Well, there it is, following a fairly convincing and enjoyable third round victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we crash out of the FA Cup at the hands of the Geordies, who are delighted to get their own back on us after they were schooled on the art of simple football a few weeks back by Unai and the lads.
A game largely overshadowed by stupidity and refereeing decisions, Villa completely capitulate again after losing Marco Bizot to a completely foolish move. Seriously, what were Bizot and Bailey thinking? Regardless of that anyways, this is something we happen to see time and time again – Villa proving that they are quite simply not cut out to win things unless we get over this bottling it when push comes to shove. Obviously, had I have had the choice – beat them in the cup and lose at St. James in the league, or beat them in the league at St. James and lose to them in the cup – I would of course, like many, have chosen the latter, but it still feels beyond the point, the point that we are just not natural winners in our modern era, even with Unai.
In terms of the actual match, I was sat in the Upper Holte due to being forced to move from the Upper North Stand due to Newcastle being entitled to an allocation of around over 6,000 tickets. This is something that is great for the atmosphere, however awful if you want to actually watch the game. It is more chaos than away games, and if I had a season ticket up there I would sure be fuming that my seat will pretty much be occupied every single week by people who buy a ticket and stand anywhere. Let’s just say I’m grateful to be returning to the Upper North Stand next week, where I will be able to watch the game better, and also a lot closer to the pitch. That being said, it was magnificent to be back in the Holte End and I always do love it when I am there.
I thought the goal from Tammy Abraham, despite being technically offside, showed something that we have missed from Watkins this season, and I thought he took it very well. Additionally, I thought we saw the level of composure at times in the first half that we showed in the away game against Newcastle a few weeks back, and it was good to see. However, the game just completely changes once Bailey tries a blind pass in acres of space and Marco Bizot just acts out of complete stupidity and costs us the entire match. I knew it was over when that happened, despite being 1-0 up. Newcastle’s deflected goal levelled the scoring after they were denied a blatant penalty, and Sandro Tonali secures his brace as Villa yet against let a defensive player score for fun, just like we have done Fabian Schar in previous fixtures against this lot. The third goal wraps it up, and that was me out of the stadium. Really, really poor and I suppose it just means full focus must be turned to our run in the league now, as missing out on top five… well, I would have to find a stronger word to title an article than ‘capitulation’.
Oh well, over and out I suppose, this just makes the Europa League absolutely vital. Onto Leeds next weekend, which needs to be a win.
Totally and utterly disagree about Sancho, Hitch. Firstly, why would wages be a problem? What exactly has he done in the last 5 years (half a decade) to warrant wages that are higher than anyone else? Secondly, regarding squad depth, having 3 good players in all positions suggests depth. But if two out of the three are shite, which is often the case, you don’t have depth, you have passengers and problems, because you can’t offload them – hence why he’s available for free; he’s gone from 70 million to free and United are literally giving him away because he’s awful. It not only wouldn’t be ‘good’ business, it would be horrendous business given the financial restraints and tightrope the club are grappling with. I couldn’t feel more strongly on this one. Unless he hits double figures in goal involvement towards now and the end of the season, which is not too much to ask for an attacking player in a top 3 Premier League club, I won’t be changing my mind. But I won’t be holding my breath.
Sancho at £200k a week is just a no chance from my POV.
Maybe if he keeps improving and starts to look good (and he has got better, but that’s not saying much) he’ll be on a par with the top £150k lads.
So we won’t be getting him then, imo.
He doesn’t justify his wages but in terms of general play he’s not been as useless as you’ve made out.
Goals and assists. How many?
It’s match day! A MUST win against the dirty Leeds. My mate who’s a Leeds fan is in the home end so if you’re at the game feel free to give him a dig or two. 😉 Joking lol, he’s a good lad.
Have a great weekend all.
It seems I’ll have to admit defeat in the Sancho debate – at least on here 🫣😄
Moving on and as a side note, Sky are reporting that it’s only appearances in EPL games that can trigger Elliotts move in the summer.
So, if thar’s the case – and he’s only played four times in the EPL so far – expect to see him appearing in more EPL squads and playing in the Europa League during the next few weeks until we get McGinn and Tielemens back.
I agreed with you in saying Sancho hasn’t been that bad he just probably doesn’t justify his wage bill.
The Elliot deal has to be one of the stupidest deals I’ve ever seen, it completely undermines the concept of a loan deal and let me guess we’ve been bullied by Liverpool into accepting those terms.
In my original post I did suggest that wages might be the issue but I didn’t make my meaning clear🙁
Emery himself has said that Sancho has to show more for Villa to consider making his move permanent but he had improved his performances since the first half of the season.
Obviously we don’t know the whole Elliott story or, probably, even a small part of it. However, it seems that Liverpool’s stance is more disrespectful to the player than Villa’s (Emery’s) honesty and public support for him.
Maybe the Sky Sports story is actually as a result of a recent compromise reached between the two clubs (and player?). Who knows?
ManU after Onana apparently.
Thoughts? On appearances I’d let the injury prone chap leave. Great on his day, but so fragile…
£75million and he’s there’s.
Yeah. I notice we’re on the same GD as ManU. We need a couple of big scoring wins. It could be as crucial as the end of last season…
ABSOLUTE JOKE!!!!!! Deserved from Leeds