This is going to be a quick post as I have a lot on my plate at present.
Villa’s first team squad will not have played for 19 days since the 1-2 reverse at United. Bodymoor Heath was only reopened on Sunday and it would seem that not all the first team squad will be fit for selection tomorrow. Whilst the players will be rested they will be lacking match fitness and the after effects of the Covid outbreak.
Whilst Smith is trying to maintain a positive outlook, pointing to our excellent away form as a marker, the reality is that we’re going to be seriously disadvantaged against a team that is looking to secure its sixth straight win in the EPL and that without Aguero.
Our recent record against Citeh is about as atrocious as it can get and whilst OLL makes a valid point about self belief, I share Adams concerns. Having said that, I have no doubt that whatever team Smith is able to put out, they will give their all for the shirt and no fan can ask for more than that.
Before the Brighton game, Badger put up a poll for forecasting the number of points Villa would get from the ensuing 7 games which, with the Newcastle postponement, became 6. We eventually secured 10 points in what was to become an unbeaten December and a MoTM award for Dean Smith. I’m not able to put up a poll but it would be interesting to get your views on how many points we will get from the next 6 games. It’s a tough run of fixtures and I would guess 6 to 9 points would be a decent return.
On the transfer rumour mill – ignoring the obvious lazy journalism – Phil McNulty wrote a piece on the BBC web site this morning claiming that we had opened talks with Marseille over midfielder Morgan Sanson. Now I don’t profess to know anything about him but reports suggest that a number of premier league clubs are interested in him. It would seem his transfer value has dropped from around £25m to £15m and he’s likely to demand a lower wage than say David Brooks from Bournemouth although it’s interesting that Bournemouth have just resigned Jack Wilshire – is Brooks on his way out?
Whatever the reality, with Smith favouring Jacob Ramsey it seems that Hourihane’s days at the club may be numbered.
It’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks.
if i were smith i would refuse to answer to sky or any national press . he will only get into more trouble . i would say i received a red card so that was what i thought and i have nothing else to say.
By the rules of the law if Mings ‘deliberately’ plays the ball then their player is no longer offside and is back in play. Peter Walton (former referee) initially said offside before he had to look up the latest rule book. Probably the amendment was made during the game! It’s annoying that we defended so well until Mings made his obligatory error. Ferdinand was right in saying he should have cleared it rather than try to control it.
On a positive note I think everyone put in a great shift. We were under the cosh a lot and Targett was excellent. I felt Cash gave Foden far too much space and allowed him to dribble into the penalty area uncontested too easily. Traore didn’t exactly back him up either. That’s where Trezeguet does a better job.
I hope we have enough left in the tank to go again on Saturday! Hell, I’m starting to reel off Paul Lambert phrases.
I’ll say it till the cows come home!! Time to get referees from out of England and get Irish, Welsh, Scottish, and French if we have to, the English FA is corrupt Dirty Doug knew that when he got involved with them. The FA tried to say Mings because he played the ball put the player back on,!! Fu#king rubbish all this blowing the whistle when the players receive a ball on off side now it’s if a player plays a ball he’s not.? Ok in future when offside let the other player play the ball!, you counter not being off side. What the fu#k they’re on about? Bleeding twats. .
new rules how about if you hit the post its two goals or if you score from your own half its 5 goals lmao or why don’t we stop making new rules weekly and just implement the ones we have correctly, referee can not follow /keep up now so lets sack fat overweight blind officials, if they make a mistake they are suspended. linemen now do not bother to flag offside. the game is getting like american football video refereeing. 1st down or 4th and inches video decide
had the villa game kickoff been on the utd fulham slot the game may have been called off cause since the game ended snow has covered the ground and its pretty heavy. see you all in a hour or two when we play newcastle lol anyways we will be happy that day cause we are bigger than them so we will get the dodgy decisions if we need them. but hey we are villa and we don’t need your help
Once again I am fuming, and once again it has nothing to do with our players! What a horrific decision. Its offside, simple as that.
Great defensive performance by Villa, especially given who we were playing, and that we hadnt played for over 2 weeks. Fully expect us to turn over newcastle this weekened even if we have to rotate the squad a little.
Badger has had enough of football, and many more of us are getting to that point also, The farcical decisions you see week in week out on tv, not just Villa but but all the teams below the so called big six. Are a disgrace, it used to be you had to beat 11 men the it was you had to beat 12 men as the home crowd was like an extra man. but these days you have to beat 11 men, the ref and VAR.
And its getting so blatant these days that fans will start switching off in there thousands and find other things to spend there money on soon
so the big business interests running the game now, where will you get your millions in income then.
If it wasn’t for the villa playing so well at the moment, i think i would give up now..
So a goal can be disallowed for a player claimed to be obstructing the view of a goalkeeper even though he doesn’t play the ball but a player can stand in an offside position, run back and take the ball off a defender and he’s not offside – goal stands.
Absolute madness.
Lots of interesting comments re the game tonight.
I want to say how proud I am to be a villa supporter at the moment.
And what a brilliant match this was brilliant attacking and brilliant defending by both sides and it deserved a nil nil score.
Unfortunately the memory of the match and the end of the game was ruined by blatant cheating by the officials and the premier League and Man city by showing no sportsmanship by a player offside and then able to tackle the defender. Why aren’t the linesmen allowed to flag as soon as the ball left the players foot which is what they used to do.
The end of the match ruined because either side could have won it at the time of the cheating. The cheating settled the match there and then.
I was not sure about Smith before but he has definitely taken to the premier League now. Maybe if the cheating stopped we could become challengers again with Smith and our brilliant owner’s utv
A disappointing end to an absorbing match. I sort of get why the goal stood but it’s just another case of the offside law being so complicated that even experienced refs could call it differently.
Mings had a very good game but that goal was ultimately caused by him being too casual. It’s cost us before and will cost us again.
I thought we were excellent throughout. Good to get Barkley back but he was guilty of trying stupid flicks that lost us possession on several occasions. It’s hard enough against City to get and keep possession without that.
Anyway, onwards and upwards. Hopefully the next few games will see a few more points added. The game would have been important for improving our fitness levels. I hope Targett recovers quickly because he has been brilliant.
Whats the chances….this was a new thing for 99% of people…refs included and it happens twice at same time…only Villa get punished…..
https://twitter.com/karlfrankham1/status/1352007887577616387?fbclid=IwAR1IuKBe8u6Tegzz-Nv65FF00MX7UIsOLaJy3Uey9A66alRqIAdg6_oQVaA
Correct. It is exactly the same. The City player had not regained an on-side position before tackling Mings and it is not possible to interpret what happened as Mings passing the ball to him, or that Mings played the ball after the player returned to on-side.
It’s not the point, unfortunately. Once Mings has possession the City player is entitled to tackle him for possession which he can only do running back towards his own goal (a natural movement apparently). It’s not right and it’s a fluke occurrence. It’s no different in a sense to a player in an offside position having the ball played to him by a member of his own team but a defender deliberately trying to intercept it and slicing it to the attacker. He is onside even though he was offside when the ball was first played.
I think if offside had been given straight away nobody on either side would have had a problem with it.
It should be changed as it’s clearly a loophole. I guess we only really notice it for our own club but these sorts of things do seem to hurt us disproportionately.
The law states:
‘A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately plays the ball ……is not considered to have gained an advantage…’
The crux of the wording is ‘receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately plays the ball’.
Rodi did not receive the ball from a deliberate play by Mings – he returned from an offside position and tackled Mings so clearly gaining an advantage from being offside in the first place. Hence he created an offence of being offside.
The law actually covers the circumstances where a player can be ‘played on(side)’ by a defender which is well established in the game.
Jon Moss is probably the worst referee in the EPL at present and VAR is a complete and utter waste of space.
The subsequent pathetic and embarrassing attempts by tame referees and the fawning media to justify the decision and therefore Moss and VAR is nothing short of a farce.
Heaven help football if this is how VAR and substandard refereeing is going to change the game in the future.
And it’s absolutely clear that Rodi is standing in an offside position when Mings first plays the ball.
Exactly Hitch, it opens the door for other players to do that very same move.
I wish the whole of the footballing community would get up a partition and get the FA. to get their act together.
Moss stats.
If you open Microsoft Edge browser and search for John Moss referee stats one of the possible sites is TRANSFERMARKT. It is German but it covers all EPL stats in English. I applied filters to get Moss’ record reffing Villa in EPL fixtures over 10 years.
Villa 6 wins 13 defeats 2 draws. Average would be 36 points a season so relegation knife edge. Yellow cards Villa 44 opponents 36. Red cards 1 each. Penaties for Villa 3 for opponents 9.
Dean Smith has been charged by the FA for using insulting/abusive language towards a match official in the game against Manchester City last night. [sky sports] #avfc
It’s obviously clear that all media, referees, officials and the idiots who operate VAR will do absolutely anything to maintain the big six. They would hate an unfashionable club from the midlands to break up the pecking order. Badger is right in being disillusioned with the game. I have lost track of how many times we have been screwed over in the last season and a half. Clubs like Citeh don’t need added help with the quality of their squad. It seems like that no one is answerable to these decisions either. I almost expect us to get a decision against us in the big games now. It’s all a big bad joke.
Not only getting disillusioned with football but its starting to make me ill. The last few at West Ham…Man U and last night have not left my mind resulting in hardly any sleep with my head trying to work out how I can do things to change all this. Of course non of us can do a single thing and just have to suck it up.
Would love the club to do a counter charge against the Prem for them bringing the game into disrepute Re: their officials and of course VAR……They surely cant be a total dictatorship !!
Your the same as me villaaway from home, I feel sick when I can see we have had refs robbing us because its Villa, Why do clubs and players give us the cold shoulder, we have one of the best grounds in the league ,we treat our players well in fact on coming love the place. Yet the FA and their band of brainless robots hate us. Mybe theres back handers going on and we dont participate, something don’t add up with the decisions we get . I’ll never turn my back on the club what ever, but always defend Villa because truth be known the football league owes us as we are the founder member of their League and FA.in its history.
A wonderful discussion about the game and all in favour that the FA got it wrong. Darren Bent , Ian Wright, both saying to sit down a take a look at the flag not being raised and hand ball rule that robbed Villa. This was on Bein Sports 11, Ian Wright saying Villa has had rash decisions and the reply from the interviewers saying it looks like they favour the top 6 clubs more than the others, Wright said Villa a good side and bad decisions could stop them with international games, Fair Play Ian glad someone else seeing how the game is being ruined by stupidity of bad rule in football.
Can you remember brain dead Lineacre saying something like ” a return to the bad old days” when we ran on pitch after beating Albion….then “what joyous scenes” when it happened on other grounds especially King Power…
Louie Barry scorse hatrick against Norwich , two pens and late goal.
good to see barry amongst the goals again. loads of posters want to see him progress into the first time. personally i think we should wait for the manager to agree. smith will promote him in a blink of a eye when he is ready. i personally think he needs more time to physically develop. he looks alittle lightweight. but as for skills the kid is defiantlygood enough and will make the grade
looking forwards to a fair game today. no biased referee gonna screw us cause we might hurt their top 6 love childs. btw i was really happy against city the grit and determination we showed was unbelievable. saying that we were not match fit and we had to alter our game slightly to last the 90. we matched a top side which will probably go on to win the league. no shame in that one bit. but listening to smith i love how he was not entirely happy. he is correct mind you. he wanted more from us on the ball and that is great a manager who is not after a honourable defeat he wants perfection and if we lose then clap the opposition. trust me we are going places fast.
newcastle are in a dreadful run at minute and they are very low on confidence, they might have that saint maxi back today who is a really handy player. but as long as we recovered well. i can see us dominating the ball well and scoring a few goals. we are been performing really good before the covid and we returned really good imo so i expect us to cruise this one after a fast start.
villa 3 utd 0
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jan/23/ezri-konsa-i-havent-got-any-secret-its-just-about-learning-my-trade
A good read…
I think it would be a good idea to start putting Barry on the bench. Who thinks out of Davis or Barry is most likely to score for us? As for being lightweight well look at Foden at Citeh! Fact is if you’re good enough then you’re old enough. Didn’t Klopp mention he is a young Jamie Vardy. He would be useful playing on the shoulder of a defender if we are winning and opposition are taking risks. Modern day football suits players who are quick and agile. Agbonlahor’s career went downhill when he started working out at the gym and he lost his main asset, pace!
As for today’s game I think it will be tougher than most fans are predicting. I think adrenaline got a lot of the players through Wednesdays game. I think they will will find it physically more demanding playing a second game in 4 days. Bruce will make them difficult to beat because that’s how he sets up plus they will be fighting for survival.
I’m predicting a 2-1 win although I’m slightly nervous because we are expected to win.
VILLA AGREE £14M SANSON FEE
Aston Villa have agreed a fee with Marseille for Morgan Sanson.
Villa will pay £14m, with the fee potentially rising to £15.5m with add ons.
The France midfielder is expected to arrive in Birmingham next week.
dont know if this is true or just b/s its on sky sports if they are credible.
but he seems like a decent midfielder all rounder which seems to be the smith way players that can play many positions well
Hi Nath
Good spot. I am impressed with the methodical approach Villa are taking in building the squad. Hourihane gave his all for the club but doesn’t cut it as a top quality Premier player. Sanson comes in improving the team allowing Hourihane to go to Swansea and sold at the end of the season. The plus is that Ramsey is making the breakthrough.
Strategically I think Sanson signing sends a message to Chelsea we will sign Barkley at a reasonable price or we can afford to walk away. Also, it provides cover for Luiz if Man City activate the buy back clause. If they don’t, then I can see Nakamba being sold in the summer.
It’s all hotting up for an interesting summer.
May I clear up the ‘buy back’ clause? Many people fear it means that a club who have sold a player and been paid in full (that is important) can somehow force the buying club to sell the player back to the selling club, at the whim of the selling club.
That is untrue, and falls foul of the core of contract law. ONLY IF the buying club decides to sell-on the player does the original agreement come into play. OR if the buying club has not completed its payment to the selling club. In this case the buying club must offer the player to the club that sold him at the agreed buy back price, before accepting an offer from a third club.
So if Villa never put Douglas Luiz up for sale City cannot buy him back. End of story.
OLL I understand your logic but can there not be a clause in the contract which specifically states that both parties to the contract agree that the seller has an option to trigger a buy back at an agreed price within a specified period of time? This would then become a condition of sale which I assume would also be reflected in Douglas Luis’ contract.
That’s my understanding of how these clauses work in football – and it’s one that Barcelona insert quite often when selling their younger players.
I suspect the critical part is the agreed sell back amount which shows a guaranteed return to the buying club.
Such a clause would act a little like a release clause in a players’ contract should an offer be received in excess of a specified figure.
No, such a clause is not legal in England. It should also fall foul of football’s rules about loans. If the selling club can take back the player against the wishes of the buying club for a cash consideration they have not sold the player, they have only loaned him out for a rent. I do not know if Barcelona can do as you say legally under Spanish Law or if there is a special arrangement for Minors.
Thanks OLL.
Effectively they have a first refusal on any sale but at an agreed price.