Just a few short weeks ago, I’d have been brimful of confidence and saying that this is all over before it’s started, with a convincing win to the Villa.
But now, where confidence amongst us Villa fans has collapsed, this game looks like the others in the last few weeks, where we’ve suffered previously unthinkable defeats. That unthinkable it seems embarrasing that we actually thought we were almost invincible.
And of course Brighton are on one of those runs that usually automatically undoes us. They’ve lost won one in twelve games and are in freefall down the table.
It’s bound to end in disaster for us then. Or is it?
Team news is nothing has changed. Ross Barkley, John McGinn, Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans are all still out, as is Andres Garcia.
Garcia. Has he had more than two weeks availability for us this season? It doesn’t seem like it. Mr Glass 2? Lets hope not. I’m sure he was out for weeks, back for a couple and was then out again in quick time, but I lose track.
And Brighton are slightly worse off, having Diego Gomez, Solly March, Stefanos Tzimas, Mats Wielder and Adam Webster all out and Yasin Ayari looking doubtful.
So there it is then. We’re doomed to lose this one. It’ll just follow the same old Aston Villa pattern.
Except I don’t think it will and I am desperately hoping that we won’t lose this one.
Emery will start Watkins for this and I think it’ll be a big mistake. Ollie hasn’t shown any spark for ages and it’s almost like something is missing, if you ask me. Is he disinterested? I don’t know, but he lacks any edge about his game and it’s a case of that old adage about finishing his breakfast in my eyes.
It’s a shame, as I’ve been one of his biggest cheerleaders during this barren spell, but he looks like a liability to the team now and talk of barn doors springs to mind when I think of him. Emery’s persistence with him has been admirable but in my opinion, he now needs to drop him. He won’t, of course. But he should, particularly now we have Kevin looking sharper.
We dug out a hard fought draw against Bournemouth and I’m hoping that’s stopped the rot.
The problem is though we’ve had three blanks for in our last five games. That’s not good enough for a top 3 team and is indicative of a striking problem.
Still, as much as I said it for the Brentford game, we should have more than enough to beat Brighton.
Villa to win 2-1 and if we don’t take the points, well…
We just need to.
UTV!
Make no bones about that. The only two plus points are the win and that Allyson kid looks useful.
I thought he’s supposed to play on the right?
If so, that’s indicative of what the gaffer thinks of him and really good news.
Otherwise, that was horrendous to watch. Truly horrendous.
Bagder. At this stage, all that matters is 3 points. You’re not gonna get vintage performances at this time of year. Just find a way and get the points. They’ll continue toiling until the spring, when hopefully they should find some rhythm again.
Leroy comes across very well when interviewed. A career in media beckons.
Hopefully with immediate effect 🙂
😆
If we play shit and win by a scrappy goal against the run of play till the end of the season, I will be delighted. We need to get as many points on the board till we get our best players back.
On a positive tonight, I think we defended really well when we needed to, and Martinez tipped on to the bar when called upon.
I get that.
But I don’t know how long it would be before I don’t bother watching and just cut to the result.
It seriously wouldn’t be long.
Ah bollocks, Liverpool score.
Well done Tyrone. Well done, big man. We forget the shit he got through.
You do know it wasn’t his goal?
Whatever, bloody Burnley won at Palace.
Says it all to me.
As I said, who cares!!!! It was his goal, but there are box tickets. Minus won us 3 points.
And Ollie can just go. And that’s me being polite. A waste of space. I’ve had enough. Thanks for the memories, but time’s up.
I heard this match described as an old boxing slog…3 points. That was an incredibly important win.
We need more grit and an in your fucking face midfielder who won’t take our boys being kicked to shite lightly.
We have one. Unfortunately he’s injured.
McGinn, albeit it in a subtle way.
He’ll give it to ’em and never stop.
It should be Onana and while he can be a titchy bit physical, he doesn’t make his mark anywhere near as much as a unit like him should, imo.
He should be handing out “straighteners” from the off, the same as other clubs do to us.
Didn’t they used to call them ‘Reducers’?
Yep. That’s what I meant, but just couldn’t think of the word.
Yes the Brighton boss will have instructed his players to leave a mark on the backs of our ankles every time they were second to the ball. Only a EPL ref could fail to notice.
3 massive points! Scored at the first corner DouglasLuiz did not take. Hit to the near post. It should not be an OG, Mings header was on target before the deflection.
With you on that OLL, ok it was Tyrone that headed it in that direction and to say it’s an OG is pathetic VAR decision, me it’s Minns goal.
Ming’s goal.
Typical VAR – one does get the impression they’re anti Villa in all aspects of their decision making.
That figures actually.
Consider two heavyweights who look decent for two rounds and then it boils down to who can drag their arse around the ring and finally show their punching power.
Except neither of us looked anywhere near decent or showed any punching power.
Call me a match for Muhammed Ali. Except I’m closer to being a flyweight.
Awful stuff.
We win – hurray!
As I stood near the back of the Holte tonight, I questioned why I’d spent 4 hours travelling to the match.
With our key midfielders injured we are severely depleted. Am I the only one who was frustrated with the repetitive approach. Play out from the back but rely on ponderous play by Mings and Konsa. Keep passing around the back until no midfield option appears, do kick 3/4 long and lose possession. Or boot upfield aiming for Watkins, who rarely wins control of the ball. If playing out the back and loosing possession is to become the norm, then start with Abraham’s and hit the ball long.
Happy we won but hated the 88 minutes taken to score.
I
Oh i might have been sat near you 2nite i was in the upper holte end..i do feel for you travelling that far.luckily i only live just over a mile away from the ground but it was still bad enough travelling any distance to watch that terrible game 2nite.. But i guess we won that’s the main thing..hopefully another 3 points towards champions league qualification, even if it’s 5th place.. That will do!
Sad innit, finishing top 5 is a win, just so we get £100m to spend because of PSR.
Dyche is being spoken about for Spuds! 🙂
WHAT?! That’ll be 4 managers in 1 season for Forest and THE final nail. Guaranteed relegation if it happens. Madness if true. From Spurs and Forest. As if Spurs fans would accept Dycheball!
Bum bum, you’re right. But that’s how it is.
You might find this interesting;
https://editorial.uefa.com/resources/02a1-1fcc539a26d9-78ac6793e755-1000/20260113_enclosure_04_financial_report_2024-25_en.pdf
Save the trawling and just scroll straight to pages 32-33
It’s an obscene amount of money involved. Big payouts for the CL, a bit of a joke for the second tier EL. EL, low payouts so they have little to invest for that next step up.
I (sort of) watched the game whilst failing to offer a single answer to our team at our weekly pub quiz – some might say rather like the Villa performance 🫣😂
Even with our missing midfield engine it was a ‘bad night at the races’ – it happens but we did manage to get the win and that’s what top sides do.
I’m not going to criticise the team – it’s clear we miss
Kamara – superb in front of the back four, breaks up play and provides the back to front link
Tielemans who’s passing is sublime and is our main creator when faced with a low block
McGinn who drives the team on and provides the energy we’re missing.
And last night we also missed the energy of Cash.
Those four players completely change the dynamic of the team.
I believe Emery has realised this and is on a ‘grind out wins’ approach hence, for example, we see Mings coming in for Torres to bolster the defence.
Luiz has to step up a notch – he can do the Kamara role; maybe not to the same level but he is, nonetheless, going to be vital in the coming weeks.
Well done to Alfie – you called it right with a 1-0 win.
UTV
Aston Villa have 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 more wins and 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 more points this season than they did at the same stage of the season last campaign in the Premier League.
We were NINTH after 25 games last season. Quite incredible. Unai has done it with a weaker squad. Well done to the players, too. Just keep going!
But last season we had a hell of a run in and, I believe I’m right in saying, coincided with Kamara coming back into the team.
This run in could well be a grind like 23/24 although we did manage to creep over the line for CL. Happy for a repeat of that.
Does anyone know anyone who had open heart surgery? If you do, you’ll know that they weren’t in great shape for a while. Losing Kamara, Tielemans AND McGinn – the skipper, is the footballing equivalent of open heart surgery; maybe worse, because the heart of the team has been ripped out, not fixed. Don’t be too hard on Unai and the boys. Get through the rest of the winter, keep grinding out results.
UTV!
Bleedin’ hell! I thought you were asking for a friend!!!!!!
When you look at the table with us 3 points behind Citeh and 6 behind Arsenal albeit one game extra, it makes you wonder what might / should have been.
Brentford 0 points from 2 games.
Everton 1 point from 2 games.
Palace 1 point from 2 games.
Sunderland 1 point from 1 game playing against 10 men when 1-0 up!
All teams we should be doing better against which makes me wonder if we raise our levels against the top teams and drop them against inferior opponents. Only the players can tell us if they are putting in the same effort.
Harsh, Holte. It doesn’t work that way. Points at Sunderland, Palace and Everton are very good away points over a season. It’s the two recent home games that have cost us. And those were mainly due to the injuries, but also some shocking, disgraceful officiating.
4 of the games you mentioned are from the start of the season where the team was very unsettled due to the window being open. And two were those recent home games. If you add the context, and the fact that we’re 9 points and 6 places better of than last season, we can’t complain.
Hitch is right in that we went on a run this time last year and caught up, but we were chasing. I’d rather be where we are now and dig in. The injuries came before Christmas last season, and it was central defence if you recall. Now they’ve come after Christmas in midfield, but this time we’ve banked more points. Swings and roundabouts. The bottom line is we’re fighting for third and on course to beat the last two season’s points totals. It will be tough and I’m not looking forward to Leeds, but the team are fighting and that’s all you can ask for.
Alternatively.
Tielemans shoved in the box at Palace. We win 1-0 with a legitimate penalty. + 2 points.
Rogers shoved shortly before Everton’s goal. Free-kick awarded just outside the box. Passage of play changed. 0-0 final score. + 1 point
Abraham’s goal is allowed as the VAR is NOT clear and obvious on the ball going out. 1-1 the final score vs Brentford. + 1 point
Total: 4 more points from refereeing decisions = 54 points. 2nd position. 2 points behind the leaders.
That’s discounting the opening sequence to the season and NOT even demanding wins at home against Everton and Brentford, given the injuries and time of year. That’s purely based on 3 DISGRACEFUL AND INEXPLICABLE DECISIONS against Aston Villa. That’s Villa’s reality, and it only adds to Emery’s legend.
It was a strange game. We looked physically weak. I don’t think we won a tackle in midfield but they did. Ollie won a lot of ball from defensive clearances, he hasn’t done that for a while, but he nearly always gave it away. Alysson (Is it really just one name) looked hopeful. It was a win but I am worrid that other sides are seeing us as weak and are laying into our midfield players.
Gerry, Brighton certainly seemed up for kicking us at every opportunity.
Once again we had a poor refereeing performance – Baleba should have seen a second yellow (he was pulled before he got sent off!) and the deliberate push on Abraham was a foul and denied a goal scoring opportunity should have been a penalty.
I don’t really do conspiracy theories but have PGMOL got a big bet on not giving Villa a penalty this season?
Alysson is only 19. Don’t expect too much. Personally, I didn’t see anything that excited me. Far too early to tell.
Agreed BFR – although Emery must see something in him bringing him into the squad as soon as he is fit. That’s not usual with Emery and 19 year olds.
Early March. United away. Chelsea at home. Two finals. Let’s wait until then.
Sidenote: Guessand produced his first assist of the season for Palace against Burnley with a neat little through ball after muscling his way past his opponent. Go figure.
BFR, he got an assist against Brighton too. He’s playing in his preferred position.
Either way, I trust the Boss.
What’s his preferred position, Holte?
It seems he can play all across the pitch;
https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/first-team/everything-you-need-to-know-guessand-palace/
“Guessand is equally happy to link play by picking up possession in tight areas and can move past opposition defenders to carry the ball up the pitch.”
Not in the Prem, it seemed to me.
I don’t rate him and think we’ll be getting him back if that clause isn’t compulsory.
Ahem…
Last night’s game was one of them. We had to win and we did, no matter how we did it. Immensely proud of the lads and that +3 points will be valuable come the end of the season, and that 5-point gap between ourselves and Man Utd looks a lot more comfortable now!
Realistically, looking at Brentford’s last three results – Villa (a), Newcastle (a) and currently drawing to Arsenal (h) – our loss against them is now more understandable, very good side who know how to win football matches and it has to be admired.
Also nice to see Arsenal dropping points again.
(Stick it up your) Arse, Man City and Chelsea all draw.
How odd is it that this midweek absolute load of crap performance/game has actually been a brilliant result for us?
Not too odd, all season we’ve been putting in below par performances and getting results – it’s why we are where we are. You summed it up well, how many games are you going to remember come the end of the season?
The history books only ever record the results, Alfie!
Very true.
It’s a good job you don’t get points for the performances, is all i can say.
We’d be in the relegation zone 🙂
Arsenal at home and Newcastle away immediately come to mind. But there have been many excellent performances.
It’s looking increasing likely Forest will go down. How many of their players would you take? Plenty of talent there that’s been badly let down. I can think of at least 5…
I’d take Gibbs-White and wouldn’t mind their goalkeeper because Martinez is definitely on his way in summer.
Igor Thiago from Brentford should be a top priority for the summer, I can’t see Watkins and Abraham being long-term for us as of starting from now.