I really shouldn’t say it, as we all know that when it comes to the Villa, getting confident usually leads to us not getting the result we expect.
But I can’t go into every game feeling pessimistic can I? It’s not in my nature, as much as I try to keep my enthusiasm down when it comes to football.
I’ve always found this particular fixture something I can’t get excited about for some reason.
It’s unfair really, as although I’ve had it in my head that Leicester are a bit of a non-entity, a quick look at this site tells us it’s actually the tenth largest city in the UK and as such, it should be no surprise that they do pretty well sometimes.
Actually that site is quite interesting because it well and truly puts Manchester firmly in it’s place.
Second city, my arse.
But I digress. I just like a good list.
Squad news first and the big news is that Leon Bailey is out with a quad problem and we won’t see him before christmas. While it’s refreshing to hear a call from Gerrard that doesn’t emulate Dean Smith with his totally non-informative updates, it’s incredibly disappointing that the player is injured again. He’s beginning to look like a really poor signing. It’s okay them having lots of skill and costing a fortune, but if you don’t see them on the pitch, they’re a waste of time and money. But then, we have a few of those, don’t we?
A big part of me wonders if Bailey is one of those who just doesn’t fancy it, particularly in the cold, but a quick Wiki shows he made 56 appearances in one and a half seasons at Genk, before rattling up 119 appearances in three and a half seasons at Leverkusen.
That’s surprisingly good and I think I’m being harsh. We’re seemingly just unlucky.
Danny Ings may be available, but any decision will be left until last minute. The position on Matt Targett is uncertain, as it’s not known if his head injury would be classed as a concussion, but he’ll also be a last minute decision. Otherwise, nothing has changed.
As for Leicester, Youri Tielemans and James Justin have returned to training but are unlikely to feature.
James Maddison is fit after being treated in their game against Southampton.
The main thing around this game is who will Stevie G pick to play?
A lot of the side picks itself, after a pretty impressive second half against Man city, even if the first half was pretty dreadful.
The back four go without saying, but if Targett does prove to be not fit, I assume Ash Young drops in. Talking of who, I saw on one of those market value sites the other day that he has a value of only £900k. When you consider we paid £5 million to loan Ross Barkley, how good was that bit of business in getting Ash for free? We do get it right sometimes.
I’m hoping Targett is fit, because having Young as a backup gives me quite a comforting feeling knowing that he can come in and not be absolutely rubbish.
Does the manager go with Luiz and Nakamba again? That’s a tricky one, because while Dean Smith dropped Nakamba at the drop of a hat, he’s actually just been voted player of the month which is a great call in my opinion, as he’s been excellent.
Yet, if both he and Luiz play, it doesn’t leave any room for Ramsey and I’m pretty sure the manager will want him on the pitch today.
I don’t envy Gerrard making that decision.
And I haven’t even mentioned Sanson, who’s also an option.
It’s all a bit strange as just a few weeks ago we were moaning about how poor the midfield was and we now have what seems to be an abundance of riches. Well, options anyway.
And then there’s the younger lads, like Chukuemeka, Philogene-Bidace, the younger Ramsey and Archer to bear in mind too.
Who’d be a manager, with so many cards to shuffle eh?
With Bailey out, it seems logical to go with El Ghazi on the left, as much as I’m just not a fan of him and I’d expect that’s what will happen. If Ings proves fit, I guess you could put Watkins out wide, but even though I think he’s been poor over the last couple of months, the fact is he’s scored two in the last three games. If a striker is scoring, you have to leave him in place to my mind.
And that basically leaves Buendia. I so want him to come right for us and he has shown some really good touches in his play. He undoubtedly has an eye for a pass and seems a good player. But he’s been absolutely awful overall pretty much whenever he’s come onto the pitch.
Fair play to the manager, he’s giving Emi every chance to play himself into some form and hopefully it will come.
But you have to wonder how long a team can continue looking like it’s a man down for long periods of the game.
I can see Buendia being replaced and relegated to the sidelines come the winter window if he doesn’t improve.
He’ll start today, even after I’ve said all that about him.
So as I’ve said, I’m reasonably confident here.
I see goals. Three of them to be precise.
And the points go to us.
Villa to win 2-1
UTV!
Lovely touch on the wing from Buendia then.
Leicester bricking it.
We need to make these chances count…
Quote from Paddy Power, who are completely neutral:
“Jacob Ramsey making history as the first player to have a goal disallowed for the crime of kicking the ball into the net.”
Says it all.
Buendia and Liuz off, Sanson and Chuky on.
It’s fortunate Konsa’s bagged 2, nobody else can shoot today, The chances Luiz Watkins and Ramsey have had in the second half!
Yes, but we’ve been butt-f***** out of two goals, haven’t we, OLL?
Tuanzebe on for Ramsey, who’s been poor again for me.
Brave of Gerrard to bring on Sanson and Tuanzebe. A pair of Calamity Janes.
We’ve retreated back into our box.
What’s the betting they score?
McGinn pulled for a non existant foul.
This ref is fucking horrendous!
His family has bet their Christmas budget on Leicester getting a result…
Well called Badger. 2-1! 🙂
Ha, I totally forgot about the prediction 🙂
I’m chuffed mate.
Extra mince pie for Badger!!!!
And that’s it.
More relief than anything, because I was wondering how many chances we were going to give away.
Phew! Fantastic stuff!!!
Great win despite yet another shocking referee.
MoM – Nakamba for me
Brought ourselves some breathing space – other results going our way this weekend
Foul count – Leicester 25, Villa 8
Not sure what to make of that!
That if only one yellow card was shown to each team the ref is biased. 25 fouls must mean two players did 4 each and should have been carded for persistant foul play.
Monster result! Nakamba for me too – vital tackles and he can play a bit.
Now a beef. Villa may be the first League Club, but do we have to illustrate all the clarifications in the rules?
1/ Citeh player hiding behind the Villa keeper after being down injured over the goal line. That goal stood in the game but was ruled out later.
2/ Arsenal double hit penalty in over time. Game stops the instant a player touches the ball after the keeper’s save so before the ball was netted. Should not have counted.
3/ Today. If a GK plays the ball on the ground (different in the air) he is only in control of it when he has 2 hands on it or has pulled it towards him with one hand. Schmeichel had done neither.
OLL – absolutely.
Preaching to the choir – the problem is the choir doesn’t include referees and the rule makers.
As soon as the referee is told to go the monitor they collapse and concede to the omniscient VAR. Referees need to grow a pair.
The other issue that irritates me is the overall bias towards Sky’s favourite teams – but maybe that’s a reflection of my own bias towards the mighty Villa.
Maybe ‘Stevie G’ will redress that balance in time, given his Liverpool connections. We can hope.
Watching Sky – Rule 12 actually says – the GK is in control if the GK has a hand on the ball between the ball and the ground EXCEPT ‘where the GK makes a save so the goal should have been given. That suggests the referee nor the VAR ref knows the rule. VAR should never have referred it to the ref.
Of course Mr. arrogant Smeichal says it’s a foul and can’t understand why there’s a discussion?
Really good post match interview with Stevie G.
The man’s a genius Hitch, this is younge talent of management coming through. He addressed the needs on the pitch on change, he reads the game well . Can you see Smith being able to have done that.?we are back and I’m as happy as pig in shit. my thoughts on that Smeichals incident! ! It’s a goal , why he saved it first then made that grab of the ball . It’s still in play . . Never mind we won and well done the team .
Well done you Villans.
Always good to beat a team who always seem to hold one over us.
It seems to me that Stevie G has cut through the fog of team selection that blighted Smith at the end of his reign.
More over our manager appears to be more tactically astute. It will be interesting to watch when we can implement the game plan for 90 minutes rather than 45.
9/12 points since Stevie G arrived and a good second have performance against Man City. The near perfect new manager bounce.
Now let’s see how we go against Liverpool. I can think of 7 reasons why this will be a match worth watching.