Credit to https://www.flickr.com/photos/graham_pride/albums/72157662420335941
A very happy new year!
It is for us Villa fans anyway.
How great was it for us to get three points today when practically everybody, myself included had written this one off a a “no chance”?
Maybe Dean Smith reads the Villa websites after all, but it wasn’t rocket science that made him go five at the back, was it?
Whatever, it worked and the defence in the first half particularly, looked much more confident.
Jack Grealish played more centrally and you can see the difference it makes.
He’s much more involved where the real action is and even managed to bring Wesley into it for a goal.
It’s taken the manager a while to realise this, but fair play, he made the changes and they worked.
That said and I’m not trying to detract from the performance, but Burnley looked a really poor side, especially in that same first half. We were beating them to all the second balls in midfield, which made a really pleasant change.
As for the goal that was ruled out for Wesley being offside, what an absolute joke.
Even BBC sport said the goal should have stood. I was reminded of Liverpool’s goal against us and it was almost identical. I said then that their goal should have been classed as good, so you can’t say it’s bias on my part.
VAR is supposed to be looking at obvious and clear errors.
That simply wasn’t one.
My hope is that they will sort this over time, but in the meantime my concern is that it’s decisions like this that can turn games and maybe even get a team relegated.
If it’s that close to call, just don’t bother with VAR, simple.
I’m tempted to brush over the second half, but basically we knew Burnley would come out all guns blazing and we looked a lot poorer, being sloppy, sitting back and nearly letting them back into the game.
The bad news is that both Wesley and Heaton have possibly suffered Anterior Cruciate Ligament injuries, which can leave a player out for many months. As a worst case, we might not even see them again this season.
But I’m sure another player had the same injury not so long back and recovered a lot quicker. I just can’t think who it was.
Regardless, we have no choice now, but to get a decent striker in and hopefully we’ll have already been planning for it.
Kodjia, who I’ve often espoused should start for us, looked horrendous today. Some say it was a lack of interest, but the commentators I listened to said he looked leggy, even though he’d only been on a few minutes.
Which makes sense, given that you’d think he might want to put himself on display for a move. He definitely didn’t look in good shape.
Ultimately, it was a decent first half against a very poor Burnley which got us three points and got us out of the relegation places.
I’m not sure how long that will last, but I’m happy to say I got it wrong in my prediction.
Up the Villa and happy new year!
Comments
89 responses to “Burnley 1 -2 Villa; Massive three points, but bad news too”
The Stella Artois will be coming out shortly 🙂
Happy days!
3 points is all we can ask for!
And surely you can afford something a bit nicer than Stella Badger!!!!!!!
Eh? There’s nowt better than Stella mate.
I’d go on the JD, but it just knocks me out these days 🙂
Photo added at the top.
That doesn’t look good, does it?
Doesn’t look good for the Burnley player’s plums either!
If Wesley / Heaton out long term how much more poor luck are we going to suffer with injuries. Even the top teams struggle when key players are out and so, for our limited depth squad, it’s a disaster,
Not only did we lose Wesley after, reportedly, his best display, we also lost Heaton on top of losing Steer. This probably means we will have to hold onto Kalinic to understudy Nyland.
So, rather than securing a striker to support Wesley, we now need a striker because (other than a Kodjia and Davis) we don’t have one!
Notwithstanding great performance and but for another ridiculous VAR decision we would have been out of sight at half time. 2-0 up is always a difficult score to defend – stick or twist so they did well to see it out.
But as they say one swallow doesn’t make a summer yet we shouldn’t under estimate how important this win is particularly with Bournemouth playing West Ham which means we will start 2020 out of the bottom three.
Congratulations to BFR – I suspect he is, at the moment, sending in his CV 🙂
Indeed, well called BFR.
Although it’s the five at at the back, not the three, which made the difference, imo.
A very subtle, but massive difference.
I didn’t notice much wide play today, after all.
And then Spuds fail to beat Saints. Just bad luck!!! Watford winning, Norwich leading… Ouch!!!!!
P. S. Stella in bottles or cans Badger?
Unfortunately, English cans. Proper Belgian Stella is really hard to find lately.
As an aside, I’ve worked at the Stella brewery. Guess where the water comes from?
The Bristol channel. Yep, imagine Weston Super Mare!
Otherwise, results not really going our way are they?
I thought Taylor looked better given Hause was a covering player with a good left peg. I would have liked Guilbert to be more offensive but he was getting pushed back too much second half.
Nyland has done well when called upon so he needs to take his opportunity. The need for a striker has intensified now Wesley is injured.
We have two cup games before Citeh at home. I think we should field a reserve team against Fulham and go for broke away to Leicester seeing as this offers our best chance of silverware. Citeh game is a free hit in terms of possible points on the board.
Sad to say, I’m not really bothered about the FA Cup this season all things considered so with you Holte.
I’d normally say we should go for it in both cups, but reluctantly agree we probably need to rest players for the Fulham game.
Birmingham Live.
Transfer News
Aston Villa transfer news live – first deal of January completed as Andre Green joins Charlton
Dean Smith’s side will be hoping to strengthen their ranks this month as they look to bolster their chances of surviving relegation from the Premier League back to the Championship…
It’s still a loan deal for Green, done to give more playing time.
Good for Green. I hope he finally gets a good run of games. I like Bowyer as well as a manager and think he might get the best out of Green whilst he’s there. Who would you want from the championship then? We will surely dip in to that market i think. Me personally i think Watkins is quality as is Bowen. Id love both. One player i wouldnt mind having back is Grabban. He scores goals and i think could fit well in our team. Benhrama is another we should look at too. Will be an interesting window as our hand is forced now with injuries we have to make moves and asap!
All good choices there Adam but I think we’ll also be looking at loan players – like Drinkwater – to see us through the season adding a bit of experience.
Maybe one ‘Stella’ buy – sorry Badger, couldn’t resist the pun 🙂 – and for me that would be Jarrod Bowen as Bees will not sell Benrhama.
Wesley having scan today but Villa fear he’s suffered cruciate ligament damage and will be out for the rest of the season – that means we need two strikers and I fully expect one to be a loan to the end of the season. Would Trabzonspor let Sturridge go out on loan ‘cos I don’t think we would be prepared to buy him?
Being linked with a loan move for Batshuayi – not sure what to think. Likely we will be forced into a couple of loan moves with injuries to McGinn and Wesley.
Not exactly being lucky with injuries are we?
Have watched that VAR decision on offside – just totally ludicrous – no camera can be that accurate with frame rates and also not directly in line. On the basis of that decision Kodjia needs to be careful sticking his tongue out 🙂
Seriously though, it makes a mockery of football.
Clearly we need to strengthen now and we need to be quick. Two crucial games on 18th and 21st Jan against Brighton and Watford. We cannot afford to slip up in either – both huge 6 pointers especially as the points total to stay up this season is going to be higher than normal – possibly up to 42 points needed.
Our inability to see games out and hold out against the traditional top six IMO will cost us – I think every other team has beat at least one of them apart from us.
2 strikers, 1 winger and 1 DM needed – possibly a GK depending on Heaton’s injury. We need the board to act in the next 10 days. The current squad without Wesley (for all his faults), McGinn & Heaton is too weak and paper thin.
Lot of criticism on social media of Burnley and in particular Mee following his tackle on Wesley which didn’t even merit a foul but was clearly dangerous (even though he ‘won the ball’. Similar to his tackle a year ago that broke Gomez leg – unlucky or a dangerous player?
Seems worst fears realised that Wesley will be out for rest of the season.
Looks like owners will be forced into opening the cheque book – again. Even if it’s loans there will be loan fees and additional wages to find.
I reckon we need a minimum of 4 players (excluding a GK). Hopefully Heaton has just jarred his knee rather than tearing anything but I read that we can recall Sarkic from loan which might be preferable to keeping Kalinic.
Reckless is when a player acts with disregard to the danger to, or consequences for, an opponent and must be cautioned.
Using excessive force is when a player exceeds the necessary use of force and endangers the safety of an opponent and must be sent off.
So says law 12. The referee has until he restarts play to make up his mind if a tackle meets either of the above. When the victim leaves the field on a stretcher, that should confirm that at least the first of those criteria is met. I suggest it also met the second criteria.
I can’t see us strengthening with more than 1 striker tbh – DS has shown he prefers one up front and I don’t think we’ll see Kodja leave till the summer and with Davis not far off a return, don’t think it’ll be more. Perm or loan – will be interesting to see.
I seem to remember Jota only signed a 2 year deal – so we could see a Bowen or another winger arrive. I hope so – I think that’s a real weakness for us.
I don’t understand the approach we’ve made for another CB. Yes we’ve conceded a fair number of goals – but I think that’s only been since we suffered injuries and seemed to be getting found out with no Plan B formation. Burnley showed that if we do have a Plan B, we have enough depth in defence.
For me, a Batshuayi/Grabben or anyone with Prem experience would do for me, with Bowen and some reinforcement to shore up the midfield. I know a lot of people like Hourihane – he gets goals and assists, but there’s too many other things that we need midfielders to do that he cannot – so it’s time to move on from he and Lansbury. If we get a pacey goal scoring winger, it would also free up Jota to play a more central role and occasionally take the pressure off wonder Jack.
Chelsea fans keen for us to sign Drinkwater on a permanent to offload him. One fan said they should pay us! Not a great recommendation so hopefully no truth in link. Also hopefully no truth in Sturridge link and just lazy journalism. We have enough injured players without signing another sure bet for treatment table. Whoever we sign needs sorting quickly. The nearer we get to the end of the month, the larger the transfer fee becomes.
Holte, I hate the thought of has been football player’s. Over the past few decades our club was known for old injured worn out footballers.I want my club to be what it was in my youth. Our owners will turn us around in time 🕖⤴is what I want we are Aston Villa.
Wesley out for 9 months cruciate ligament injury. Terrible blow for the young guy and for the team. These kinds of injuries can really ruin players careers if they come back with niggles or never find their confidence. A huge impact on this months’ transfer policy too.
Confirmed Heaton and Wesley out for the rest of the season. How many of our rivals will lose three key players for half a season? Will our luck never turn?
Real challenge now to stay in the EPL.
Need reinforcements and quick but what can we actually afford?
Experienced loans are now an absolute must – albeit it’s contrary to Purslow’s mantra – in times of need ……
UTV
It appears Stoke have said we can have Scott Hogan back from loan as he’s not good enough to even make the bench.
That’s it then – striker problems solved 🙂
I’d forgotten he was still on our books – another financial disaster.
Would rather we recalled O’Hare – perhaps we could swop him for Hogan!
Maybe Davis will get his long awaited run of starting games? Maybe he will score loads of goals?… maybe pigs will fly?
2 Hours Ago3rd January 2020
DEAN SMITH has insisted Manchester United target Jack Grealish is NOT for sale.
The Aston Villa boss told reporters: “I think he’s a big target for many teams and you can see why.
“He’s a top player but as I’ve said before, our owners are very ambitious and want to establish us as a top Premier League club.
“To do that you have to keep your best players, so we’ll be keeping hold of Jack Grealish.
“People can look but they can’t touch
True up,your utd. …….
I never doubted it for a second, Bill.
In fact I said exactly the same to someone trying to wind me up this morning.
We might be seeing some youngsters today according to rumours,
This comment is not Villa but amusing. I’m watching the scum play Blackburn and the attendance is about 8,000 -9,000 the FA cup game you might just as well scrap. No interest in that cup yet 40 years ago you’d need tickets, times are a changing.
i think loads of teams will play weaken teams.but i don’t mind that teams don’t want their best players injured.say grealish plays and picks up a serious injury that keeps him out of the league games.that would hinder us and not worth us risking that.
but i think the club should warn fans to expect this without giving the team. so fans can make up their minds to watch a weakened team or not. i hope we play some kids and they force their way into the 1st team. it will all help to make us competitive
You know that old saying “Be careful what you wish for?”
Before our visit to Turf Moor my main moans about the team were the continued first choice selection of Wesley and Heaton. In the worst of circumstances, and wishing both a complete recovery, I am now going to find out of the team will be better with Nyland and A N Other. Hopefully Davis is given a chance, I think his mobility will cause teams’ defences’ problems. Hourihane will have to play, because an accurate shooter from distance is needed and McGinn is out. I accept he isn’t going to be a midfield ball-winner but that role now falls to Luiz.
Davis holds the ball up well but he needs a quality strike partner. How after will we (Smith) play two up top?
We will miss Heaton’s EPL experience but, on balance, not sure I’d want to see us splash out on Butland (rumoured)!
I wish Nyland well; assume he will play against Fulham to get game time.
Confirmed that Šarkić has been recalled from his loan which suggests Kalinic will still leave and that we won’t sign any long term replacement,
Yes Nath I did see that with Kodja, didn’t go for the pass, I’m afraid that’s one of his weaknesses. Hope we go for the win today as that’s what football’s all about, no idea what the team will be hope he doesn’t throw it away with fans following the FA , I still believe in our cup matches.
was a great result at burnley, mings was inspirational, you could see and hear him shouting instructions, talking to his mates and always pointing and leading.in a interview after game he was talking about a chat they all had, with grealish stood next to him sounded like some burnley fans still in the ground shouting wanker wanker wanker, mings stopped his interview and turned to grealish said”I think that’s for you, mate.” so funny and so matey response.you can see just there how mings is as a character.
burnley were very poor that game, so lets not get carried away, good performances all around. except was not happy with kodjia we should have been three nil up lots of times. but one play left me so angry. grealish played in kodija but he doesn’t read the game or moment. he just has one thing in mind. he drove into goal and strikes at goal. when soon as he received the ball he just had to roll the ball across to a on rushing trez. this was so frustration. i knew burnley would score and that miss would haunt us. kodija is no team player we all agree and their is no place on the team for him. ppl moaned against wesley but wesley works his arse off and couldn’t catch a break. but boy did he work for the team. kodija does nothing he reminds me of a mate who we used to shone because of his selfish antics. can not see smith playing him up front. he offers zero.
fulham will be tough game if they play their first team, not sure they will so we have a chance. if we both send out the second fiddles we might see a 1 nil win but very hard to second guess what teams both will send out.
transfer window open i really wanted two wingers as el ghazi and trez have been struggling, trez had a really good game last time. but the system offered him a free role almost no defending. which suited him and boy did he use that to his advantage. i would still like to see a winger the long named brentford benrammmia sorry spelling mistake down to lappy. we need strikers do not want kodija anywhere near the first team. unless he learns the word teammate
p/s not got time to see if my typing is good today so please do not count the mistakes. lol 1 nil villa today stick your hard earned on that
Nath
I agree with your comments. I was taken aback by our victory over Burnley, but we proved we are not dead and buried yet, as I felt before the game.
Today is a free pass for the team today. Win and it’s confidence building and lose, one less distraction or further matches for the team to suffer further injuries.
Against Liverpool I was impressed by Nyland. I hope he continues in the same vain. Kodja has always been selfish and not a team player.
I wonder if Ramsey will play today?