Or a damp squib?
I’ll bet you know exactly what I’m going to say, because you’re no doubt thinking the same thing. Even if you’re not, I’m fairly confident that there will be at least a bit of niggle at the back of your mind.
It’s a banana skin game isn’t it?
There’s been quite a bit of talk on the news about the Christmas number one today, with Wham, Slade and that hippy Sam Ryder all in the running. I’m only joking about the hippy bit, but he does remind me of Neil from The young ones.
Anyway, I’m not particularly interested in that, but I am definitely interested in the fact that a win tonight could make us the real Christmas number that counts.
We’d go 2 points clear, which would mean that if Liverpool and Arsenal were to draw, which seems a big possibility to me, we’d be top of the tree (get it?).
And that would be the first time we’ve been top of the tree since the Gregory days in the 1998/99 season, where sort of coincidentally, we beat Sheffield Wednesday to achieve it.
History is on our side for this game.
Utd haven’t beaten us in the league at Villa Park in sixty years, although Chris Wilder has beaten us twice as manager in their home games.
The Blades have lost 27 of their last 32 Premier League away fixtures, winning two and drawing three. Probably worse still, Gustavo Hamer is the only player to have scored a goal for them in all their away games this season. That’s bleak away form, to say the least.
Squad news and for us it could be worse.
Luiz and Digne are both back after suspensions.
The bad news is Kamara begins his 3 game suspension and the less said about that, the better, in my opinion.
Pau Torres has an ankle knock and I think Youri Tielemens has a similar issue. Traore seems no nearer and of course, Mings and Buendia are also out.
Also of some concern, John McGinn, Matty Cash and Jhon Duran are all only a card away from a suspension, although I do realise that the “5 yellows” only stays in place until after the Man Utd game. Hopefully, they can stay card-free, McGinn in particular.
As for Sheffield, they have six players injured, but I’m struggling to find out who they are, exactly. It appears Chris Wilder is keeping his cards close to his chest and there is talk of a squad shuffle. I detect something amiss at the club, because the manager has also talked about how he wants unwanted players gone and quickly. Has serious doom and gloom set in, I wonder?
However, good news for them is that Jack Robinson is back from a suspension.
Aha, more research shows that their injured players are Chris Basham, Daniel Jebbison, Tom Davies, John Egan, Rhys Norrington-Davies and Rhian Brewster.
Not that I’m particularly bothered.
Going back to things we haven’t done for ages, Ollie Watkins has scored 21 goals in this calendar year, the highest since Andy Gray in 1976, where he scored 24.
So a hat trick tonight would give him that new record, but maybe that’s asking too much? He does though, have tonight’s game and the Man U and Burnley games to achieve it, which I’d like to see.
It’s when I see those sorts of stats that it really starts to sink in about how well the lads are doing this year/season.
So tonight should be easy then, eh? Certainly the bookies think so, because they have us as massive favourites.
Rightly so, because we’re doing brilliantly and they’re, on the face of it, frankly awful.
But wasn’t it a similar thing when we lost to Forest? It’s difficult to believe that we’ve beaten Man City, Arsenal and Brentford in our last three games, but somehow managed to get beaten by a team where we were their only victory in 13 games.
And that’s exactly why I’m not counting my chickens for this one. While we’ve done incredibly well, we still have that propensity to lose to even the lowest of teams when things are looking good.
That said, I have to say I think we’re going to win this.
As I suggested above, I think there’s something wrong at Utd. Wilder has talked about how you can’t go into games without belief, which suggests that he has two choices. He either plays some players who don’t believe or swaps them out for possibly inferior players.
Which is intriguing, because if he does shuffle the pack, it could mean that he’s sidelined players and the atmosphere will probably be poor around the club.
I’m speculating though.
The only thing left, is the score.
I’m going for 3-1 to us.
In the hope that Ollie gets at least one.
UTV!
You just knew it was gonna end like this.
Just have to thrash ManUre now…
Football is one unbelievable game. Gutted. Terrible reffing too.
It reminds me the time Southampton who were bottom of the league, beat ManU who were top.
GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!
Get the F88k in!
FUCKING COME OOOOOOOOOOOON!!!
Zanilo with a header.
Can they rule this out?
Either way, it won’t be enough.
Why the hell sell archer if he’d been loaned he would not have been able to play against us
And var has done us Bailey goal should have stood as it was several phases of play before the goal
It’s always the same with villa they bottle it when it matters I’m absolutely pissed off.
Why bother supporting this crap team I don’t know and what the hell was Ramsey thinking fouling the goalkeeper
Before we all have a massive whinge, it’s OK. Resilience again is a huge plus. What panned out was inevitable. Yes, we were poor. Shit, in fact. But they were very very tough to break down. And like Neville just said, we’re going to have to deal with more of that from now on. Maybe Buendia would have helped in that type of game. Needed something a bit ‘cuter.’ Unai will analyse it and find a way. IF that’s our dodgy Christmas result out of the way, it’s all good. Put it down as valuable experience. Merry Christmas!
P.s. Mr Heck, despite the disappointment, I still need some tickets for the 30th.
Roy, how did they bottle it if Bailey’s goal should’ve stood? A 1-0 is the best you can get from opponents like that. And they did break through with that goal. What can you do if it’s disallowed?
Cash booked and out next game.
No loss, even if we have to play dodgy Konsa there, imo.
Not sure I’d describe Konsa as ‘dodgy’. In fact prefer him to Cash at right back – a position we need to strengthen in January.
Let’s hope Tielemans is fit for Boxing Day as he can take the deep sitting role and allow McGinn further forward!
Kamara’s sending off is already proving costly. And it’s Martinez’s fault.
When Maupay fell over, Emi should have just stood there with his arms folded. Maupay is a twat as Mee is a c%£t.
Maddening again, but you live and learn
I love Emi, but teams will try and wind you up for the hell of it…We have to be smarter.
Still chuffed for Zanilolo tonight!!!! Every cloud…
Absolutely. Meant Mcginn had to play deep and that stifled us creatively.
Hitch, I detest Konsa at RB.
It just doesn’t suit him in the slightest, imo.
At least not in the modern game.
He’s far too gangly and slow and his distribution isn’t good either.
We need a £30 mill replacement in that area, with Cash as back up, imo.
Then Konsa goes back to what he does best.
Our best CB/stopper, imo.
Not really arguing with you about Konsa at RB – my point being I prefer him to Cash as it allows us to play Carlos and Torres both of whom are comfortable on the ball.
I totally agree that in a perfect world we will get in a class RB as first choice but its not a perfect world 🙂
But then again maybe Emery / Monchi will surprise us in January. Unlike Deadly, I’m sure the owners will back Unai subject to FFP.
Beaten by VAR tonight and a team playing anti football.
Liverpool saw it with United not even trying to score.
Expect Burnley to do the same.
We definitely missed Torres and Kamara tonight with McGinn sitting much deeper than normal.
But fair play to Villa they never gave up and one point is better than none – and I did call it as a draw Badger!
Exactly, Hitch. In hindsight, Dendonker in and McGinn doing the usual might have been a better option.
So frustrating.
We’ll win fuckall if we can’t put these lesser teams away.
Top 4 or 5 remains my ambition, but it’s so annoying that we offer nothing up front in these games.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, aarrrgghhh!
Utter dog shit performance. Too passive! We needed more runners from midfield to break their defensive lines.
Carragher really pissing me off with his anti Villa especially when Bailey goal ruled out. And how on earth wasn’t it a penalty early on for a push on Watkins.
Better than a shock defeat but that’s bleedin’ football for you!
I’m not down on Villa or any of our squad. Fk that. It was a bloody tough game against a bus parking spectacular. Ba$tards.
Onto the next game. We’ll be bloody fuming at that, but it may be catalyst for several new faces in January.
We move up one place and will stay there if Arse win. With that I’d be effing chuffed. I don’t think for one solitary second we’d win the league this year. Top 4 would be massive.
Merry Christmas Villians! Count your/our blessings!!!!!
Zanniiioolllooooooo!!!!!!
🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅
Exactly mate. I’ve just finished my commment and it’s pretty much what you’ve said. 👍
Listen to Wilder…
Listen to him. No apologies. Up to them to break us down. We can’t go head to head with them. We’re not gonna be cannon fodder for them. Fair dues. Now get off the pitch and eff off back to Sheffield!
I think Cash is a liability so definitely need someone in the January window. Kamara being out was a big factor IMO. Torres maybe with his passing ability. Lenglet did mostly okay but didn’t offer a telling pass. It’s difficult to pass through a 5-4-1 and the best chances were from out wide.
Lack of ability to shoot hard from 20 yards. This the big problem in the bus garage that Zrinski and now Blades have turned a VP penalty area into. Diaby, McGinn and Watkins can only shoot on the run or curl the ball past the keeper. If they have both feet on the ground when the ball is laid back they can’t hit it above pass speed.
Villa are too cultured to hit the ball at two players in the way and hope a bad bounce sets up a tap in, but that is about as likely to produce results as we are to walk the ball in – which seems to the the objective of most of our approach play.
I will start with my moan. The disallowed goal should not have been disallowed- they had cleared the ball and lost it, we scored.
I give up with VAR. Their defender deliberately pushes the ball away with his arm. It’s a penalty and it reminds me of the adage ‘VAR checking club badge’.
The positive- a fantastic goal by Zaniolo. There may just be a player in there.
We missed Torres, Kamara and Tilesman.
I just wish we are a little more direct at times. Also the run had to end. I guess that is karma for goal that never was against Sheffield the year we just stayed up.
Spot on with that, Sid.
I must admit, for all the frustration tonight, I can only laugh. Mental isn’t it!
Mad. Mad. Mad. Mad. Mad…
We do need a bigger squad though. Not massive numbers, but players are naturaly tired after all the brilliance so far, and suspensions and injuries are guaranteed. Super John McGinn was off tonight but that’s how it goes.
If anyone offered you guys our position so far this season after the BarCodes game…What would you have said????
Infuriating but there you bleedin’ well go. Onto Old Shitford next on Boxing Day.
Merry Christmas to you fellow Villians! See u back here on the 26th!
And once again, thanks Badger for running this little community!!! God bless ya!
Watching highlights and villa should definitely have had a penalty for hand ball his arm movement showed he was trying to get the ball forward so he could kick it clear
The only good thing out of the match is we kept going till final whistle, so maybe I was wrong earlier when I said they bottle it.
They must work on how to break down teams who park the bus with 10 men back
Maybe Bailey or diaby should have been on the bench to bring on as something different.
And maybe zaniola could play as a striker with that header.
Xmas ruined looks like champions league best bet.
Merry Xmas and thanks to badger for the excellent work on the site,best on the internet
Merry Xmas all! And Thanks Badger for running this pressure-relief valve!
Two left-footed right-wingers on the pitch at once never looked like a balanced side so I guess the squad will be in at BMH on Christmas day, working on something different.
Ref was diabolical, what ever happened to ‘phases of play’. Sheffield had the ball and lost it and they then go back to the previous phase to find a foul. PGMOL are a f***ing disgrace and the worst refs in Europe by a country mile.
However, being honest, we didn’t really deserve anything more. Sheffield’s low block left us searching for creativity that we just didn’t have tonight.
Oh well. the PL has been dishing up some weird results lately so we shouldn’t be too surprised, however, I always had a sneaky feeling that Cammy would score. I just thought that we’d score six in reply. Perhaps the Gods of Football are telling us not to get too far above ourselves.
So on to Man Ure where I’m going to predict a victory on Boxing Day. We will bounce back. In Emery we trust.
Merry Christmas all!
Let’s all spare a thought for Emery we was robbed again he must be fuming about that game. I’ll say it again that ref was shit poor and should be investigated on his ability to ref any games from seeing what we seen . Definitely a pen and confirmed by two poor speaking English ex footballers commentators that talk down their nose. I’ve never ever seen fouls that was ignored by a ref yards away that was pulling shirts and allowing the player to carry on, rediculas decision by him. FA take a look at idiotic decisions by a bloody one eyed twat of a ref you sent to Villa Park.
Taylor is a poor and very weak ref. We’ve had him before and he hasn’t improved.
How he failed to book Norwood is beyond me.