For me this is a super result, where contrary to some views I was hearing during the game, we had lost this at half time.
When you consider that we went down to ten men and United can replace the likes of Van Persie with someone like Di Maria, this point was frankly stunning.
Of course, we can say that we ought to be able bring decent quality on to replace our players.
But the fact is we can’t, which is what makes this point so juicy for me.
So Lambert lined up with a supposed back three in a 3-4-3, but I never saw it like that.
For me, it’s a back five, which can hopefully change to a three when the full backs get chance to go forward. Or even Okore on the right wing!
Whatever, I’m not convinced the numbers in the system made that much difference, but the actual rearguard performance did.
The game started off in pretty standard format, with us on the back foot and Utd making their midfield presence felt. The opposition sprayed it around and we let them.
For all Utd’s effort though, I didn’t particularly feel like we we massively threatened.
Yes, of course they’re always dangerous, but I wasn’t massively worried.
And then came our goal around 18 mins.
Benteke received the ball nicely on his chest, played it with his left, played it with his right and then hit a curler into the top left of the net.
I know some of you might not agree with me when I rave about the player, but it was the way he looked like he had an age to go about his business in a cluttered box, that made this goal so good for me.
That’s the sign of a genuine top class player.
As I’ve said before, the type of player that will score a boatload when afforded the numerous chances you get in a top side. A potential World class player, in my opinion.
One-nil it was then and we then went on the front foot and took it to the opposition for most of the rest of the first half.
Contrary to some saying we would lose, we looked okay to me and I was beginning to think of us ending our miserable 19 year run of not beating Manchester Utd at home.
It wasn’t to be though and Man U, after applying pressure straight from the second half whistle equalised with a goal from Falcao, who seemed to be left in a load of space.
And then Gabby’s tackle.
While I don’t think it was a straight red, it was poor.
And this time, I don’t think Ashley Young caused it either. He’s just so slightly built that any harsh tackle will seem to scythe through him.
The simple fact is Gabby should have pulled out of it as he never looked likely to win it, in my opinion.
While we’re on the subject of cards, Weimann ought to be told to keep his big trap shut during these sort of incidents. The rules are there and the Captain is supposed to be the one doing the complaining/debating. Weimann was lucky to not get a card and Guzan fully deserved his.
Anyway, it was pretty much one way from Utd in the second half, but we did have our moments and indeed looked dangerous at times.
What impressed me during this game was that I was beginning to see signs.
Apart from decent passing, I noticed movement. Lots of it.
Of course, it was fleeting, but you could see we were trying to pass it around and actually play.
That’s encouraging.
The best part of the game is I’m finding it difficult to really criticise anyone, as frankly I thought all the players played quite well.
At the end of the day, who do I think will be more annoyed about having not taken all three points?
That’ll be Utd, who on paper should have won this one easily.
Yet they didn’t, which is one in the eye for them and a point I never really expected.
That can’t be bad.
Albion lost 3-2 too, to keep them below us.
Happy days.
On the way home. Great atmosphere nearly ruined by a few arseholes who can’t handle their ale.
With the exception of Lowton the whole side can hold their head high. Brilliant throughout. Even the sub’s (which I thought “wtf” at the time) gave us a freshness and made us able to keep pushing forward.
Sanchez, for me is the unsung hero, and the beasts hold up play was immense.
Terrible red card decision IMO, in both real time and just seeing the vid. UTV
I forgot to mention the crowd.
Great performance from them.
I’ll settle for not letting ManUre humiliate us at home again!
A bit like the Southampton game – we seem to be becoming a side that ends others’ good runs, or just exposes the ones that flatter to deceive. Would like to see us at least hold our own at home against genuine title contenders soon though!
badger
totally agree with you on guzan booking but all we want is same for every team,thats 3 reds now 2 very harsh go back to spurs game how many of there players where lucky leicster to
Same for all sides, JVillan?
I don’t think we’ll ever get that.
For me, Weimann and Guzan today would have walked before what Gabby did.
The bitching and moaning at refs is a total disgrace and you don’t see it in Rugby, even though it’s a much more physical game (albeit totally crap to watch in comparison).
I blame the arseholes at the top, myself, for allowing it to go on.
Any answering back to the ref should be a straight red, imo.
We realy need to sort out our discipline. I’m not sure either Richardson or Gabby’s challenges warranted a straight red, as there was no malicious intent (probably Richardson’s more so, as his studs were up, but Gabby’s looked like a 50/50 to me). However, the response of our palyers when they don’t agree with the ref is disgusting. We can’t afford to have so many suspensions with such a paper thin squad! Lambert should be coming down hard on this and so should Vlaar, as captain, on the pitch. Also, Benteke and Hutton should be slammed for the way they retaliated. No excuse for it.
Anyone else think we look a better team without Cleverley or is it just me?
I was wondering the same thing. Delph and Sanchez look good to me. And imagine our look with Hutton in at wingback instead of Lowton…
I would never have given a foul against Gabby, Young jumped into the tackle with 2 feet and Gabby looked like he was trying to play the ball past Young. If he gets a 3 game suspension for that challenge then we may as well all stay at home in future.
And in fairness to Lambert, he really tells it like it is when our players are being linked with a move away. Now this is the fighting talk I like!
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892/transfer-zone/2014/12/20/7244162/-?
Like I said before, this is one area where Lambert’s stubborness is a poitive – if he doesn’t want to sell a player, they ain’t going! They can’t rot in the bomb squad if they don’t like it! More managers should take this approach. Unfortunately, I think the chairman/CEO probably intervenes at some point.
So a club that doesn’t have a pot to piss in are prepared to let players leave for nothing.
That make great business sense of course, but then again it is Lerner we are talking about here
Lambert is talking bollocks, if a decent offer comes in for either of them then there off.
if villa sell or not, SAYING we will sell achieves, only reducing the fee received. obviously they will say the two in question, are staying, if their are two desperate teams who want um, they will pay more or they won’t get their men before summer.
randy dandy your talking bollocks lmao you mustn’t be a haggler or know how to play hardball over prices. personally i would sell um both, i feel delph is the one we will miss mostly and harder to replace, cleverley isn’t a replacement i hope this deal falls threw
thats football for you but lets not pretend Villa are any better or worse than other non top 4 bank rolled clubs, If Lambert said ya if the right offer came in he would still be criticised .. the issue is ownership money and financial doping at the top end of clubs I don’t see how we can be espeicially mad at villa or Lambert for the general state of the game
This is my first time writing on this site, but I have been feading for a while and really enjoy it. After today’s game I felt I like writing something.
First up I was impressed with the team today and have been over the last couple of games. I am not a big lambert fan but in fairness to him the team is making progress in my opinion an look better. I do think that part a lot of that is having benteke back. When he was out we would give out about the long ball game lack of possession. Benteke solves that because he is so good at holding up long ball and his goal today shows that. He took the high ball down so well and held it up. This means there is a bit less constant pressure on the backs and can now alternate between giving long ball and trying to play it out.
Delph impressed me today too in that he always wanted the ball. He did loose it a bit but higher risk higher reward.
One mor thing is that I think if we get a good offer for vlaar we should let him go no question. Clarke and okore are showing very well and baker and senderois showed enough to convince me we do not need all 5. Great result today.
Welcome Neimed, what you’ve said I think shared by most , its certainly a big improved side from last year that’s a fact, but have to say we still have a long way to go. Abonglahor was to be fair got a harsh decision , in my minds eye not a pen.
“Would any amount of money tempt me? No. They’ll not go anywhere in January. It’s my say.”
Interesting.
I’ll hold you to that Lambert.
When Lambert absolutely schooled DiMaria today……. Priceless!!!
Ye I always think when keepers run 30yds to have a go its uncalled for, but when emotion and adrenaline is running as high as it must have been I can accept it….Guzan on the whole today was bloody brilliant, catching, kicking and point blank saves.
You know when Villa have done well, its awfully quiet on here……..
Today was a great result but still dosnt hide the fact we’ve only won twice on our last 13 games. Not good enough. Maybe we can use today to give us a platform and new confidence to start winning a few
Oohah, we’re a lower-mid premier team, which is about what most neutrals would expect given the players we have available. Of course it’s not ‘good enough’ for Villa fans, but at least we’re not looking quite like relegation fodder at this stage of the season.
If you look at the table, our one big problem is that we’re the lowest scoring team in all 4 divisions: Benteke alone can’t make up for the likes of Weimann and Agbonlahor failing to put the ball in the back of the net and that’s what Lambert needs to sort out before there’s much chance of us actually winning games.
Just watched the Bacuna ball into nzogbia which Benteke was not happy about at the end, got to say that was completely the right ball, if only it was Benteke not n’zog then might have been a different story.
Midfield for me if playing a 3, delph, Sanchez, Bacuna. See not a lot in cleverly that we already don’t have
Haven’t been on this site for ages and can see why now.
Nothing changes, I am amazed by the total two-faced attitude by most on here.
Changing your opinion game-by-game just makes you look pathetic.
The only one who sticks by his guns is OohAah.
Win (which doesn’t happen very often) and the team are “making progress”, but hang on, lose the next one and its back to “Lambert out”.
Over 41,000 turned up yesterday to watch United’s players, it’ll be back down again to 28,000 for the Sunderland match.
The club is a total joke, with an owner who is happy with 15th place, a manager who is un-sackable and a bunch of players who are below average at best.
Its a pointless club now, outside of a few 12-year-old newcomers on here, nobody gives a toss.
As a club, like Lerner/Lambert, we are boring.
They just turn up on a Saturday and then “we go again” the following week without any ambition or direction of where we want to be.
25 years a supporter and couldn’t care less about them anymore.
Agree Gareth armchair fans out in force to see Utd we all knew this would be a sellout. Lamberk is unsackable and until Lerner goes this is as good as it gets. like yourself Iv stopped caring even when we lost to WBA last week I didnt give a toss. I think this is going to be it now for years to come stuck in mediocratity plus only a matter of time before we start flogging our best players. Club is a joke
If you didn’t give a toss you wouldn’t comment as much as you do. Saying you don’t give a toss is not true, what is true is that you constantly believe because we won the FA cup in the 50s, the league and European cup in the 80s we have a divine right to be challenging season in and season out. What you fail to accept is time has moved on, we are no longer a big club, whilst admittedly we have a fantastic history that no one can change to hold on to that my friend is as good as it gets. Football has changed, Villa were left behind when it did.
truth hurts b6 oohahahahaha can not handle the truth
Played the wealthiest football club on the planet and got a draw. We could have nicked it at the death and saw one of the finest pieces of finishing I’ve ever witnessed and all from a team put together on a shoestring.
Just what do you expect?
You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time, Great quote, don’t you think? Randy Dandy ,oops GarethVilla, god know what next.
on your bike then, if the site or the club are not for you …
To be fair to GarethVilla he does have a point. Bill Pearson is a classic example. At the beginning of the season the bloke wasn’t going to step foot inside Villa Park. Then after a decent start he goes to a few games. Then we start losing and he stops going again. Now he’s admitted after yesterdays result he’s going to go again next game. Is that the reflection of a supporter or a reflection of a glory hunter? Glory hunter as in i’ll only go if we are’nt losing every week. I stopped going 4 years ago and won’t go again in my lifetime. Whilst i am no longer a hardcore supporter (missed 2 games home and away in 8 years prior 2011) i am simply an armchair fan…..An ever growing group, like most on here, but unwilling to admit and are still convinced they are “supporters”
As for yesterday’s result….Like BWS says, we got a point against the wealthiest club on the planet, we also ended there 7 game winning run, all this from a group of “below average player” Not a bad day if i do say so myself.
Well B6 in answer to your comment, you are correct I did say that, what I didn’t say was its corporate seats all 4 they go with the company, they mainly go to business or if you like buyer’s, so I do have the choice of going or not, So if I see a change I’ll go, didn’t yesterday gave them away ,but yes will be at the next game. Hope that helps as I did work at the club for 20 year’s and love Aston Villa probably more than some. It all depends on what’s happening at the Villa.
playing man utd isn’t easy, even when you get a result, 99% of write ups or chat about the game will have the following excuses, villa defended deep, man utd played poor (ignore the last 6 wins on the bounce) playing ten men isn’t easy ( try playing with ten men each time you play man utd) then finally you will hear lets not take away from villa 10 seconds yeah plucky villa right next
happy christmas all, even GarethVilla <<<<<now that's two faced, hope santa brings all you desire
We did well good point unlucky not to get all three at home from an inform manure.Cant knock it at all.Unlucky for Gabby to get sent off which I reckon will be revoked.Ive just got tickets for the Sunderland game I’m in the lower Holte with my lad should be good.utv
Yes I’m sure it’ll be rescinded,there’s only LVG thought it was a red card toss pot.good point UTV
He said on match of the day that it wasn’t a red card mate on TV bud.Anyone going the Sunderland game?
Lower Holte with my kids and grandkids – nine if us in all. I’ll be the guy looking old and haggard!
Under the camera Dug Ellis stand.me and my son.
On the point of fickle fans. Supporting a football club is a highly emotional commitment and it’s natural that fans that love their clubs will follow an emotional roller coaster ride, up with a win and in deep doom with a loss. A win, a good performance brings hope of more ups than downs – especially at Villa Park after so many years of hopes being dashed (even the Manure fans were in a right strop after Saturday’s result). Does that make us fickle? I don’t buy it – we just love our club and can’t abandon it. Happy Christmas all, let’s hope for a present of a few wins in a row UTV
my reply is give me sumat, your not on lmao 🙂
i was closer to the scoreline than you was my friend, plus if their goalie hadn’t saved benteke bullet header, i would have had the scoreline and goalscorer,
And your point is?
your a bad forecaster and have no faith
http://thepeoplesperson.com/2014/12/22/tom-cleverley-set-to-join-aston-villa-in-7-5m-deal-65005/?
I hope it’s true, I know he’s really divided fans but I think he’s been brilliant for us. He fits in to our side perfectly and he’s exactly the type of player Lambert wants in his team. He never stops running and he’s always looking for the ball, he’s a great box-to-box player and I think he has improved our team in my opinion. He hasn’t quite hit his peak yet, just imagine when he does and adds a few goals to his game. 7.5 million could turn out to be a steal.
Are they just going to link Spurs to all of our players at some point?..
http://thepeoplesperson.com/2014/12/22/tom-cleverley-set-to-join-aston-villa-in-7-5m-deal-65005/?
You mean Cissokho? They have 2 LB’s already, be surprised if they go for a 3rd.
Napoli linked to a lot of LB’s, Daily Mirror claiming they want Cissokho, Italian reports claim they want Strinic. I know which one I’m picking to believe.
I’m not saying there is something in it, I’m saying it’s getting a little annoying seeing Spurs linked to all our players.
cissokho is marmite, he was a blessing after bennet and moon amigo, had a really good game against man utd, i doubt spurs would be interested and not sure he would want to leave anyhow. lots of bulshit around this time of year. we need strengthening not weakening.
i believe palace have come out saying bolaise isn’t for sale, as liverpool been sniffing around, would like at least 3 or 4 decent additions of attacking quality. i doubt we will get any targets in. all depends really on money made available by the boss
Fox claims there’s money available and I’d tend to believe him.
I doubt however we’ll see that many players come in. Yes a winger, AM and striker would be nice to see, plus another CM but we won’t be getting that but that seems an unreasonable amount for January.
Oh I agree, it does make me laugh that they’re linked to everyone we have.
i believe fox also and i thought there would be money spent before his statement, but its how much is released is the question. you knew yourself how much attacking players would cost, not just attacking players but ones with reputations.
this transfer window could make or break us, another player (attacking) or two like the quality of sanchez will sort us nicely. do you think this is possible, will we be after quality or potential quality ???
Reports claimed Lerner was ready to fully back Reilly in signings we wanted. Fox mentioned short term and long term potential for us are the players he’s looking for, so I’d suspect hopefully both? Quality players with potential to get even better? Like Bolasie for example? 25 only and can still get better, but is already of some quality.
well andrew i sure hope your right, would be good to have some decent players gracing VP again. benteke is lethal needs better services 🙂
Think this headline is very misleading, he’s not being very coy at all.. if anything it sounds like he’s saying “I’m staying put”.