I think the headline pretty much says it all, but I guess I’d better say something.
Quite simply, I thought that was a real gritty performance; one that we dragged out despite some shocking refereeing, which was only matched by the VAR crew backing him up, seemingly because of his inexperience, according to many commentators.
What is the game coming to if VAR is letting refs off lightly because it’s their first game in the Prem, after his being promoted after not much more than a handful of games in the Championship?
This is not on at all, especially as it seems we get the rough end of a pineapple when it comes to decisions generally, as it is.
I can give three examples straight off, but there were many.
John McGinn shoulder charges a player and that’s just what it was, imo. A shoulder charge.
Granted, in today’s game it’s overly tough. Hence it’s a free kick.
Result? A yellow card for McGinn, yet no free kick and we’re given a dropped ball. That is just nuts to me. If it’s a yellow, surely an offence has been committed and that’s a very basic mistake?
Later in the game, a Fulham player does exactly the same thing to Ramsey and barges him off the pitch. Nothing given.
Ollie Watkins is blatantly fouled for what should be a penalty. From what I’ve read on a few sites, all commentators say it was a clear penalty. Result? Not given and even worse, it’s not even reviewed with VAR. That was shocking, imo.
We have a goal called off by the ref, only for VAR to re-run it and paint the line in the wrong place. Everybody says that’s wrong too, but hey, it’s only the Villa. Disgraceful.
I could go on, but this is becoming a joke now.
So rubbish officiating apart, what did I think?
Well, it was awesome and I happily admit, I called this totally wrong.
I think it was the midfield that won it, but pretty much everbody looked on top of their game.
Let’s do a one by one;
MARTINEZ 7 Didn’t really have a fat lot to do, but was caught in a bit of a mix up with Longlet for their goal. I don’t blame him and he at least made up for it with a superb one on one to keep us in it. The master of dark arts played another blinder in that sense too and continues to make me laugh as much as I’m sure he really annoys the opposition fans.
CASH 7 I thought he looked a lot better today and while I remain unconvinced about him at the highest level, I was happy enough.
LONGLET 7 He was actually a lot more competent than I expected. Okay, his being way too slow for their goal was poor, but he was otherwise very good and relaxed in passing the ball out. If he’d cost us the game, no doubt I’d have marked him lower.
TORRES 8 And probably my MOTM. He looked totally assured and the way he clears the ball, even when under severe pressure never fails to impress. He actually doesn’t look as lightweight as when he first arrived, either.
MORENO 7 Did fairly well in defence and attack and worked his guts out. Did very little wrong.
LUIZ 7 I have to be honest and say I never noticed him much. Which might well be a good thing. Hence it’s a middling score.
TIELEMANS 7 Did some things well, such as a good ball to feed Ollie for a goal, but looked to be seriously blowing when trying to keep up with Watkins, who was running with the ball. That doesn’t seem right, but I have to give him a half decent mark, purely because he contributed to a stong midfield performance. I also thought he took a lot of stick and was often doubled up on.
MCGINN 8 As per usual, worked himself into the ground and led a good midfield performance from the front.
RAMSEY 7 Contributed to Ollie’s first goal, but again, while I wasn’t convinced, he did contribute.
BAILEY 8 He was simply excellent and looked seriously dangerous all through the game. Hit the bar. I’m beginning to love this bloke and to think I thought he was never going to be any use for us, last season. I’m happy to admit I was well wrong there.
WATKINS 8 Did he do anything wrong? Not that I recall. I’m very happy that he’s got himself on the scoresheet twice and one with a very nice Dalglish type swivel for the first too.
Emery pretty much timed his subs well too, I thought.
All that said and I don’t want to be seen as a naysayer here, I’m not sure what to think about Fulham.
Well, yes I am and frankly, it’s not much on this showing.
Then again, they have a very decent home record of late, so I’m not knocking this result at all.
On a day of strange results, where the only home win was Forest over West Ham and Wolves did us a big favour in beating “everybody’s favourites” in Spurs on their own turf, we’re back up to fourth.
It’s a very good day and I’m a happy bunny again.
UTV!
Loving that š
May I suggest where the officials can shove the ‘rough end of the pineapple’?
Heh. I don’t think it needs saying. š
Badger, seriously. I believe the VAR will do everything in their power to help Tottenham pip Villa to 4th. I’ve said it since it came in 2019; the club should take the PL to court over the endless shafting of our great club.
EVERY SINGLE SECOND of what is said in the VAR centre should be recorded and accessible to ANYONE who requests it. Anyone. Under the Freedom of Information Act. Would give any half decent journalist something to get stuck into. It is a vehicle for corruption. End of.
š (to the bent arseholes who run it). In a bad mood. If you hadnt noticed.
BFR – from your post on the previous thread.
Not sure the VAR question was meant to rhetorical but, on reflection I realise no one has an answer so, of course, you are spot on.
Hmm, I think it would take more than one club to take them to court and it would all be seen as subjective anyway.
This is two weeks running I’ve called the ref out though and given that it’s not something I normally do, it suggests standards are falling.
I assume your bad mood is revolved around something else, because I’m well happy tonight.
Mother in law, Badger!
Blimey, consider this for a review via a Guardian reader, ZeeZeetopFulham. It’s real quality and very balanced, imo;
Aston Villa take their third straight league victory over us in an enthralling match at Craven Cottage, and a reminder of the joys an attacking mindset can deliver for an onlooker. Were I not a fan of the losing side Iād have loved the treat the afternoon offered, sides constructed by two managers eager for goals and flair, and even as I write this in the wake of a Fulham defeat I find myself far from despondent, if slightly irked that the mistakes that saw us 2-0 down werenāt rectified by the on-the-cards comeback the dying stages promised. Perhaps the sobering truth to Fulhamās downfall will come later – there is certainly room to scrutinise the nature of our defeat, as fate might have offered victory in another timeline – for now, football has once again served a pleasant distraction from miseries elsewhere on the planet.
Thereās a lot to commend Aston Villa for across the match, with their finest football coming in the first half. Emery has built a magnificent attacking side, stacked with truly exceptional players, and the speed with which they attack strikes a chord of fear inside the teams they face. Both sides started the game with attacking intent but sometimes the immediate explosion of energy pace offers provides an advantage, and Villa advantaged theirs brilliantly. Ramsey, Watkins and Bailey formed a deadly front three, targeting pockets of space with their nifty runs and outfoxing our defence. Tielemans, a sublime artist on the ball, floated around the pitch threading killer balls into dangerous areas. The tenacity of McGinn and Douglas Luiz, two men with the strength and stamina to manifest Villaās presence around the midfield, gave them a steely robustness to withstand our possession, transitioning from defence to attack with great haste and launching Villa attacks that left Cairney – and more devastatingly Palhinha – reeling in their wake. Morenoās blistering speed along the left was a menacing factor to throw into the mix for Castagne.
Against a team like Fulham, who relish having the ball but donāt boast many rapid players, the danger of their attack made itself clear. Villaās goals, and principles across the majority of the match, represent this clearly – they have a sharpness and vigour that makes them a cruel poison for an unwitting side. We are not a dull or uninspired side but Villa have a knack of making teams like us look sterile – they are direct and focused on the goal, and have players that can execute in a few seconds what some sides take several minutes to accomplish. Villa constantly had the ball in our final third, taking the initiative and exposing our backline by taking the ball beyond Palhinha quite quickly, neutralising our strongest tackler and setting up shooting opportunities.
The result is a litany of mistakes, caused by panic in the face of rapid opponents and the mistakes they cause. Willian, usually one of our best players on the ball, had a horrible first half, with several rancid touches and rotten passes discolouring his usually refined performances. He was brushed aside by Ramsey (albeit from an awful Robinson throw-in), directly leading to Villa getting the ball deep in our territory and scoring through Watkins. Robinson met his match in Leon Bailey, a player with the same blistering pace as him, and saw his mistakes compound as Villa found joy along our left. Diop was easily our worst defender though; he lacked the composure to move the ball out of our half, with poor passes and clumsy touches frequenting the afternoon, and crucially was poor for both of Villaās goals. He was danced around by Watkins for the opener, and in the second half traipsed out of position to allow Tielemans an avenue to feed the ball through to Watkins. We survived two offside goals – Morenoās from a first half corner particularly tight – and were lucky not to be further behind than two.
Marco Silva is not an easily beaten man though, and with our squad looking healthier than in many weeks we saw a huge improvement in the second half, enabled by the greater depth available on our bench. A flailing Willian was swapped for Iwobi, back from a final-run at AFCON, and immediately the dynamism and energy weād lacked in previous fixtures was restored to the team. Though Villa poked a second after his substitution it was against the run of play – the direction of traffic flowed our way, as Iwobi made himself available around our midfield drifting in from the left, acting as a riposte to Villaās previous midfield dynamic and gaining us the opportunity to attack Villaās backline and central areas with more gusto.
Emery waited a surprising amount of time before actually making his own substitutions, something that allowed us to switch the momentum of the game around. Whilst we were not terrible in the first half our attacking lacked the menace of Villaās, and was unable to cause serious concern to Martinez. This is partly because Villa boast a very competent backline, with sturdy full-backs and two very distinguished centre-backs in Lenglet and Torres, and were attuned to the slower tempo Fulham started the match with. However, as our energy grew, Villa started to tire, started to see a greater focus placed on their core unit.
No defence is perfect – there is only so much a man can take before he aches – and as Fulham increased their zip on the ball, it meant key playmakers like Cairney, Pereira, Robinson, all decent in the first half without being spectacular, saw more of their play find targets in the final third, wearing away the stamina of the backline. It was this speed that earnt us our goal, a brilliant ranged pass from Cairney finding Robinson on the wing, who beat Cash to the ball and launched a cross into the box, where the unsuspecting Lenglet and Martinez were nipped ahead of by Muniz, cumbersome and clumsy in the first half, the ultimate poacher in the second.
More substitutes followed, which in the face of Villaās lack of changes made play almost exclusive to their half. You can see an issue with Villaās set-up in these situations – Tielemans is a brilliant asset when your team are in full-flow, but with the direction of play reversed he becomes a slight burden, useful in select circumstances and unhelpful when trying to regain momentum. The pressing that might have defused our possession spells wasnāt there, because the front three were low on energy and the AM wasnāt harrying our backline, meaning the football seldom passed the halfway line. This was exacerbated by our substitutes – Wilson gave us more spark than Bobby Decordova-Reid, and Traore and Bassey boasted extreme pace for weary legs to deal with off the bench.
And yetā¦ the score remained 2-1. Despite our glut of chances, the brilliance of our possession, the spring in our step enjoyed by the whole team, our equaliser never came. Martinez can take a lot of credit, with some key saves made against Iwobi and Muniz late in the game, and for all the weariness of the backline Villa still fought valiantly to stop us getting an unmissable chance, keeping us out until the final whistle. It is this winning quality that has propelled Villa into Champions League contention, the ability to wed their talents and skills with grit and determination. It elevates them above sides like us, who are capable of similarly accomplished performances but canāt always find the material to transform it into multi-game winning runs. They earnt their victory, and theyāll be a tough side to knock out of 4th for the other contenders.
Thereās plenty of positives to take from the game from a Fulham perspective, regardless. It took a while, but our ability to play the beautiful game is excellent when we click, and really made for an enjoyable watch. Muniz continued his strong spell with a lovely bit of skill for his goal. Pereira had his best game in ages, with some genuinely threatening set-pieces and insightful passes to boast for his afternoon. Crucially our squad is in a much healthier place, with injuries passing and internationals returning, and on another day our brilliant second-half would have yielded a complete comeback. Weāve got a few touch matches to come this month, but I feel confident that the team can tackle them – and what more can you ask for in the Premier League?
Badger
What an article! I go with everything said. Especially the analysis of Tielesman. Against lesser teams I think we will be fine. Against better teams Iād like to see Iroegbunam start and add steel to the team. According to sources on Claret & Blue, Emery really rates him – just doesnāt play him much.
.
Excellent, balanced, if somewhat lengthy article which provides a perspective on Villa, as a side, seen through the eyes of an intelligent fan of an opposing team. Perhaps it takes another view from the hillside, as it were, for us to fully appreciate the team we have.
As to Iroegbunam, if Emery rates him highly then I trust him to play him when he deems the time is right – perhaps away to Fulham wasnāt it. He certainly hasnāt been recalled from his loan spell to merely sit on the bench and with Europe back on the horizon we will need to rotate.
Good article Badger they summed Villa up wish the FA and the shit refs they give us would take note, even match of the day placed us almost last
ahead of a 1-1 draw and less mention. What is it that Villa in all its fight to be a top midland club find it hard to get recognition. We had a back line never played together, a season to be fourth from near oblivion yet we seem to be disliked by many officials and clubs, fair play to Uni heās not only brought us back heās put the midlands back as being a place to come .
In fairness, Bill, it was specifically mentioned that it was the first time the defence had played together on MOTD and they were praised for doing such a good job in holding on, when we were under the cosh.
Having watched MoTD how the hell did VAR agree that Moreno was offside – he clearly wasnāt either in real time or on the VAR lines – being played on by Ream in the centre.
I assume the penalty wasnāt given because they deemed Watkins had ālost controlā of the ball before he was āfouledā. Iām convinced it would have been given as a foul anywhere else on the pitch!
Just practicing my regular VAR rant ready for the next game š
Sad to hear that Aaron Ramsey may have suffered a serious knee injury – I hope not yet another ACL.
Thanks badger for posting the article from the guardian excellent read and much better written than the rubbish from the Birmingham mail
Nice to see what others think about villa
Anyone watching Luton and Man game ? Luton are no mugs believe me been a very hard fought game a draw would have been a fair result. 2-1 Man .
I’ve watched Luton a few times Bill.
They’re better than they seem, but are open to a counter, often because they have to attack.
If we get the early goal, I’d be pretty confident that we can beat them.
“Recording 30 wins, eight draws and 12 defeats, Emery has a 60% win percentage which sees him record five more wins and nine more points than any other Villa manager after 50 league games.”
That’s any manager EVER. Impressive.
https://www.astonvilla.news/match-coverage/unai-emery-just-broke-aston-villa-record-that-not-even-george-ramsey-or-graham-taylor-managed/
This article is on news now
https://www.astonvilla.news/analysis/aston-villa-top-of-concerning-european-table-that-highlights-urgent-need-for-major-change/
“Per Matt Lynch on X, 70 per cent of Villaās revenue is spent on wages, the highest in Europe.”
Then this in the Birmingham Mail
“The i newspaper reports that the potential new regulations will be implemented across all four English league divisions. It will see clubs who have qualified for European competitions limited to spending 85 percent of their revenue on player wages and transfer fees, which will reduce to 70 percent for clubs competing in Europe, in line with the UEFA regulations.”
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/premier-league-meeting-could-imminently-28582222
Seeing as we are falling in line with the new proposal of 70% what exactly is the problem?
RSS – without researching this – itās 70% of revenue on wages AND transfers!
If weāre already spending 70% of revenue on wages alone itās potentially a massive problem.
Once again these rules are designed to protect the Real Madrid and MancC clubs of this world. Itās already a closed (financial) shop so, once again, just shows how greedy these clubs are by wanting a European Super League and b****cks to the rest of football.
Even backed by a sovereign wealth fund itās still an almost insurmountable challenge to dethrone the (financially) elite – donāt forget ManC got there before FFP took hold!
Or maybe Iām just an angry old man!?
No Hitch you are spot on, absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any ‘Fair Play’ but a case of keeping a closed shop and maintaining the status quo (imo).
Impressive indeed. If we can keep that up, at almost 2 points per game on average, that would give us 75 points. Man Ure finished third with 75 points last season.
Let’s keep dreaming…
Conference League round of 16 draw on Friday at noon.
Villa are one of eight seeded clubs that will be drawn against one of the eight clubs coming though the play off round – and there are potentially some very decent clubs in that group. Hope we get a decent draw although our cup draws over recent years have generally not been very kind – and even, on the odd occasion, when they were we managed to shoot ourselves in the foot; or more accurately in both feet
Some Spanish rag has been reporting Arsenal are after Ollie Watkins. This rubbish is relentless.
Have Arsenal got a spare Ā£100m for Ollie to go with the Ā£100m for Luiz?
Sigh…
Anyone think the Bees can do Citeh tonight? …Thought not…!!
They just canāt help themselves can they? The rumour rag I heard about was Mbappe going to Real Madrid with Rashford to PSG meaning Watkins to Man Ure!
I watched Canadian Peteās Trinity show and he mentioned a staff letter from VP complaining about Heck. Has anyone read this?
Just search up ‘Chris Heck Aston Villa letter’ and it shows an alleged letter from AVFC staff about Heck. Nothing more has been heard about it…
https://www.reddit.com/r/avfc/comments/1ardxl1/letter_from_avfc_staff_to_fab/
Is it real or a wind up?
Difficult to say Bum Bum but David Michael (myoldmansaid) sits on FAB so if itās legit I would expect him to raise it on the blog – either through the podcast or through an article.
I havenāt checked but regularly listen to the podcast – if I read or hear anything Iāll put up a post.
What I can say is that Michael and FAB are not at all happy with goings on at Villa since Heck was appointed and have made at least one formal complaint to the FA that Villa (Heck / Hatton) are failing in their duty to properly consult with fans over the new badge which is now a regulatory issue.
According to David Michael the letter is genuine and runs to four pages detailing what has been going on since Heck was appointed (in some ways Iām not surprised – my brother worked in the UK for an American company at a very senior level and was treated appallingly by British employment standards which are an anathema to the Yanks). It was delivered two weeks ago so itās not been an immediate release to Twitter – now called X for no apparent reason. Michael was pretty cynical about the clubās subsequent PR efforts around Heck and using Mings to ābury bad newsā.
No doubt weāll be hearing more in due course but everything within the club is not all that it should be – or so it seems.
When I look at these ‘behind-the-scenes’ rumours and ‘complaints’ about Heck, I get a strong feeling that he won’t last much longer than the end of the season.
Seems like one of those square peg in a round hole sort of appointments, just waiting for who at the bery top of Villa actually realises it first; presumably they’d have to spend money to pay him off…
I had a charity client a while ago and their American board member fired the CEO – on the spot, and for no real reason – and took on the role herself which is against strict charity rules!
Boy, did the fur fly! Yep, the Yanks take a while to get to grip with the way we do things here. In saying that, it would be fun to let them loose in the Civil Service! LOL!!! That would shake things up!!!
It appears when he’s not busy upsetting his employees he turns his attention to the supporters trust and the FA!
“In a statement outlining their concerns about the proposed new crest, the Villa Trust added that other than the October survey to individual fans, they are not aware of any further input from supporter groups. Regulations introduced last year to protect heritage require clubs to undertake a āthorough and extensive consultation processā, but Villaās FAB do not believe that was sufficient under those rules.
A club must also be able to evidence that a majority of its supporters are in favour of any proposed changes. Members of the FAB subsequently contacted the FA to outline their concerns that Villa had not engaged in sufficient consultation, despite the club arguing the contrary.
Hitch my late son had to oversee work being done by the Americans and told me their bosses was ruthless. They could leave a job till it was finished, made to work overtime or lose their jobs , the workforce was shit scared of losing job . When he came back he felt sorry and sent some of the workers money . The yanks are ruthless in business.
I wonder why they think they’re in a position to okay the design? Is Heck a designer himself, with a proven successful track record in this field? Or is it feedback from a couple of tea ladies or some lame focus group?
Frankly I don’t understand the need to redesign the badge anyway, every few years
Quite agree.
However, in a world where ‘Marketing’ is usually now considered more important than ‘product’, the people working in those areas need to constantly re-imagine the ‘Brand’ simply to keep themselves in their cushy jobs.
Hence we see large organisations renaming themselves every few years, new corporate logos, etc., – all at great cost and with little actual benefit to anyone – except the ‘Marketing’ / ‘Branding’ consultancy firms…
The Fan Advisory Board generally represents the fans and are pretty vociferous.
The feed back from the FAB and from the general fan consultation has been totally ignored by Heck and Hatton whoāve decided āthey know bestā when it comes to brand marketing.
But the badge is more than just a brand for Heck and his merry men to play around with. It represents everything about the club, itās history, itās traditions itās present and itās future thatās why, in the wake of the European Super League disregard for fans treating them as nothing more than consumers (cash cows), the FA – in trying to outflank the new Regulator – has put in place fan involvement regulations around certain Club decisions of which one is a change to the badge.
Heck doesnāt care about tradition and he doesnāt understand how football support works. His only experience is in orchestrated āRa Raā crowds in American football etc. His only objective is to raise as much money as possible from the fans (consumers) and if we donāt like it – tough! One only has to look at what heās done with The Terrace View and Lower Grounds without any thought of or fan involvement – upselling and causing a great deal of bad feeling particularly amongst season ticket holders and within The Holte – which is potentially harmful to the team. Even ManU gave up on a similar approach of trying to upsell in the Stretton End
Will NSWE agree with the fans or is the revenue drive more important?
Right, laÄs! On to more important things…Forest tomorrow. I haven’t heard of any changes from the treatment room so i expect the same side as last week to turn out.
Forest could put out any side selected from their squad of 329 players but we’ll still beat them!!!
4-0. Go and put a fiver on it!!!!
Strictly to script we draw Ajax in the Conference League – so that will all be about Henderson.
Aston Villa will be the bit part in the saga that is The Dean Henderson show! Iām already pissed off just thinking about it. In fact I would imagine the English media would rather Ajax win because of him.
Well we’ll justt have to put them in their place won’t we Hitch!!!