day before we post the video on 7500toholte.com. Sweet bonus! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We've got plenty of discussion of the win at Anfield because how could we do otherwise? We also talk a lot about Villa's back line, the area of the team that have been absolutely key in this blistering start to the season.And of course we preview the visit from Arsenal this weekend. Can Villa keep the momentum going against a tired and injured team? We certainly hope so!You'll also find out that we record the day before we release these, so you'll hear a mention or two of wanting Paul Lambert to get a new contract. I'm going to claim that we made that happen. You're welcome.As always, you can subscribe to us on iTunes, Stitcher, BlogTalk Radio, YouTube, or practically anywhere else you might normally find a podcast. Enjoy, and up the Villa! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jack and Robert are back despite the lack of a match. You can't keep us down, international break! Besides, we've got to talk about Jores Okore and Fabian Delph, who are both making strides for Denmark and England, respectively.Then we're joined by Liverpool fan (but closeted Villa aficionado) Jacob from Across the Pond Radio to talk about Villa's upcoming match at Anfield. We also dive into the stretch of incredibly tough matches that Aston Villa have coming up. Will two wins be enough for Villa to stay afloat?And be sure to check out the aforementioned Across the Pond, one of my very favorite general football podcasts (though they do tend to have a bit of a Liverpool lean every now and again) and absolutely worth your time every week. Give Jacob a follow on twitter as well. You can find him @ATPJacob.As always, you can listen here or subscribe via BlogTalk Radio, Stitcher, iTunes, or practically any other podcasting app! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Aston Villa had a very quiet transfer deadline day until they didn't. Suddenly, after everything had closed, Villa fans who were disappointed found themselves cheering for former Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley. And Jack and Robert take a look at Aston Villa's surprisingly eventful summer in this week's Holtecast. We've got snap-judgment grades for all of the incoming moves and a look at whether or not the window was a successful one. In addition, we recap the Hull match that saw Villa win and take 7 of the first 9 available points. Plus, we've got talk of the international break in a choose-your-own-podcast format and much more!As always, you can subscribe to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Blog Talk Radio, or pretty much any podcast app or service you have. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.