Despite Nath’s super optimistic forecast, the stark fact is that we’ve only won one of our last 43 Premier League games against United. That came 11 years ago at Old Trafford courtesy of a goal from Agbonlahor.
But more of that later.
The positives
We completed an unbeaten December with the draw at Chelsea which also saw us move up to 5th place in the table; who would have predicted that having performed a Houdini act in Project Restart to retain our place in the EPL?
Villa still top the table in average shots per game, and the defence registered four clean sheets in December, making eight in total – again the best in the League. Dean Smith claims he has found the balance for the team and tactics and its very hard to argue against it.
Villa’s squad players have stepped up to the mark to cover for injuries and suspensions and have perhaps surprised us all. Ever since El Ghazi knocked in the late penalty against Wolves, it has lit a fire under them all. This can only bode well as when (rather than if) we suffer more injuries and suspensions players will come into the team wanting to succeed and be part of the team out on the pitch. In fact, apart from the cup game against Stoke, the level of performance from the bench has been first class.
Whilst January is a difficult transfer window, if we could pick up a couple of players to further improve the squad that would give Smith more options and opportunities to rest players when necessary.
We start 2021 in the best position we have seen for years with real competition for places – absolutely vital for any top team – an excellent management team and two owners who seem to know what they are doing and have the financial clout to deliver.
It’s good to be a Villa fan again
I feel that tonight’s game against United is the real test of how far we’ve come.
Villa have shown that they can win games playing fast flowing football which is a joy to watch but they can also scrap it out when necessary. Smith has been tactically very good this season (apart from the Leeds game that is, when maybe the Liverpool result went to our heads?) – how much of this is down to Craig Shakespeare’s influence is hard to tell.
Make no mistake, United are a good team with any number of players that can hurt Villa and we’ll need to be right on our game if we’re going to take anything away from Old Trafford. Their stats show that they like possession and to play through teams and 31 goals from 26.22 xG demonstrates their efficiency going forward – although they don’t score many goals at home – reinforcing their standing as one of the most dangerous counter attacking sides in the division. Whilst, defensively they are likely to concede a goal, they are not as weak at the back as some would like to make out.
Much like JG, Bruno Fernandes is the player that makes them tick. He has ten goals and seven assists this season and is at the heart of transitioning the play between defence and attack.
For United, Cavani is suspended and Lindelof may be absent again with a back injury. United played their last game 24 hours after Villa, so we do have the benefit of extra recuperation time. It remains to be seen whether Solskjaer rotates his squad.
Villa have Mings available after his suspension and Barkley should be available after his hamstring – should it be another no show then some questions might be asked given his injury history. If Barkley is fit then I assume he would also come into the team but who makes way – El Gahzi or Traore – or does Smith start Barkley on the bench and keep faith with those who’ve started the last few games?
Will Mings comes straight back into the team? To drop Hause would be very harsh on the big defender who has shown an all round improvement in his game, but how badly would the team miss Mings organisational skills? Is it madness to question Ming’s inclusion in the team or does it demonstrate the current strength in the squad right now?
United are on a nine game unbeaten run whilst Villa have gone five unbeaten. Smith has to get it tactically spot on tonight and the players have to be on their game from the off if we to get anything from the game.
United are undoubtedly Villa’s nemesis and tonight might be as much about psychology as ability. The law of averages would suggest we are due a bit of luck and a win but probability would have it otherwise.
2020 has been a terrible year for so many people but we can look forward to 2021 with renewed hope, the end of lockdowns and the return of fans to Villa Park.
Happy New Year
Snooze and you loose. UTV
I despise Pogba.
Pelican legs.
Feck.
Another homer soft penalty given to United
no way is that a pen b/s utd guy trips himself
That was my view as well Nath but when we play United we always seem to have to play the ref as well,
He kicked himself
why have we got only one win in 20 or 40 years at old trafford cause you play aginst ref and two linemen and now var as well as utd team
Soft penalty but Luiz is stupid for sticking his leg in there when he didn’t need to. Never going to be over turned.
If you look at the replay Adam, Luiz doesn’t actually stick his leg in anywhere.He is matching Pogba, stride for stride, whilst both him and Pogba put there arm across each other, Pogba kicks the back of Luiz’s leg, which then leads to Pogba kicking the back of his own right leg, with his left leg. He then goes down. Michael Oliver should have decided to go to VAR, whether he gave it or not, because that is what the bloody thing is there for
Watkins so needs a goal. His confidence is shattered.
Gerry, I think he’s shattered full stop.
We should rest him and a few others for the Cup game – sadly, these days the league is far more important.
Hitch, I was about to say exactly the same thing!!! He runs his arse off every game!!!
Proud proud proud, what a game, we made them work and believe me we have a football team , well done the lads ..
very very disappointed tonight not with villa we improved second half, we went stopped over playing at added a end product ie shot at goal on target. what pisses me off is how the fook can anybody beat utd when they get some many handouts off the ref. villa had to be shot down to get free kicks while all villa had to do was step on the utd shadows to infringe.
so angry i think at least we deserved a point here. that penalty was no where near a pen. first off the utd player tripped over his own feet. another point he has his arm across luiz. commentary say luiz had hold of utd diver. well if i had my arm across you hold you at bay you are gonna hold me back, no where a pen.
utd will get beat by pool next, cause utd wont be given 100% off every decisions. tonight they got everything and gifted wrapped the points motm was referee for utd was outstanding how shaw avoided yellow until 80 plus minutes is a joke matic came on just to foul and did that brilliantly collecting a yelllow after about 5 or 6 blatant yellows b/s game
What a let down villa making Same mistake as last year not having another striker to call on.
We played well but always uphill after mings calamity again.
I thought Smith said that if you playing well you keep the shirt why bring back mings for hause stupid management. Not happy with the new year start on way back down?
Really wasn’t a bad performance at all. Think we are lacking that 2nd striker. Much like Wolves, we easily could have got something from this game. Even last minute, Davis has a shot blocked that was destined to make it 2-2. Time to relax a little. We nearly got relegated last season. This season we have had results we would only have dreamt of and sitting nicely in the table almost half way through the season. There is not 1 person that wouldn’t have taken this situation at the start of last season. So fairway to us we have bought well, developed well and have a fantastic team ethic. A young team that can improve plenty.
A really good game, and the only way Utd could win was the usual iffy Penalty. Martinez nearly had that too. We matched them throughout, de Gea had to deal with more on target efforts than Martinez.
Our corners were good but the free kick delivery into the box is not going to pay dividends when Mings and Watkins cannot head the ball into goal accurately when under pressure, only Konsa can.
While on the subject of scoring under pressure, Watkins doesn’t. The goals he scores are when he has plenty of room, and generally when he gets a chance in the box he has a defender right with him. Laying the ball back to McGinn or Douglas Luiz and hoping they can shoot from distance may be better.
Pogba fouled himself. I was certain VAR would overrule it but stupid me….it’s Man Ure.
I honestly think we are good enough to be top 4, we are fighting Man utd fans from yesterday ere’s, refs are fans linesman are fans commentator are fans , we have nothing to be disappointed today we could have knick it but for Pogba tripping himself and fowl not given in parts of the game.
You know your team went to Old Trafford and lost 2-1 but your still proud of them. You know where they went wrong and why they lost but your still proud of them. You know that they frightened the shite out of man utd and were just unlucky and you remember in recent seasons that they could not compete and now you know that no team is safe from Villa beating them. It’s galling but you can cope. Well done lads. And for feck sake sort out this website.
Cant really fault that performance today. Thought all of the players did really well against a good and confident team. Konsa, Cash and Luiz exceptional. Traore was a bit of a passenger, especially in the first half, but hard to really fault any of the others. Barkley would have maybe made a difference in the final third, but all in all that was a good performance spoiled by a terrible decision.
1st half showing is has happened a few times now .I said tonight we will come out and play our game 2nd half. When club analyse this and a few other recent games they may go all out for someone to help out up top.
the only reason villa lost that game last night was utd referee. it was so obvious i txt a reply to mate on 10 minutes you have 12 men with that homer referee, in first ten mcginn got wiped out but no foul and grealish won a throw in opposite side but utd had a free kick. to which the co commentary jim beglin (twat) said well grealish now knows how it feels, to have a player fake a foul and go down easy as fred fell down. i said after chelsea the commentary always mention grealish going down it happens first ten minutes. the ref was up utd arses all game. i saw podga trip himself intentionally to win pen and replay confirms that but no var asking ref to look at monitors to make sure of his decision. also davis last minutes where he almost scored the utd defender handles the ball and his arms are not in a natural position but no official sees that. but within minutes of the game ending utd fans on their site highlight key points in video. it showed both pen and handball both decisions aided them and hindered us.
thats my bitching out the way. first half i thought we were too passive, we over played our game, i think some of them were in awe of the stadium of opposing players. we allowed the game to become a chess match and utd were slightly better team playing at the slower tempo. second half we addressed this and we got back to our aggressive style and finally tested their goalie more and had utd on the ropes with fine play. in my heart of hearts i was beaming with pride of how we played. we should have got something out of that game.
i am still deflated about the result, i am proud of my team and had that been any other team in the world we played last night we would have gotten a result. we played the one club that have 4 extra players referee two linesmen and var all had utd shirts on and where their better plyers on the night, good luck to them cheating fookers
Even with my normal Villa bias, it was blatantly obvious that the referee was not going to give us anything last night.
Matic came on and failed to connect with the ball once – seemed more intent in deliberately kicking our players – how he only got a yellow for persistent foul play is beyond me.
And don’t get me started on the penalty – VAR is an absolute farce and should be fined and banned for ten games for ‘bringing the game into disrepute’.
It hurts but at last we have a team we can be proud off and are worthy of the shirt – long may it last.
Onwards and upwards.
UTV
matic did about 4 or 5 yellow card fouls and only received a yellow at end of game. he was sent on to stop grealish
Another step forward in our learning curve. The team know that they have beaten Liverpool, Leicester, Arsenal and took a point off Chelsea away, with a tired team. On another day we could have run out winners at Old Trafford. Our team is starting to look like a team who know they belong at the top table of the Premier League. Well done to all those involved in our development.
It will be interesting to see if we buy another this transfer window. Smith is very clear sighted and wants at least 2 quality players in every position.
What I feel passionately against at the moment is the paper driven / Sky view Grealish needs to be at a Champions League Club. I dislike this entitlement that exists to keep Man Utd / Chelsea / Man City / Liverpool snapping up any talent. As it’s a sin that a quality player does not join them.
I believe that within 2 years, at the current rate of development we will be aiming a Champions League place.
Thought we were very good last night. It’s nice to see a Villa team that obviously feels it can compete against Utd. So many times in the last 20 years or more you can see we were just trying to hold on and as soon as we went behind the game was over.
Some tough games coming now so hope we continue this form and pick up a few points. Then, with confidence still high we can look forward to some “easier” points.
Disappointed by the defeat but proud of the team
One of the papers the Daily Star .co.UK saying Pogba was caught telling Luke Shaw he should have dived in the box, and statements saying Pogba did just that. Worth a read lads.
See Luiz has posted a ‘criticsm’ of the penalty decision on Twitter. Whilst Ali think he’s absolutely right, knowing how patronisingly self righteous the football authorities are, I just hope he doesn’t get into trouble and attract a ban.
The authorities should be listening to all the criticisms of VAR from every part of footballs family instead of cocking a deaf ear and believing they’re above everyone else.
Controlled rant over.