I’m not going to dwell on the Palace game too much, as most of it has been said already here and elsewhere, save to say that their handball goal should have stood and Grealish, in all honesty should have been booked for trying to deceive the ref.
The performance was adequate and it seems many sites gave very decent player ratings for most of the team.
But being realistic, I think the truth is that it was more about Palace being very poor. Even Taylor was rated as very good, after all and we all know how he’s rated by the Villa fans. Good professional yes, but by no means a quality player.
Perhaps I’m being harsh.
You can only beat what’s put in front of you after all.
And anyway, it doesn’t matter what I think; all that mattered was us getting the points.
Which we did.
Grealish looked brighter, but seems to have lost a bit of attacking instinct and seems to hesitate at times. He certainly should have shot first time in the play that led up to the non-penalty, imo.
Elmo did well, as did Trezeguet, in the second half at least. I pointed out a couple of weeks back that he looks our best hope as a finisher lately and seems to have better positional sense when we do threaten. So much so that I wonder if there would be any mileage in putting him up top?
Nah, it’s a daft thought and it’s too late anyway.
Which leads me nicely into the Everton game.
I watched bits of their game against Wolves and they didn’t look very good. The classic “they’re already on the beach” definitely sprang to mind, with even some of their own players admitting that they lacked desire and need their backsides kicking.
Which is what I think the game will boil down to.
Who wants it the most?
There’s no doubt the Villa lads worked hard and played for each other yesterday and it was good to see, as it means we ain’t quite down just yet.
For me, our best hope is that Everton don’t fire themselves up. Our luck says they will, but it’s hard to see how. They have nothing to gain, after all, apart from maybe a few quid in position money and it’s hard to see that motivating the players much.
I’m too scared to predict the score, because I don’t want to jinx us, so I’ll just say I’ll be keeping everything crossed come kickoff.
And then, I can’t finish without commenting about Man City.
CAS mostly overturning UEFA’s decision is horrendous and scary.
This has now moved all the power away from UEFA and towards the clubs.
In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if FFP is dropped, because it seems it’s unenforceable.
A German paper, Der Spiegel, found evidence that Etihad sponsored the club for £67 Million, yet the airline itself only paid around £8 million or so, with the rest paid by the Abu Dhabi group.
How can they get away with this?
Every man and his dog knows this is bent.
The worrying part is a Football expert who helped write the FFP rules said on the Beeb that if we’re not careful, the European game will be controlled by just three middle Eastern entities, which are basically countries (Saudi, Abu Dhabi and the UAE).
How on earth have we let it come to this?
Actually, it’s probably quite easy to answer that.
Football has sold it’s soul to pure and unadulterated greed.
And Sky and the Premier league are the most guilty.
I strongly suspect that those of us who said the Premier league will kill the game are slowly being proved right.
Comments
81 responses to “Villa – Palace thoughts; can we beat Everton? and Man City”
“Villa inching their way forward”.
Then Targett passes it back to Mings on the halfway line, then Mings passes back to Reina.
SOOO annoying.
I honestly cannot see us winning this, I’m kicking ever ball here.
I agree Bill.
On the plus side, Luiz has been outstanding up to now.
HT.
An unsure start, but we looked better as it went on, imo.
Watching with the sound turned off and it definitely makes us look better 🙂
Reason – weekly family quiz on Zoom!
I don’t think Samatta does enough, I don’t know it might be me , have to get a result or game over.
first half was a even affair, we did well we are pressing high, we have good structure good shape. we are getting men forward and luiz is totally the best player for us.
we have to stay in the game and take our chances when they arrive. this team is getting better, but not many games left. we have to start winning the games.
konsa i think has also improved as the season gone on. hes spell at right back has given the kid more confidence on the ball. luiz has mopped up in front of the back four, he has also been linking up with grealish and hourhiane.
we used to be a one man team for 3/4 of this season and every season since jacks been in the team. but now luiz has taken loads of responsibility of jacks shoulders. other players need to stand up and be countered too,
My god our set pieces are just awful! How many do we just waste time and time again?
Yep, utter rubbish.
All part of the poor quality.
Konsa from a Grealish free, ha.
1-0!
I was hoping that would work!!
FECKING YEEESSSSS!!!!
YEssss Konsa
So close to a second!!!
Correction, Hourihane free.
Now I’ve no nails left, to old to chew my feet nails.come on Villa.
Thanks for that Bill, I’ve just eaten!!!!
Ooh, brilliant cross from Grealish then, but El Ghazi couldn’t quite make it.
Great play.
6 minutes to hold on!!!! Can’t watch…
Fuck’s sake, that was close.
Come on Villa, hold ’em!
Shit 1-1, Konsa nets trying to keep it out.
Despair again 🙁
Christ!!!!!
Sorry but the inability to tighten up the back when yr in the lead, that’s the managements fault.
All season we have allowed wing backs a free cross. Inevitable.
I was a shit full back 40+ years ago but if i allowed a crosser that much time my team mates would give me such a bollocking.
The basics have gone.
El ghazi !!!!!!
Disgraceful tactics sitting back inviting pressure.
Everton stepping it up a gear.
I’m not convinced that’s good enough for us.
Despondent, but thinking about it before I post.
Gutted, f gutted.
No we are sitting back
so close yet so far away. turning point for me was el ghazi missing a simple tap in, he made a great run around the back onto a delightful grealish cross. but some how el ghazi cleared the ball rather than just side foot it into a open net,
we couldnt see the game out sounds like the story of our season. we are just not good enough at this level and this moment in time. but can not fault the effort. we tried our best and bust a gut giving our whole.
lots of our games could have gone our way had we had more luck and more quality at times. we miss too many and concede to many by our own doings our own mistakes,
hope the boys give arsenal a good game, its not over, but last chance saloon is up next, if we took this down to the wire against hammers i think thats the best result all round. i predicted we would survive just, but even i didnt expect it to go down to last game last kick. my poor ticker is still in for a bashing yet
Gutted but not going to fault our effort.
As Nath says we’re just not good enough at this level. What we don’t want tomorrow is a draw – a Watford win would probably suit us best.
The fat lady continues to tune up her vocal chords 🙂
I disagree. A West Ham win would suit us best because Watford have got Man City and Arsenal to play after that.The Hammers have Man Utd then us. I am probably tempting fate by discounting Bournemouth because their games against Southampton and Everton are games they could easily win.
The bottom line is,defeat to Arsenal and we are down.If we can still have our fate in our own hands when we get to Stratford,I would take that now.