That was as poor a Villa – Man Utd game as I can recall, and I’ve seen a few.
So what went wrong?
I’d suggest not a lot really.
Both teams were fairly poor and obviously not quite up to speed, but Utd generally looked the better side, purely because of their better standard of player.
Yes, it galls me to say that, but that’s how it is, plain and simple.
Memphis threatened and looked a class apart, from an attacking point of view, for example.
The first half was ok overall, but we basically created nothing.
Utd were similar, but slightly better and they opened us up, for Junuzaj to get a deflection that left Guzan with no chance.
The goal was lucky, but the defence yet again didn’t look to be set up correctly.
Micah Richards seemed to be at fault for the actual goal, but he looked ok overall in the game, so I’m loathe to point him out.
Come the second half, we looked livelier, but I still had the feeling that we had little to offer.
Gabby and Ayew weren’t getting in the game and I found myself wishing that we had a Grealish or Gil in there to link the Midfield and attack.
In fairness, Ayew did put himself about, but I didn’t think he was particularly effective.
As opposed to Gabby, who did little at all yet again.
That’s the difference between those two, in my opinion; Ayew at least tries to help out, but what does Gabby do?
I don’t see it.
Gestede came on and we tried more long ball; a tactic that hadn’t worked in the first half.
Why we even tried that with Gabby and Ayew, I’m not sure and it should have been changed way earlier, although in fairness, we had no Gil or Grealish to bring on and they’re both a decent option lost.
Man of the match?
Armavi again.
He looks like a proper player and will probably prove to be the next Benteke type saga.
Comments
131 responses to “Villa 0 – 1 Man utd; An expected result?”
What i’ve deliberately left out is that we knocked the ball around nicely at times, with confidence and intent.
Ok, it didn’t work out today, but I can see the makings of at least a mid table side.
It was gueye responsible for goal not Richards. He just let him run of him into box
Agreed that Gana didn’t go with the runner because he was already knackered (after 30 minutes!) but Richards dived in when he didn’t need to. Combination of two errors which is normally fatal.
Also, Clark was marking space, as per usual.
We knocked the ball around nicely in our own half and back 4 looked pretty solid, but we lacked any penetration in the final third. Very disappointed with the front 3 again. We have to have a creative player in there (gil, grealish…). Ayew I think will take time to settle in but I think we will come good.
How Gabby gets in the squad let alone the first XI is beyond me. I dont know what he gives the team.
On a positive note, Amavi was fantastic again as was RIchards (bar for their goal) and the midfield are getting better each game (you can see they just lack a bit of match fitness)
Onwards and upwards
Strange assessment of Memphis, he did nothing which is about the same as he did against Spurs. I do agree that was one of the poorest Villa / United games I’ve seen.
We are looking to pay the ball out from the back but it’s a bit too slow. We should have started with Gestede tonight – batter and bruise them early, then play on the counter in the second half. I thought we played some tidy stuff in parts but will always be limited with gabby on the field.
There are some positives to be taken from today, defence looks more assured, Guzan looked solid, we’ve got some good footballers – the future is bright.
Agree, not sure who you were watching badger but memphis was poor and a country mile away from being a class apart. Mata carried for more threat.
Amavi looked decent but we need a new centre half who can carry the ball out at the back. It was painful watching Richards try and try he did without being terrible but neither Clark or he can do that job.
Front 3 we crap and gabby only there due to his superior fitness at moment. Grealish and gil will certainly replace him and sinclair and I think that will make a big difference
I thought Amavi was a bit sloppy at times and gave the ball away cheaply. Back 4 looks more solid with him in there though. Nothing much between the two sides. 1-0 to Utd probably a fair result as they at least had a couple of shots on goal. We need a creative spark. I fancy Traore to start the next game. Not sure we should have taken Sinclair off rather than Gabby. Why not try 4-4-2?!
I thought it was a 4-4-2 mostly, if you take Gabby out of it?
Whatever, you can bet your boots Traore will start at the first chance, imo.
And rightly so, after watching today’s performance,
We need to get at teams quicker, for the thinking to work
I’m very excited to see Traore, with Gil back in favour and Jack to get at defenders like holiday beers, very excited.
If it was a 4-4-2, who was supposed to be on the wings? Looked like 4-3-3 to me.
Very poor game, we can only improve with players coming back. Our front line got no supply at all. I can see another CF coming in before deadline day. I have no faith in Gabby. As for their gaol Gueye never tracked his man, Richards should stay on his feet . Lucky goal. Only our second game., kTF.
Listened to the game. Both sides sounded awful and really not a lot in it. There were good performances by Villa individuals but it a team that doesn’t yet know each other and is shockingly lacking match fitness. There is no way I’ll get on anyone’s back this season unless things really go tits up. TS looks incredulous at times the way the players are getting it wrong, but it’s still VERY early days.
We’ve got the best squad for many years, a positive manger who has changed the atmosphere in a matter of weeks, an experienced right hand man, and decent business leadership at the top for a change. Don’t knock it. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
UP THE VILLA!!!!
poor game by 2 poor sides not gelled together yet
our goals was mistakes by clark playing all onside,richards diving in,gana switching off plus cruel deflection
depay miss and one shot from outside box was all utd had to show
gabby s free header poor ,great cross in from left nobody attacked it,
the penalty stone wall if ever one was ,did you see rooney trying to get ayew sent off at end no word from commentators when he kicked ballaway when blown for offside
R5L agreed it was a clear pen. Good point about their goal being a cruel deflection. Maybe ManUre are using all their luck up early this season? Rooney’s always been a neanderthal petulant twat…
Mike ‘I love manure’ Dean – what did you expect?
Don’t think IV ever seen Rooney play as poor as he did tonight the was useless.
The write up on the bbc website is so pro Utd!!! No mention of how disjointed they were or that their goal was another fluke. Or the penalty we should have had!
BBC = Bias Broadcasting Corporation! That liberal left channel should of been scrapped years ago!
Careful what u wish for OohAh. Wait a few years when every channel is as poor as Sky and ITV, and there’s nobody to speak up for the rest of us.
BBC have neve spoken up for us they hate us.
People (OohAah) are bemoaning the fact that we lost to man United, a team he believes can win the league……surely they should be beating us if that’s the case?? Then he’ll moan about the manner of the defeat ignoring any positives – ok we lacked up front but on another day that deflection off of Clark could have gone wide of the post, or doesn’t hit him and guzan saves – they hardly troubled guzan in the game. Not to mention the penalty we should have had. Fine margins, not great, but enough there to think that we’ll be better once Traore, Gil and Grealish are options in the final third.
The one overriding consensus is to question Gabby’s selection. OK service to the front three was poor but at least Ayew tried to make things happen and showed neat ball control and movement.
OK TS has limited options at present with Grealish and Gil injured but now add Traore into the mix and I think Gabby’s main role this season will be as an ‘impact’ substitute – in other words a bench polisher.
No real problems overall with how TS approached the game but I fell it was a massive tactical error taking Sinclair off instead of Gabby unless he had a knock and TS didn’t want to risk him playing on.
I thought Bacuna looked sluggish in possession in our half tonight – it’s not his fault, he’s not a right back. That’s the position that we need to improve.
We played our full backs very high up the pitch when in possession In our own half – not sure we have the ability or cohesion to do that at present.
Amavi looked comfortable on the ball though, Bacuna kept getting caught out by United pressing him.
Really thought this was a work in progress.
Man Ure really lucky goal as the deflection took it past Guzan and two defenders.
However have to say that we didn’t threaten too much.
What we did do though was fight for every ball until the 90 mins was up. I’m definitely not used to seeing that. We showed some great football in spasms and there is definitely potential there. Thought that Sanchez was immense when he came on. Tim please give him a start.
Not down but really looking forward to what the season brings
UTV
Agree about Sanchez best IV seen him play looked good. Problem was after 20 mins or so the team looked knackered and that’s when Utd started to look better than us. Question is why were they knackered after 20 mins I thought Sherwood was a stickler for fitness! Utd wherein first gear tonight yet they still beat us pretty comfortably and that’s with Rooney playing arguably as bad as he’s ever done in a Utd shirt!
Overall I thought we were good value for a point. Yes we were poor in the final third and I lost count of how many long balls, Clark in particular, gave away. Westwood and Gueye need to be more available to receive the ball in those areas. But I was quite pleased with the shape and thought there’s some definite signs of the new players looking more comfortable. I agree with everyone about Grealish, Gil and Traore making us considerably more creative in the coming weeks.
We were a deflected goal and a stonewall penalty away from beating Man Utd, not bad for the second match of a new team, full of potential.
I said in my review we need the ref to give us a big decision. Sick of these officials who are bias towards sky 4 teams. If that was the other way round they would of got pen no doubt about it
The ref was never going give the penalty against united – disgraceful.
I thought we deserved the draw, just need the midfield to connect better with the forwards, its disappointing as Utd were there for the taking……We also need another striker and leave Flabby Agbonglahor at home.
Even in Rugby pulling someone back by the throat is a foul! Fair play to him to still get his head on the ball.
Patience folks it still is work in progress, we’ve still got Gil,grealish & traore to come in.UTV
Pleasantly surprised that the majority of comments suggest optimism. I am of the opinion that we need to give them all time to adjust. By that I mean time to adjust to each other, the tactics and the standard of football. There are some who would say that foreign players sometimes take time to get used to the “English style of play in the Premier League” There is no such thing. The Premier League is made up mainly of foreign players, most of which are international players for their own country and foreign coaches. What we have with our new players is that they have come to a league which has a much higher quality of ability all round and that is what they need to adjust to. I know the Spanish league has quality in abundance but only with the top two. Hopefully, as time goes on, the fitness level will increase, Sherwood will become more tactically astute. Let’s not forget that this is his first full season as a Premier League manager so he is still learning as well. I personally think that the team was set up last night to keep it tight and then bring on Gestede to see if we could break them. Unfortunately, conceding a very sloppy goal of which we seem to do a lot, meant that we were left trying to get back in to the game without looking likely to. I say that we still need to get behind the team as much as we can.
We do play at a unique tempo though Mark. That’s what gets most newcomers initially.
But Sherwood hasn’t even got a basic tactic knowledge every fan could see how he got it wrong so why can’t he. That’s what I mean when I say we need a good manager now not someone who will learn on the job at our expense. If that’s the case you and me may as well have the job for a fraction of what Sherwoods on! Agree with u re prem being full of foreigners anyway good point.
When I woke up this morning first thing I did was have a think about the match (sad aren’t I?)
First things I thought were –
Micah Richards is going to make a good captain. He plays with passion and commitment and I can even forgive him the odd error for that. Also there was some talk about his size and aerial duels. There was one cross where he got way above Smalling and everyone else so no worries there for me.
I think some of the new players were a bit nervous, second game and its Man U so I can accept that.
Although there were patches where they look like they’d just been introduced to each other 5 minutes before the game there were also patches where they played some of the best football I’ve seen from Villa in a long time. More of that please.
Why did Tim take Sinclair off? Thought he had a good game.
Play Sanchez Tim. Looked the best player on the pitch when he came on.
Perhaps 7 out of 10 as they were unlucky to come away without a point.
Still looking forward to rest of the season
UTV
Morning all, I’m pissed off like most on here about the out come of lastnights game, but I can see its going to take time, I’m not like Oohah’s kick em in the teeth over a game that could have been different for many reasons, How on earth does Abonglahor retain his place in the line up god knows, yes a moment Gana let’s his man go and doesn’t track him, a pen the ref pretends not to see, I can see a better side in the future given time, I’m sure the fitness will come, the coaching staff will see Abonglahor going walk abouts in the games and lack of commitment in tackles, we will be back at the top given time. Utv.
Morning Bill. I suppose TS had to play Gabby – Hobson’s Choice but can’t see him starting ahead of Grealish, Gil or Traore. The one thing I didn’t understand was the substitution of Sinclair who was linking well with Amavi whereas the aforementioned GA was achieving precisely zero!
No surprise we lost the impetus we had second half after that – although Sky pundits put it down to Gaal’s substitution made at the same time – six of one………?
@Bill
Hope it was worth travelling all the way back from Cornwall to see!
Someone at VP give this man a medal 🙂
What about the geeer who came from Canada!!!
Morning Bill – We conceded a sloppy/lucky goal, but were denied a blatant penalty, we snubbed out a team who will challenge for the title and all this with a young/new team who are missing their 3 top creative players (Gil/Grealish/Traore)..Imagine this under Lamberk – it makes me shiver.
My only negative is Flabby Agbonlahor, why oh why is he in the squad !!!
Err we drew 1.1 under Lamberk last season and unlucky not to win a couple of seasons before when we went 2 up. Deadwood is crap I said it last season that he will be found out and as per normal I’m right again.
Lol! U do make me laugh!!! Where did you buy yr crystal ball????
In a reject shop in Deritend
Biggest load of BS, and as per normal, you’re wrong again.
What riles me is how easy the players and Sherwood let the ref get away with it. If Sherwood had a brain he would if spoke in his pre match conference about getting big decisions from refs when Utd play. He should of made more fuss yesterday after match. He is so naive it’s untrue. Deadwood out
Nice to have the real Oohahh back.
If you’d offered me 3 points from the first two games at the start of the season I’d have bit your hand off.
Next match against Palace should tell us more. If we get anything from that and then beat Sunderland it will be a really good start as far as I’m concerned.
UTV
Ooha you said we’d get FUCKall out the game you were correct in that yet your acting like we should of now & slating every man & his dog is it just a day to have a good whinge or have I missed something??
Ps how the FUCK can you compare TS to that mumbling braindead FUCK is beyond me.
Personality wise I prefer Sherwood but ability wise they are about the same! Don’t believe me that’s fine but over time you will see.
Not slating the team I’m skating Sherwoods decisions or lack of them. I said last season he’s not good enough and I still think that. He is a typical Villa manager that we’ve had to stomach for years decent motivator but tactically inept. This is what you get with British managers and I think our foreign players will struggle under him. We’ve started getting foreign players with good potential which is great but we need the foreign manager as well now.
Yep- British managers, remember Fergie now he was really shit
Fergie was a one-off who just got lucky with a crop of golden generation youngsters at the right time. Yes he’s a good manager but he was a one off. How many British managers manage the top 20 clubs in the world nowadays. Brendan Rogers is the only one I can think of and the bin dippers can’t even get top 4 nowadays. Won’t be long before BR gets booted out. Oh btw the one before him Dalglish and before him Hodgson were shite as well. Houllier and beniteze were there best 2 prem managers and guess what they were foreign
Someone like ranieri would of been good doing well for Leics so far
He’s only doing well because as you put it “new manager syndrome” Well that’s what you said after Sherwood won 2 games on the trot against the Baggies!
And I was right we haven’t done much since we win at Spurs. We will never do anything spectacular under TS. If he was that good Spurs would of saved money and kept him. They knew he could t sustain it.
Good point about getting at the ref before the ‘big’ games as we’ve nothing to lose. It’s beyond a joke.
Agree it’s time ti start mentioning these things before the game like mourinho does and fergie used to. We have to stop being so nice and start putting psychological pressure on our opponents and the officials. It’s part of the modern game now. The biggest problem with us is we are too nice a club IV said it before we need to street wise nasty fuckers at the club
i do agree that bad refereeing decisions should be called out by the manager. if the manager doesn’t make a fuss then the refs will just keep getting away with biased towards the big sky clubs. soon as i saw who was refereeing last night i thought we would get nothing out of him and sure as fuck we didn’t .
Exactly right and Sherwood should have mentioned that in conference. He deliberately didn’t give us a pen if that was Utd the media would be all over him for ages. It’s wrong that football has a fixed element. It’s bad enough that teams don’t play on level playing field with finances but to play these teams with one hand tied behind your back is outrageous
A promising start. Recently signed players need time to adapt and most missed TS pre season fitness.
However the only negative I can see at this time is oh ahs negativity. Where is the managerial media you crave over TS.
Very good management to date shown by TS. Told a bunch of losers to leave Villa Park and nearly all have gone, not left with the bomb squad shambles of 3 years ago. Further great imagination in transfer market to bring in a nucleus of potentially high quality players.
In two years ohah comeback to me if TS has failed to improve Villa. How long did it take Ron Suanders to fashion a winning team? I think Alex Ferguson took 7 years for his first championship.
Working together is far more constructive for advancement, than sniping from the back.
UTV
Different times Saunders and fergie would never get that long in this day and age
Sid, my sentiments, all this lack of getting behind our team from Oohah’s drives me nuts, how the fuck he wasn’t a top manager is beyond me, he knows everything that’s wrong in the game and even can put it right. I think Sherwood has done what he set out to do and given time will do the job. I’m behind Sherwood and have more faith than some people in the man ,he will see players inability as he movers on, give him time Oohah.
You were the one saying give Lamberk time for the past 3 years Bill and you were right then as well…not!
6 games to be exact Oohah’s , and stated after he didn’t have a clue.
This season we had a dodgy win v Bournemouth and the usual wimpering performance at home to Utd. I’m very impressed with the players we have bought under TS but not convinced he has a clue what to do with them.
Don’t worry, Oohah is part of a very small minority.
Anyway, I don’t see that Sherwood has been too bad tactically up to now and even if he has been bad, isn’t that what Wilkins is there for? To help out and suggest things?
And while tactics are obviously important, there’s more to it than that. It’s about motivating and getting the best out of what you’ve got and Sherwood can do that in a way Lambert, the destroyer of players, never could.
Lambert was out of his depth and he even knew it himself, which is why he offered to resign twice.
Sherwood took the same team and made them play better, a fact proven by points achieved, goals scored and survival.
Everybody knew we were going down under Lambert.
The two managers, at least when in charge of the Villa, are not even comparable imo.
Would love to see “Sherwood The Messiah” work to the constraints Lambert had to and keep us in the Prem. You should wake up Badger and realise the job Lambert actually done. He was asked to keep us in the Prem by spending peanuts. The monkeys he brought may not of been the most gifted players and some may well of been ruined but the bottom line is Lambert achieved his given objective. Had Lambert of been given the funds Sherwood has Lambert would of done better. Remember where a huge majority of the funds that Sherwood has had have come from. 🙂
Sherwood would keep us in the prem.
And indeed already has done.
I’m sure you’re just being mischievous with that comment (that’s fine 🙂 )
But I have to be pragmatic and admit that Lambert’s buy (Benteke) has funded most of the new players.
Which begs the question where, if Lambert sold Benteke, who would he have bought?
We’ll never know.
And frankly, I don’t care.
His footy and tactics were the worst I’ve ever seen and I’m glad he’s gone, simple.
Lamberk and Mcclown kept us in prem too means nothing Badger. Like I said lets see where we are going into the new year then we will have an idea of who’s better.
That’s a good point Badger surely Wilkins should have helped TS in press conference and advise him not to take TS off yesterday. If he hasn’t he is not doing his job
Blimey Oohah, you do talk some bollox mate.
I’ve given you reasons as to why Sherwood is better than Lambert, but you reply with nothing and now move the blame onto Wilkins!
You’re beyond hope, imo.
And while we were poor last night, so were Utd.
They just have that winning mentality, which is what an extra half a billion quid over the last ten years buys you, I guess.
How much has LVG spent? and they really weren’t much better than us.
True but they will still end up in the top 4 where we will be bottom 6-8. Your argument is flawed as even Lamberk got a draw last season against them and a better performance too and lvg had spent 200 odd mil last yr. I’m not sure why u think he’s better than Lamberk as he’s not done particularly well. He started off well new manager syndrome which u get with any new manager,
Not the only team screwed out of a penalty. Leicester deserved an obvious penalty, Schmiechel should’ve been sent off and Taylor just sent off Adrian for a yellow card offense after a corner was cleared and he clearly went for the ball.
Fonté for Villa? Not on today’s showing. I watched today’s early game expecting Everton’s decline to be exposed by a Saints side as ruthless as the one which demolished us The match stood that idea on its head. Saints defence with Fonté almost stationary as Everton sped past him. and a poor goalkeeper behind him. Everton were solid in defence and excellent on the counter.
I cant believe some people are suggesting Lambert would have done better had he been given the funds! He spent a fair amount of money when he was in charge and only a handful of the players were any good. Even Benteke was a fluke, he wanted to sign Dempsey!
Lambert never had a £50m window spend though but I agree I’d rather have Sherwood but that’s not saying much
@Benno…….I can’t believe you can’t believe that some have different opinions to yours. However I’m sure you’ll get over it. 😉 Lambert left the club on a sound financial footing. We should thank him for that………………Thanks Paul. 🙂
@B9. A different opinion is one thing…this is just madness!
Memories seem to be short about Paul Lambert. Even at the start of last season when he had a good start, he tried to play like a poor man’s Swansea mark 1. Pass the ball around without threatening and wait for the opponents to fall asleep. Had he been successful we would have scored less than a goal a game. Entertainment was out of the window. Had he been sitting on the kitty for the sales of Benteke and Delph, he would not have spent it on the same players Tim has bought.
Tim has what I think will prove to be a blind spot, like old generals fighting their victories again, he seems to think he can revive the performance of Gabby in the same way he did with Adebayor. It won’t happen – Gabby never had the skill and instinct in the first place so he cannot re-discover it.
Good point re Gabby it’s not like he was Messi and became like Heskey he’s always been crap. He’s not even that quick anymore
After spending some time with Bayern he decided to change our style from Bolton to Barcelona with players completely incapable of doing it – he then compounded it by doggedly refusing to accept he’d made a massive mistake and go back to a more direct style which we all hated but it suited the ‘skills’ of the players he had available – hence his failure last term. TS came in and reverted to counter attacking direct style of lump it to Benteke which worked for long enough to keep us up.
I will be disappointed if Gabby keeps playing ahead of Gil, Grealish or Traore when match fit and like some on here I would like to see him start with Sanchez as the holding midfielder – he really is a class act.
OohAh – can you start taking those positive pills again?
I suspect that Sherwood’s giving Agbonlahor a gentle let-down; reward for all those years of service, and a chance to prove to everyone that he’s completely ineffective.
As soon as the new boys are all up to speed/fitness, Agbonlahor won’t even be seen on the bench, let alone on the pitch.
Cheeky bid for John Terry anyone ?
Probably waiting for Gestede to get fully fit and Ayew to learn Gabby’s position to partner Gestede as the creator/bring players into the game kind of striker he is.
Learn Gabbys position? Are u having a laugh Andrew. Dosnt take much to run round like a headless chicken !!
I meant the support striker role.
Thanks to Turv and JayMo for their travel suggestions, I ended up parking at the university. I sat at the top of Doug Ellis stand, first time for years, strangely though sat right in front of me was a lad in a Man City top, complete with YaYa Toure’s name and number on the back, what was that all about!! A couple of Villa fans gave him some right mouthful!
Glad you got their all OK.
I’ve just been watching the youtube clip of Traore again.
I don’t normally go a bundle on videos, but I can see this kid tearing left backs a new arsehole.
A really exciting signing, imo;
https://youtu.be/MAzWdFg0nd8
Badger, I never normally take notice of pre videotape, well this guy showing quick feet, his body anchored to the ground in balance, plus awareness of team mates ,looked the player we want. cannot wait to see him in action.
On another note did anyone see Curbishley fuming at ref for not sending if Arsenal player Sherwoid needs to man up and stop being a pussy imo
Nah I didn’t see Curbishley fuming at the ref. Did anyone see Pardew fuming at the ref? Come on OohAah, concentrate.
In his post match conference
Curbishley? Definitely Curbishley?
Curbishley hasn’t managed since 2008!
I don’t think OohAah’s noticed
Ah I meant pardew always get them two mixed up lol
Sorry, made me laugh.