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Aston Villa News and Views News Man Utd – Villa; Could be make or break.

Man Utd – Villa; Could be make or break.

24 May 202524 May 2025| Badger123Badger123| 137 Comments| 10:00 PM
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This final game of the season isn’t just about qualifying for the Champions league.

It is of course about that as well, but perhaps more importantly, it could be a very big pointer as to which direction the club takes over the next few years.

First off, let’s put simply what we need for us to actually qualify. We need to win and either Chelsea or Newcastle drop a point against Forest and Everton respectively. Either that, or Man City have to lose at Fulham.

Any other combination won’t be enough and that worries me, (everything worries me with the Villa), but I certainly don’t think it’s impossible. Everton are a very tough side to beat. Forest could still pinch our current Europa league place so still have something to play for. And Man City have improved of late, but they still seem liable to being beaten by anyone.

So it’s a big ask and I’m not even going to discuss our record against Man U. We’ve had the worst record of any club against them since the Prem was formed. Enough said.

I’ve been saying for months that qualifying for the Champions League was the most single important thing, apart from winning it this year and we’re very soon going to see why.

If we qualify, It’s all sweetness and roses. We might have to part with one top player, but the revenue should be adequate, albeit maybe £50 million light as a pure guess.

But failing to qualify will slash our revenue. The Champions league earned the club just over £45 million this season, but it’s more than just that. It’s the sponsorship and the prestige too. And then, being in it massively improves our pulling power. Or just as importantly, in my opinion, our ability to hold onto players.

I know Martinez looked like he was a goner last week and he definitely looks like he might be off, as it makes perfect sense to me, but I don’t think for one minute he’s made his mind up. He’s happy here. His kids look at Brum as home and apparently his missus has just set up a clothes shop in Tamworth. Of course, 300 grand a week in Saudi can easily turn people’s heads, but keeping the missus happy might prove just as important (I’m clutching at straws, aren’t I?).

But if we already have to flog one player and we don’t qualify, I can see that turning into two or maybe even three players leaving. Say, two of Martinez, Watkins and Rogers and probably Mings too, if rumours are to be believed. And Tielemens is also being mentioned too.

As much as I trust Emery and Monchi to bring decent replacements in, that sort of loss would be a major setback. I’m quite happy for us to do a Rogers, in getting a player in cheap, improving him and then flogging him in short time for a fat profit, but I definitely don’t want to see us having to rip a big chunk out of the team. You need at least a decent amount of stablity.

So this is the biggest game since, er, the last big game. And we’ve had a few this season, haven’t we?

Squad news and Rashford is out , but importantly Youri Tielemens has a fair chance of being at least on the bench after Emery reported that he’s trained since Friday. Jacob Ramsay is available after his suspension.

As for Man U, Leny Yoro probably won’t be risked. Lisandro Martinez is out, as is Matthijs de Ligt.

I think the fact that I’ve never heard of two of those players says it all about how the Reds are in freefall and I also believe that we’re easily capable of beating Man Utd.

The big problem I have is our disgusting record against them.

Even so, it doesn’t really matter to some extent. We win, and the show goes on until the other teams have finished.

We lose and I’ll be close to tears. Yes, the Villa still have the ability to do that to me.

I’m going for a scappy 2-1 win, although I’d love to see us put five past them.

UTV!

137 thought on “Man Utd – Villa; Could be make or break.”

  1. Question: if Tyrone Mings plays, do Aston Villa:
    a. Get to the FA Cup Final?
    b. The Champions League semi final?
    c. Qualify for the Champions League?
    d. Win a trophy?
    e. All of the above?

    The evidence based answer suggests…
    Considering Unai’s obsessive analysis, why is this consistently missed? Our hardest match in the run-in was Bournemouth away. We came away with 3 points and a clean sheet. (I won’t mention the broken jaw). Then he’s out of the team again. The Konsa-Mings partnership is as good as it gets for PL level defensive solidity. It’s up there with McGrath-Teale, and Ehiogu-Southgate. Why Unai? Why?

    1. Either a niggly injury or forward thinking, BFR, at a guess.
      Mings only has a year left, I believe and I don’t think there’s a chance we’ll re-sign him, so he’ll probably be off while he has some value.
      I’ve come to the same conclusion as anyone else now. Pau is never going to prove good enough as a CB.

  2. So, Villa have made an official complaint to PGMOL about the appointment of Thomas Brammal as referee. The Premier League decides that all of the Final Day Results are declared void and are ordered to be replayed. We are 5-0 up at Old Trafford and both City and Newcastle are out of the top Five. Then……..oh sod it, my alarm has just woken me up.
    Now the real life situation.
    The PGMOL apologises. Nothing changes. We have to sell two or three players to comply with PSR and in the meantime City escape adequate punishment for their 115 charges, allowing them to compete in the CL.
    Meanwhile, Thomas Brammal is given a suspension but is later allowed back on the Premier League list.
    What do Villa think making a complaint is going to change ?

  3. The complaint by Villa to the PGMOL will probably see a rule change whereby VAR can overrule a decision even if the referee has blown up beforehand. And you can bet that would probably happen against us!
    Regarding the referee Brammal, I don’t actually blame him as it wasn’t his fault he was chosen for such an important game. The decision to choose him was probably based on Manure with nothing to play for rather than what we needed. Like everyone doing a job early days, he will make mistakes and hopefully for his sake will learn from them. Unfortunately it’s Villa who have to pay the price of his mistake.

    1. And that’s the problem Holte. Refs shouldn’t be cutting their teeth in this level of game. They have years to gain the experience at lower, albeit very important, levels.

  4. I have waited to comment as, like many here, I was disappointed and feeling quite negative about the season. Then I had a thought.

    I was fuming because Villa didn’t make the CL.

    Just think on that for a moment. Before Emery we hadn’t had a sniff of CL for many decades and now we’re disappointed that we’ve only made Europa League.

    For me such expectations show how far we’ve come since Emery took over.

    1. Good point. But we were screwed. Does anyone believe United would have won 2-1 with 15 minutes to go? More than likely we’d have held on for 1-0 or even added another. Worse case they equalise and we qualify. Screwed.
      Sue them, please…we’re being screwed by the FFP rules and now, when we’re in a position to bring the big bucks in, they screw us again. We’re running out of holes.
      Sue them.

        1. Who’s he f****** waving at? His gran?
          “Look at me, granny! I’m a cheating c***! And this ref’s a f****** moron!”

        2. Exactly as I describe it in my earlier post. Thanks BFR for this splendid clip from a different angle to the TV footage. As Dallo jumps sideways into the penalty box his left foot certainly and possibly right foot are not within playing distance of the ball.
          The histrionics and the cheating are all carefully taught. I imagine they have dress rehearsals at Carrington.
          What is needed is a directive to referees from their own association to treat this scenario as obstruction by the attacker. As soon as they do that the practice will stop.

  5. Controversy does seem to follow Villa around more often than with other teams!

    1. Well, we follow Villa so notice ours, but I think you are right. My earliest memory is of Brian Little’s ‘goal’ at Filbert St, which prompted the outlawing of the 3 foot narrow goals at QPR, Leicester and others. That match remains the only one in my life where the spectators had 2 different views of the final score [1-2, 2-1] a dispute only settled by the appearance of the sports paper stating 1-1.

  8. Interesting thoughts from John Townley about Villa’s transfer activity this summer.

    He lists the following likely transfers – Martinez, Bailey, ‘Ned Kelly’ (£12m to RB Leipzig), Moreno, Buendia and Digne (high earner with just a year left) will earn Villa over £100m without having to sell any other key senior players.

    He’s adamant Villa will not sell Rogers – the deal with Middlesbrough was £8m rising to £15m with add-ons and a 20% sell on clause.

    We also have loanees like Barrachea that might also be sold on as it’s clear that we do need to reduce our bloated wages bill.

    If we do have PSR issues then expect plenty of outgoings before the end of June!

    1. Sad to say but I believe Ramsey should be sold for 50+. We might regret it but he hasn’t been the player we saw 2 years ago, even under Gerrard.

  9. If you remember any phrase from the introduction of VAR it is “Clear and obvious error”. In this case the clear and obvious error is the referee whistled too soon, so the premature whistle should not be the end of the story. VAR should be able to watch what happens next before deciding. In most cases the whistle will cause some players to stop playing and therefore no change by VAR officials is possible. In this case though – nobody could possibly have intercepted Rogers shot on goal which happened as the ref blew. So VAR’s mandate to reverse clear and obvious errors should allow them to let this goal stand.
    It won’t surprise me if this becomes policy.

    1. Correct. = negligence = sue them. A half-decent lawyer should be able to make a strong case. A good one should take them to the cleaners…

    2. Very interesting analysis OLL – remains to be seen whether the ‘rules’ are changed.

  11. Man Utd beaten 1-0 by a Malasyan all star team and booed from the field. Sort of says it all.

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