Hmm.
I don’t even know what to think about this game.
I watched the Bournemouth-Liverpool game earlier and found myself totally despondent that Pool got a penalty because a Bournemouth player headed the ball and it deflected onto his arm from less than a foot away. Was his arm in an unnatural position? I really couldn’t give a flying if it was. He’s done his job in defending and there’s no way he planned to knock it away with his arm.
The worst part is the ref let it go, but VAR said he needed to look at it. He was even shaking his head, as if to say “I have no choice”. And then he wrongly gave it.
Because it was Liverpool? I suspect so.
If it was the other way round, I’d bet money it wouldn’t have even been looked at, let alone given in their favour.
The only saving grace is that Mo Salad missed the target by a mile, which made me howl with laughter and Bournemouth went on to win the game.
Karma? Justice?
I don’t care. I was happy and it would have been a one-eyed scouser who thought they were hard done by.
Forgive me then, for not being too bothered about this game.
It’s the nothing Aston Villa vs the massively struggling West Ham, who aren’t playing the game at all and ought to be doing much better, purely because they’re a London club who are massively letting the London-centric Sky thing down.
This Sky 6 and London thing makes me puke.
Squad news and Kamara is definitely out after the knock he got against Palace.
Dendoncker is doubtful, but the big one is that Diego Carlos might be available. Really? I’m somewhat surprised by that, but that’s what the Beeb are saying.
As for West Ham, Lucas Paqueta and Michail Antonio need to be assessed and Flynn Downes and Maxwel Cornet should be available after suffering slight knocks midweek.
So it’s all about Danny Ings, then, isn’t it?
I never rated him FOR US, so you can pretty much guarantee that he’s going to score against us.
That said, if our shocking defence can stop him, I think we could quite easily beat the Hammers on their own patch.
We have the tools and it’s just a matter of if they can get the game together on the day.
Let’s face it, West Ham are really not very good and they are not where they are in the league for no reason.
I’ve nothing at all against them, but I’d just love things to all come together for once and we beat someone soundly.
I strongly suspect that might happen here, for some daft, unknown reason.
But otherwise, my prediction is a much more staid 1-1 draw.
Which I’d happily take as part of our mid-table mediocrity.
UTV!
A point is a point but we still haven’t managed to beat West Ham or Moyes.
An excellent away point. The fact we’re disappointed speaks volumes on where we’re going. Must beat Bournemouth at VP next time round and things are chugging along nicely. I think 7th is doable, provided results keep going as they are. I’m hoping and expecting Brentford, Fulham and maybe even Brighton to fall away and Villa to overtake them before the season’s end.
Need Wolves to take the points from the barcodes later, which will just about keep them within touching distance
I know the manager was “rather upset” when we let in 11 goals earlier BUT we had the run around on West Ham and didnt seem to want to do it too often…same every match. The biased West Ham commentator said in 1st half they just neded someone to ping some balls over us and whoopee …well he must have give the half time team talk because thats all they did …just lucky for us their forwards hadnt heard of timing a run.
West Ham were there to be beaten today but a soft penalty gave them a lift. They have Bowen and Benrahma and we have Bailey and Traore! Just think we were linked with them before we signed for West Ham but obviously thought they wouldn’t make the step up from championship. Instead we sign two players who piss around with rarely any end product. I don’t know why Digne came on for Moreno because he nearly cost us a goal when he let the ball bounce and we were lucky that they squandered a good chance. I didn’t think Moreno was great defensively but he was our brightest spark going forward.
Credit to Luiz, Mings and Konsa who played well. A draw isn’t the worst result considering our terrible recent record against the Hammers.
Generally agree Holte – Luiz and McGinn were excellent; best I’ve seen McGinn play in the defensive mid role.
I assume Emery had a good tactical reason to play such a high line which was bordering on the suicidal at times!