Well, that’s just sod’s law isn’t it?
I’ve hardly missed watching any games this season, but tonight I was so busy at work that I didn’t get to see a minute of it.
So what do the Villa go and do?
Well, after waiting since the Blues game, they only go and actually win don’t they?
Which had me kicking myself, as I suspect the feeling of elation would have been much higher when the final whistle went, compared to just reading the result on Yahoo.
As for my prediction in the preview, where I was all doom and gloom, I’m extremely happy to say I got that totally wrong. But I’d be happy to be wrong every game if it meant a Villa win.
Moving quickly on (ahem), it was interesting to see that Garde made a couple of changes, the biggest surprise perhaps being Libor Kozak getting a start ahead of Gestede. Well, perhaps not a surprise as such, as many fans have been calling for him to at least be given a chance.
But the better news is that from what I’ve read, he put in a very decent display.
Now I know nothing about how we set up tonight, but it’s struck me that Gestede is impotent if you don’t put the ball on his head and Kozak, with his better all-round game has to better suited to the way we play.
I look forward to seeing him play a full game myself.
Another surprise to me was Richards not starting.
I was under the impression that he was fit after his knock and I wonder if this was more about taking him out of the line of fire, as surely he’s a better bet than Bacuna at RB, generally speaking?
Good management perhaps, as long as the player and manager haven’t had any contretemps.
Guzan being rested for Bunn, however, was not a surprise.
An interesting point was Gil getting practically a full game. That doesn’t quite make sense to me after suggestions that he needed to be pulled off early against Wycombe, because he was fading.
I’d have thought a player can either play a full game or he can’t.
So what’s changed in a couple of days?
No doubt it comes down to what the manager thinks and perhaps it was merely a case that he thought Gil might struggle to complete two full games in such a short time, which I suppose is fair enough. Today’s game was far more important, after all.
Whatever, I’m not knocking anything. I don’t care who gets hauled off when, as long as it brings the right result.
And either way, it’s a sign that Gil’s fitness is improving.
Although why I should even be talking about that halfway through the season, begs other questions, that have often been asked already.
You’d have to suspect that Kozak and Bunn (if he did nothing wrong) will probably feature in the next few games.
And rightly so, as if anyone looks better than the player he’s replacing, he has to stay in the team because we can’t afford any favourites.
Again from what I’ve read, it seems we played a 4-3-3 and Garde’s after match comments were that he was happy because we didn’t sit back and actually went for the second goal.
Which hints that he’s been trying to get the team to go forward more and it’s actually the players themselves who have been too negative (remember Garde’s “they’re not doing as they’re told” comment?).
If that’s the case, I may owe him an apology, as I’ve criticised him as the cause of our overly cautious way of playing.
And if that’s the case, maybe today’s result might actually inspire the lads to actually believe we can beat teams?
If so, that’d be superb.
Yes, it’s only one win, but doesn’t it suddenly make things look a lot brighter?
And ok, it was apparently a lucky goal. But how much bad luck have we had?
We’re still in serious trouble of course, but for the first time in ages, we’ve actually closed the gap on teams and that has to be a good thing.
The best news of all though tonight was Glenn Alan Pardew’s (yes, I realised after I wrote the preview that I got his name wrong) words about the Villa;
“Villa really deserved their victory – they worked so, so hard.”
After the criticism we’ve all been dishing out about the players not wanting it enough, this was just music to my ears. Or should that be my eyes, given that I read it?
Well, you know what I mean, I’m sure.
Happy days, for once.
What an absolute pleasure to be talking about a win at last.
Even though I bloody missed it 🙁
Finally a performance that merited a win! Cant fault the players for effort, everyone got stuck in and ran their heart out. We may lack quality, but sometimes pure effort can win games, and we put in a lot more effort than Palace did.
Ayew brilliant again, if only that shot had gone in second half. Gana finally looked like he wanted to be out there and Veretout was solid again. Kozak is just a better all round player than Gestede, links up play so much better. Gil also put in a good shift.
Who knows, we beat Leicester and its game on! 🙂
Just seen the goal, lucky but its about time it fell our way, I don’t know how some can see the game streaming I tried kiziwiz and started telling me I need this I need that I gave it up,
So the demonstration filtered out but at least the message got home from the last game, thank God, from what I’m reading an all round better performance. Well done Villa.
Bill, I have a Kodi box downstairs and an Amazon Fire Stick side loaded with Kodi in the back room. They are the best investments I have ever made, when I’m at home I can watch pretty much any football game live.
Villafan, my lad was on about that the weekend, cheers will invest and dump BT, getting dear now.
The best part was when we scored, we kept on playing the same way. No sitting back getting nervous, no passing to the keeper under pressure. Agree that Kozak made a big difference, he came short to feet well and even got in behind a couple of times.
Replace Bacuna with Richards and I think that’s a team that could build some momentum.
Just as I was making peace with certain relegation, we go and put in a performance like that! Looked like a different side, really wanted it, looked like a bloody football team for once!
Still think we’ll go down but if we can play like this then it gives us some hope for a swift return.
Remi should have a clear out now and only go with those players who want to play for the shirt.
BTW I said that Lescott should apologise well he did it in the best possible way really – a winning goal.
However I am definitely not going to start hoping – it’s the hope that kills you.
UTV
Great win but I think we should all Inc the players keep our feet on terra firma,I still think the inevitable will happen but hopefully showing some spunk & PRIDE.I hope we become a pain in the arse for any opponent bring on the foxes.VTID
Have they announced the route and time for the open topped bus parade yet, I’ve made a flag and everything!!
Spirited performance and i did say on here we would get the win, as we have to get one eventually and Palace underestimated us…. But down to reality with a bump, we are still rock bottom and have Leicester next, who I think may just get a few past us !
Luck like everything swings in roundabouts, great performance.
The whole team worked hard, have to say Lescott was a natural captain last night and he commandeered the defence so they held the line, his distribution is woeful at times but that shortfall has been made up elsewhere in his game. I think we all forgive him for gumgate.
The whole team was magnificent determined and battled i think we can do this
All the match reports I’ve seen say pretty-much the same: there was more work, fight and ‘fire’ in yesterday’s performance than in all the previous 19 games this season put together.
Whatever caused the change, let’s hope that Garde can keep them doing the same for the next few matches. I daren’t hope we’ll get something against Leicester – but it’ll be an interesting match…
Well what can you say? I don’t think many saw that coming, great TEAM performance, well done Remi and the boys.
Ok one swallow don’t make a summer but perhaps if Remi had been there from the close season, been able to clear the decks, bring in his own players, had time to stamp his authority and methods on the squad then maybe we might not have been in this mess.
The big question now is whether that was just a one-off, or has Garde finally got through to the players what he wants them to do?
Or some of the players Ardent?
Saturday will be the test but we couldn’t be playing Leicester at a better time imo, they’ve only found the net once in their last three league games and with a bit of luck Vardy will still be out. Hopefully their bubble’s burst.
They beat spurs tonight probably only need to score once to beat us anyway
Tough game v Leicester Saturday they are flying this season
Another player I think deserves a mention is CIssokho. He may not be the most skillful but we look so much solid on the left now and he also gets forward whenever he can. Bear in mind he hasnt played for a long time either. Good decision bringing him back.
Lamine Sane from Bordeaux CB
Apparently we’ve also scouted Jota and Bruno Moreira of FC Pacos de Ferreira. Jota’s a highly rated 19 year old left winger while Moreira’s a striker, with 11 goals in 14 games so far for his club.
We’ve been linked with Suk Hyun-Jun from Vitoria Setubal FC and what a gift he’d be for the journo’s.
We for example beat the Baggies and he scores the winner you can imagine the headline – ‘West Brom Hyun-Jun By Villa’.
Lol, that made me laugh trying to say it out loud. Seems he found a hope in Portugal too, looks a good player. Maybe too big though. Moreira would add some pace up front, poacher type. Suk seems more like Kozak. Not that a 2nd Kozak would be a bad thing, but Moreira’s probably the better option, and being out of contract in the summer, a much easier one to get.
Lets hope for a Sunderland win tonight to keep us “only” 8 points from safety whilst dragging Swansea further into the mire.
More hoping for a draw, so Swansea’s poor form can continue and Sunderland don’t get a morale boost from beating another team around them.
A draw would be bad, I have Sunderland in my Acca.
Diabolical Pen award for Swans…..after crap goalkeeping from Fabianski….1-1.
3-2 Sunderland now… personally I was hoping for a draw to keep us at least semi close but it doesn’t seem likely with Swans down to 10 men.
I don’t think there’s any point worrying about other teams. Its too much of gap and too late even if we were to beat Leicester.
The two things I want to continue to see is 1) the workrate and commitment of last night is replicated for the remaining games in the PL
2) that the “wasters” and bad attitudes in the squad are cut out of the team, even if it means taking a financial hit like we would with Gabby.
Keep The Faith.
Defoe is a f@#king legend!
Don’t know if I should laugh or cry on Sunderland resalts, 4-2 , as you say pulling others into the fray, Chelsea seems to have problems as well.
With Sunderland winning we are 8 points from safety. If Swansea had won we would be 10 points from safety, so it was a good result for us I think.Swansea are getting sucked into the relegation fight now and have decided not to bring in a new manager which is interesting (they may as well have stuck with Monk). Also Bournemouth and Norwich losing this week means there are realistically 6 teams still in the mix for the 3 relegation places. Keep the faith.
Saturdays fixtures
Tottenham v SUNDERLAND
NEWCASTLE v West Ham
BOURNEMOUTH V NORWICH
SWANSEA v Watford
If we can do Leicester and results go our way we could have the gap down to 5 points by the end of our game. #clutchingatstraws #keepbelieving #shittingmyself
Big ask beating Leicester they are a really good team and well balanced. Il take a draw
A draw would be a great result against Leicester. They’re in 2nd only on GD for a reason. The three league fixtures after the Leicester game are by far the most important and all 3 are games we can win. West Bromich, West Ham and Norwich.
Yeah thats probably true. They are not the ideal team for us to play this weekend. They will just sit back and soak up our pressure and hit on the break with Vardy, Mahrez and Okazaki.
A point this weekend would be good, but if (and thats a big if) we can take 3 points then all of a sudden we are back in the game.
If we win, and that’s a big if as you said, it’ll be the biggest win we’d have gotten in the last decade, not only for points, but it’ll show any transfer targets Garde has that we’re not done yet and could very well stay up.
Meant weekend fixtures.
Hellas Verona in advanced talks for Senderos. Seems a CB is leaving and one is coming in. Not bad.