Cardiff 0 – 0 Villa; Better, but only a point.

I’ll hold my hands up and admit I’ve had an extremely brief glance at some of the comments on here, made while the game was being played.
I don’t know why I did, but I did.
It’s something I normally specifically avoid, because I like to post my own opinion and then see what you think.

Anyway, it would appear that it doesn’t matter, as just as I was in a minority for the Sunderland game, it seems I’m going to be in the same minority tonight. The comments haven’t swayed me.

Cutting to the chase, I think we played pretty well.
No, I don’t think we were brilliant, but we were OK.

Why?
Mainly because of the entertainment value.

We played with a lot more width than we normally do and at times, stroked the ball around pretty well, mostly due to the increased space that the 4-4-2 gave us.
For me it was an absolute pleasure to watch us knocking the ball forward, as opposed to us constantly going sidewards and backwards, as we’ve been prone to do in most of our previous games.

Yes, you can complain that we still mostly went long to Benteke and even the fact that everything else went through Albrighton to try and put it on Benteke’s head (a tactic that struck me as just as one-dimensional as the long ball punt).
But it made for better viewing, in my opinion.
You can’t beat going wide and getting a ball in the box for me, even though I know it’s an old fashioned tactic.
I guess I struggle to get past Shankley’s comment about it being a simple game.

Of course, Cardiff obliged in making it an open game, as they went for it just as much as us and while on the face of it, they hit the woodwork twice, I never really worried about us conceding, which makes a change.
But then, even with Benteke winning everything in the air, I was never convinced we’d score either.

I thought both defences did well overall, with Ron Vlaar really starting to demonstrate his “concrete” nickname. I thought Baker did ok too, but I still have serious doubts about Bacuna as a defender.

The big disappointment for me, was Gabby.
As much as I like him, I thought he was shocking today. Whether that’s down to fitness or him carrying a knock or whatever, it just has to be said. His touch was poor and he was mostly totally invisible.

Not that I’m going to concentrate on negatives.
It’s another point towards whatever we need to keep us up, regardless of if you think it’s two dropped.
And it could have been worse, as I’m sure nobody would really have been massively surprised if we’d lost this one.

I’m sorry if you think I’m wrong, but that’s what we’re all about isn’t it?
Debate, that is.

As for the £20, I’ll probably roll it over to the next game.