It’s all very straightforward.
After previous games yesterday, where Man City lost to Utd and Arsenal could only draw with Forest, we have an excellent opportunity to go clear second in the table.
All we have to do is beat an erratic Everton, who sit 12th in the table, having won one just one of their last six league games, at a Villa park that really has become a fortress.
But when it comes to Villa, nothing is straightforward is it?
How often do we lose to teams that we really ought to be beating?
Can we overcome one of the biggest reasons for our constant lowered expectations?
Squad news and Boubamar Kamara is out after going off last weekend. The bad news is it seems he might be sidelined for a long while which is a real blow. Amadou Onana and Alysson are still not available and Ross Barkley is a long term absentee, who I have a sneaky feeling we won’t be seeing again.
I’ve seen it heard and said that we have a squad crisis, especially after selling Malen in a deeply unpopular move earlier in the week, but I don’t think we’re anywhere what you might call a crisis.
Everton however have a much better claim to a crisis.
The good news is they have old Villa favourite Jack Grealish back.
However, Jarrad Branthwaite and Seamus Coleman are back in light training after hamstring issues, but are not ready to play.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Charly Alcaraz and Tim Iroegbunam are all still out.
Idrissa Gana Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye are still at the AFCON, in the final and Michael Keane is suspended, after a straight red previously.
I make that eight players. Decent ones too.
So as I suggested. They’re seriously depleted, we’re playing at our fortress and we have a great chance to create a gap over Man City.
It’s all very simple then. We win and go second.
So should I have that nagging doubt about us falling at another final hurdle, which I’ve suffered from for years?
Probably, but actually, I don’t.
The new (probably temporarily) optimistic me thinks we’re seeing a reversal of previous years and Unai Emery has instilled a confidence in the players, where it doesn’t even matter if we go behind. We just stick to the plan and more often than not, things will come good.
So while we should win, we know anything is possible in football. The Arsenal game was a great example of how even struggling teams can get a result and even the very last game I watched last night, Cagliari – Juventus ended up with the little team winning.
But I really expect us to have too much for Everton. I don’t expect it to be anything other than yet another tough game, because the Toffees won’t just fold, even if they struggle to put a side out.
I don’t see many goals either, with them playing a low block and us making hard of work of things.
What would I think if we failed to take advantage of this weekend’s results and only drew or perish the thought, actually lost today?
Well, I’d be at least disappointed and probably even really annoyed, depending on how the game goes, but I really wouldn’t see it as the end of the world. That said, I think I’ve sensed a bit of over-confidence setting in amongst the fans, because we’ve opened a 9 point gap on Chelsea in 6th, where it’s looking likely that the top five will qualify for the Champions league because of the weightings. But as I keep saying, anything can happen and it only takes a couple of losses while others win and things change.
So yes, the win is much more preferable.
Villa to win, 1-0 then.
UTV!
Happy New Year! I’m not gonna say anything.
Oh well, it had to happen sometime. We had chances enough but both Rogers and Watkins were off colour. Still in third and level with City so not a disaster. Rubbing it in I believe that Malen scored for Roma. It’s a bit deflating but a timely reminder that we should never take any PL game for granted.
That was a worrying interview from Emery then.
He came out and flat out said we’re not a top 5 contender and he was obviously fuming about something.
I think it’s about the money he has to spend, Or not, more likely.
…well maybe just a few things.
Selling Malen for the price we did, at the time we did, was not so much the equivalent of shooting oneself in the foot, but more clumsily blowing both your bollocks off then shooting yourself in both eyes because you can’t bear the sight of both your nuts rolling down the street.
Guessand is an absolute f***** lummox and Monchi should be ashamed of himself. And he cost more than we sold Malen for. 🤮
While we’re on the fabled Monchi, Gussand, Elliott on shocking deal, and Sancho is a Djemba-Djemba level window. Sancho has got issues. I don’t know what they are but Collymore and Dele Ali spring to mind. Shocking and embarrassing. Whenever he plays. I imagine Unai’s boot print has just about faded from Monchi’s arse.
As for today’s official, I asked my bookies what odds they’d give me that he and/or immediate family members have money on Arsenal for the league title but they’d already paid out on that. My heart rate has just about come back down after the blatant shove on Rogers was ignored. Any idea why it didn’t go to VAR when it was CLEAR AND OBVIOUS???????????????????? Beyond disgusted.
No excusing Torres and Martinez, but decisions like that do leave you rattled and may well have impacted, especially on Pau’s hesitance. I switched off after that. Livid.
All downhill from here. Oh, and bravo to Unai for performing footballing miracles on a WEAKER squad than last season and 3 duds in the summer window. Bravo, Sir. Bravo.
As for Oliver Watkins, he’s seen off Danny Ings, Jhon Duran and Donyell
Malen – all expert, instinctive, natural finishers, and I’ve absolutely no idea how and why. I hope he does and shows it between now and May because it’s beyond me.
UTFV FFS 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Me from Barcelona I know nothing. That’s emery in his interview
Said selling malen would come back to haunt us,
I don’t know what to say about that interview apart from he maybe thinking he’s had enough of all the obstacles put in his way and may very well decide to leave and who could blame him its just about impossible to get anywhere in this league
Man c lose 2 defenders what do they do immediately buy another one. It looked like villa are about to implode.
Something is terribly wrong with the club I think,and where is the new director of football I’ve not heard anything from him.
And didn’t he have something to do with Roma and Juventas and didn’t they have financial problems when he was in charge.
Something is up mark my words I’ve seen enough of villa for 68 years to see something is wrong again..
Welcome back BFR.
I have calmed down slightly about the defeat. Ashley Young referred back to his time under O’Neill saying it was difficult to break the top 4 with a small squad and players were running on empty. That’s happened to us before and looks like happening again. The McGinn injury is worse than losing! The terrible refereeing seems to be consistent when it comes to opponents getting away with murder!
I remain angry about SCR or whatever that makes it practically impossible to challenge the big 6.
Is our new sporting director actually doing anything other than spending £20m on kids and selling our second highest scorer!
Our turnover has increased with the exploitation of the fans on ticket prices and merchandise but it’s nowhere near enough to compete.
There are other factors such as Villa Park not being big enough and even 50,000 will be 10,000 short with other clubs moving or expanding. Location is a deterrent for many players who don’t fancy living in the West Midlands.
Our biggest pull is Unai Emery. I think he might reevaluate his future if we don’t get Champions League. There’s only so much he can achieve without the financial backing.
It’s the hope that kills you! 😩
Winning trophies is not in our DNA, and people wonder why I want to award credit to United, Spurs etc. Big game chucked down the drain, FFS
Don’t start with DNA, Alfie; we get enough of that from the Mancs. It’s not Jurassic Park, FFS.
It’s not in Crystal Palace’s DNA either, but they won two in a year. F*** DNA. How about fair play?
Arsenal and Citeh have too much firepower and are strong favourites for first and second. Pool will eventually get on a run and will likely finish third or fourth. I watched Manure yesterday and they were impressive as much as I hate to admit it. If they can maintain that form, I think they could well be top 4. Based on that analogy, it could be Villa, Chelsea and Newcastle battling for 5th.
Fenerbache on Thursday worries me. I can see a few tackles flying in with a partisan crowd. I’m almost tempted for Emery to play as many kids as he dare. Newcastle away on the Sunday in a game we generally do badly in. It’s a case of managing players minutes to avoid more injuries caused by muscle fatigue. Emery winning manager of the month looks like the curse we don’t want.
A player that should have been sent off gets player of the match and Villa lose a key midfielder for the second game in a row.
So typical of our ‘luck’ but the media won’t see it that way.
I’m so p***ed off.
You just know as a Villa fan everything is stacked against us.
We have to beat the system every single game. Nothing, but nothing is given in our favour.
Well, f**k the lot of them.
UTMV
I can’t get away from that interview and now suspect Emery was forced to sell Malen.
It must be and it’s why he said we’re not contenders. He’s not happy.
It’s either that or the penalty incident.
He never even opened his mouth to answer the last question he was asked because he knew he’d say something well out of order.
I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t seen it, watch it.
Emery has never been like that and has always been polite and respectful.
Redknapp said selling Malen without a replacement means we will be paying even more for anyone we go for as clubs know we are desperate. Especially if we go after another midfielder. From a financial side it looks complete madness.
Emery was definitely fuming and I wonder if he knows McGinns injury is serious.
I’ve come to the conclusion that Villa are cursed.
Every time we get to a position where we can make a challenge it all falls apart.
Squad depth is not the issue when you lose all three of your top deep sitting midfielders in five weeks – that’s a curse and I don’t care which club it is, no club can manage that within their squad.
Of course clubs like Citeh can just go out and buy replacements – we could but can’t because of unfair financial rules.
We may miss out on CL qualification as a result which, will no doubt, be applauded by Sky and the rest of the establishment that constructed regulations to protect the historical elite.
Football is broken and, at times I’m tempted to give up supporting the unequal struggle.
If, based on others interpretation of his interview, Emery decides it’s an impossible situation at Villa, it’s not the owners but the unfair financial restrictions placed on the club that’s the issue.
The reality is, and Newcastle have the same issue, that the EPL and EUFA’s financial regulations make it impossible for any club, despite the financial strength if the owners, to challenge the protected historical elite.
More worrying than Emery’s frustration is that our owners, sensible successful businessmen, may also view it as a hopeless cause and pull out – Villa back from the possible future to the reality of past disappointment.
Is that a fair reaction to a single defeat – probably not but it reflects a Villa fan’s historical insecurity.
It’s actually good for the owners Hitch, as it means they get to retain big chunks of our vastly increased revenue.
Not that I think this is their aim, in the slightest.
The rules are just a total joke and everyone knows it.
That said, I think they will be changed and it’s a matter of time.
I’m gutted about today’s result, but if Emery doesn’t jack, it’ll be as we were and we’ll keep getting results.
Fenner and the Barcodes are looking very tough games now and hopefully this is just the rough patch that I knew we’d get sometime.
I’m trying to concentrate on what we’ve done recently.
But it would have been great to get that record 12th consecutive home win though.
Something doesn’t seem right. I think there is a crack somewhere upstairs and that is being amplified in Emery’s interviews.
Did anyone watch the final of the Africa Cup? Senegal were so snide in my opinion.
Emery on OS – very brief and admits he’s extremely frustrated at the ‘manner of the loss’ and needs time to ‘recover his good form’ – so frustrated and angry!
And his final comment comes over as very sarcastic- whether meant or not.
Yep, this has given the bookies and media everything they want imo.
https://talksport.com/football/3914133/aston-villa-premier-league-glass-ceiling-psr-failed-transfer/
Alex Crook sums it up perfectly, but we lost one game at home everyone expected us to win. We have Mings, Barkley, Kamara, McGinn and Onana out. We cannot afford to spend because of these bloody corrupt PSR rules. Yep, we let go of Malen albeit probably a week prematurely and who typically scored on his debut, but we should expect a replacement any time now.
We are also being SHAFTED by referees. The amount of fouls on Villa players that are being ignored, and then the slightest knock by one of our players we get yellow cards.
Emery has every right to fume. We were all fuming yesterday. Still fuming today, but we didn’t ‘bottle it’, their goal was offside. Everton were extremely poor too, despite what Ally McCoist says this morning.
Let’s see what rabbits Villa can pull out of the hat this month and if this can galvanise us. The media are stirring it up trying to blame the owners and drive a wedge between Emery and NEWS that doesn’t exist. Don’t forget, like last week, all the results around us went in our favour too!! On top of this, if I was a Scot, I’d be worried about SJM’s injury!
UTV!!!!
Thanks Bum Bum, it’s a good, balanced piece which again points the finger, not only at the EPL but also EUFA both of which appear to bow to the wishes of the historical elite.
In the EPL it’s exacerbated by the group of teams with no ambition, other than to avoid relegation, who are jealous of teams like Villa and Newcastle and would rather see the status quo continue because they see dragging two teams back to their level.
Emery is to be applauded for sticking with it and with Villa – long may that continue.
Ye seen the senegal game what a bunch of pricks walking off when the ref gave a pen should be fined to the max unprofessional bunch of whingers
I’d have been quite happy to see Villa walk off after the shove on Rogers. More than happy, in fact. F*** professional. Why should they be professional when they have to put up with corruption like that? I’ve seen games where minutes after an incident, the VAR gives the ref a buzz and says “you might want to have a little look at this” – when it suits them, of course. Play stops and he goes to his stupid TV. WHY NOT YESTERDAY??????????????????????????????????? WHO CAN ANSWER???????????
F****** CORRUPT TOSSERS. Still very angry, if you haven’t guessed. This is the Premier League. How much is this business worth? And we have to put up with decisions like that?
There is a pattern emerging. What happened yesterday was exactly what happened in August when Ramsey left. The media show all Malen’s teammates’ crying emojis after he leaves as well a cryptic message from Digne, suggesting all is not well – it was Mings in the summer. So we’ve sold a player at an inexplicable moment, and the squad is now upset and destabilised, and if Unai hasn’t sanctioned it, the boss is also unnerved; add to that the context of the pressure and expectation of going second and being 4 points behind the leaders, and it’s all too much, isn’t it? I feel for Unai Emery; I really do. Generally, the transfer windows are an opportunity for the big guns to get their big guns out and for everyone else to bend over and hope their arse isn’t blown off before the window closes. I also think Glasner’s meltdown would not have gone unnoticed by Emery and probably influenced his interview, albeit subconsciously.
More patterns – the referring decisions at critical moments in this club’s history- remember Old Trafford? Remember Vidic? They, like Malen’s sale, are inexplicable and absolutely reek of corruption; there can be no doubt. And it’s getting worse. The fouling and no decisions given – red cards penalties etc are unbelievable. The club need to do something. I don’t know what but this can’t go on. May I suggest a system similar to tennis where each team gets x amount of calls for VAR? I suggest at least 3. How is wasn’t used yesterday will haunt me like Steve Bruce vs Wednesday in ’93 and Old Trafford last May. Shocking.
As for Unai’s interview, if he felt like I did multiplied by a thousand, as I would expect, then he did well not to knock the interviewer out and then go on to smash everything in the dressing room. This guy works his proverbials off and keeps getting the rug pulled out, by officials, by the rules that are rigged against him, and unfortunately, by his team’s incompetence and unprofessionalism. The recruitment is very worrying and the team is STILL essentially Smith’s plus Kamara and the ageing skipper. Yes, they are restricted but so are Brentford. And Bournemouth. And Brighton. And Palace. They all seem to do better.
Personally, as a fan, I’m very unsettled by it all and feel again like I did in August – take a step back, don’t watch, because it simply isn’t worth it. Too stressful and upsetting. Not because Villa lost – that’s normal, despite being spoiled by Unai ; the circumstances, though, are sickening.
I leave you with a social media post I saw in December about Unai which made a lasting impression and we should all remember: “Never turn on this man. Whatever happens.”
“Never turn on this man. Whatever happens.”
Cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTTY-woFdOc
Simon Jordan. Well done, Sir.
Brilliant post BFR and all true so sick of football right now
I agree with BFR. We are preventing from competing with the ‘big boys’ mostly because of financial constraints and terrible referee and VAR decisions. The incident yesterday when Rogers was pushed was a huge error by the referee and his assistants. Unfortunately VAR couldn’t intervene because it happened outside the penalty area. Garner panicked and pushed him before he got into the penalty area and inexplicably got away with it and ended up the MOTM. The defeat was mainly due to a failure by our players to respond to the big occasions. Whether it was Sheffield United a couple of years ago to go top at Xmas, Olympiakos in the conference league semi final, Palace in the FA Cup semi final, Old Trafford last game of last season and yesterday.
The point is we need players NOW to come in like Rashford and Acensio who can propel us to the next level. Preferably not loans but long term. The reality is we aren’t allowed to spend big and we have to accept it just like Emery keeps telling us.
We have created the Sky 6 monster and that includes US Villa fans. Do we not rather watch Manure v Citeh than Brighton v Bournemouth? It’s just a fact that the Sky 6 teams attract bigger viewing figures so it makes commercial sense for the rules to be set up to protect their assets.
I think Emery might be tempted to walk in the summer if we fail to get Champions League, and no one will blame him.
Based on what I’ve been reading in Rise of The Villans, over his career Emery has not ‘walked out’ on any previous job and has always acted in both a professional and gentlemanly way.
The main reason why he left previous positions is that he felt he couldn’t take the team any further and without the ability to bring in new players he might, ultimately, reach the same view at Villa. We don’t have to buy mega stars – one of his outstanding abilities is to get more from players, improve them individually and within a team structure.
He’s built a very impressive and effective team around him at BMH and is fully supported by our owners – I don’t think he’s done just yet.
The thing Hitch, based on the fact our hands are tied in terms of signings and If we don’t get Champions League this season, has he taken us as far as he can? Pool, Manure, Chelsea and even Spurs will in time be in a better position than us. Arsenal and Citeh will eventually pull away. I look at Newcastle’s squad and it’s a lot stronger than ours and they will catch us if they can improve their away form. Emery was stating facts that there are currently 5 teams with a better chance of top 5 than us. A 9 point gap to Chelsea in 6th can disappear before we know it. Newcastle away next game without a back up striker and no midfielders will almost certainly cost us getting anything.
Emery’s silent response her final question wasn’t rude. His silence spoke volumes in a VERY clever way. It clearly said “You know why I’m hacked off, but what is the point of me saying anything. The system is rigged. You know it. I know it. We all know it”.
Enigmatic, yes. Impolite, no.
One thing that has pissed me off about this, is the likes of Stuart Pearce going on about him walking away to a club that has the ability to cheat the system. They clearly don’t have the measure of the man.