Lets not try and disguise things and be polite. Southampton are absolutely awful and you can see exactly why they’re going down. A big part of me half expected the Saints to have a bit of a bounce after being relegated, sacking the manager and having no pressure. Which, when you add them all up, makes for a perfect “Villa mess it up again” scenario.
Fortunately and it’s proving difficult for me to get my head around, we’re better than that nowadays. The “it’s just the Villa way” doesn’t quite seem to apply anymore.
We’re up to fifth, which will almost certainly provide a Champions League place, although there’s a couple of teams who have games in hand. How much could we do with Man U beating Newcastle tomorrow?
As for the game itself, I struggled to get into it and found it easier to do some more research about a Solar panel install for the bungalow in Spain. I did keep a good eye on it though and found it pretty tedious for the most part, to be honest. We had tons of possession, but did very little with it. Morgan Rogers apart, practically every player was noticeable by their absence in my opinion. If I had to highlight another player, I’d say it was Tielemens, who rarely fails to impress me.
But after a poor penalty miss from Asensio, Villa got the breakthrough goal after a great ball from Youri, leading to a great first time effort from Watkins. Southampton threw in the towel even more (if that’s possible) and our total domination finally shone through.
Malen got the second with another well worked goal, with a pass from Rogers (I think) and we finally went on to get a third after Asensio fluffed his lines again on a second penalty, but McGinn managed to get to the rebound first. Asensio won’t be talking pens for a while, I hope as they were both frankly poor, I thought and I was wondering why Watkins wasn’t taking them. Or is that just an admission that Ollie doesn’t do straightforward shots and trickier chances are better for him?
So while it was a bit of a letdown for the most part, the result was great in the end and it keeps us on course for a possible CL qualification. That +3 will massively help with our goal difference too, which might prove very important at the end of the season.
We have a massive game against Newcastle at home up next in the Prem and that could prove somewhat decisive, followed by Man City away, just 3 days later. Let’s hope it doesn’t prove to be a disappointing week and a half.
From what I’ve just seen, the sports channels think we’re at a very important stage. Our next 4 games will be televised on either Sky or TNT.
The happy days continue.
UTV!
So many Villa heros on that pitch
So very proud
OMG! So, so, so close.
4 words: Not gutted. Extremely proud.
We go out with our heads held high. Not bad for our first attempt in 40 plus years. Well done lads. I’m well proud this evening. Let’s use this to push for return to the champions league next season. We belong in it.
EPIC!
I’m glad we won on the night. That injury time goal in the first leg was the difference in the end. I’m pleased too that the players got the applause from the fans at the end. I was worried at 2-0 that the ground would be half empty at the final whistle.
Rashford and Tielemans were excellent second half and it’s a shame the substitutes didn’t give us the boost that we had against Southampton.
Overall, I’m feeling down to be out but proud to be a Villan. Let’s finish the season in the top 5 and win the FA Cup and come back stronger than ever next season.
UTMV!
Spot on Tekkers. And to think we had chances to have won it. Brilliant effort second half by Villa.
That last minute goal in Paris was ultimately our undoing but we did show tonight that we are a very good side.
What I struggle to understand is why we can’t play at the level of the second half for more than 45 minutes. This is the issue that’s holding us back.
The resilience and ‘never say die’ attitude though is fantastic.
Proud Villan – now go and stuff Newcastle and Palace.
UTV
And let’s hope Palace stuff Newcastle!
And that’s 18 games unbeaten at Villa Park, and we are unbeaten at home in this seasons champions league campaign.
The morning after……..
My final assessment of the magnificent Villa.
We were 1-5 down with 45 minutes to go. We got it back to 4-5 and the PSG goalkeeper was voted their best player.
Amen to that.
Bitter-sweet, Gerry. Reminded me of the Atletico game in ’98.
Perfect rehearsal for the Barcodes…
Really nice write-up by the PL on Villa’s CL exploits:
https://x.com/premierleague/status/1912459454521495856
Another nice one from the BBC:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cp8jwn03n5po
It appears we’ve won fans and neutrals are admiring Unai’s work.
We BEAT Juve. Chestey’s goal should have stood. There was nothing wrong with it.
Luis Enrique:
“I don’t think this team has been so dominated by another team in that way. They attacked with great intensity and we were playing in front of a great crowd too.”
So if we can dominate these, surely, we can dominate anyone if we want to?