This is going to be a pretty quick article with a couple of thoughts on todays game
Both teams come into the game on poor runs; Villa one win in five and Wolves one in four and off the back of a poor result at Anfield whereas Villa played really well at West Ham without any reward.
Villa should have benefitted from the rest occasioned by last weeks postponed game – particularly for the players that have been on international duty. Barkley is still sidelined by his hammy but is reported to be running again so may be back for the next game. I haven’t seen any news on Davis but, if fit, I expect to see him on the subs bench.
Wolves are without their main strike threat and are not known for being prolific in front of goal. Their strength has been in defence but there maybe concerns here as well with Nuno having recently switched from a three at the back to a four over the last three games – will they revert to their tried and trusted formation today?
Whatever there may be an opportunity to exploit an uncertainty here.
Villa might count themselves unlucky not to have come away from West Ham without at least a draw but having said that we have to be more clinical in front of goal – we had more than enough chances to win the game. Trezeguet is the principal culprit having failed to find the net in 22 attempts this season (more than any other player) and often not even managing to hit the target. Having said that, he makes intelligent runs and gets himself into goal scoring positions and puts in a real shift for the team. It looks as if he’s trying too hard and just needs a bit of luck in front of goal to restore his confidence – so I’m sure the goals will come.
We also have to stop conceding soft goals and making silly mistakes at the back and we need to concentrate from the whistle not five minutes later; this is an unwelcome throwback to last season pre lockdown! West Ham had just two attempts on target and scored two very preventable goals. I see Smith made reference to this in his recent press conference and that he has reminded the team they need to be hard to beat which was the mantra post Project Restart.
So to today’s game which is hard to call. They beat us twice last season and we generally have a poor record against them over recent seasons, particularly at Molineaux where they’ve won the last three.
I’m not particularly good when it comes to predicting results but I’m going to stick with my recent post and go for a draw; even if only because the odds suggest one is now due!
Yeeeeasss great great win absolutely made me weekend wooo hooo
That was a nice finish to the game. Agree with others the ref spoiled things. We’ll miss Cash and Luiz but hopefully Barkley will come back. I thought there were signs that Traore might start to have an impact which will be nice.
I’m looking forward to relaxing to watch the rest of the weekends matches
Come on guys were moaning about the crap ref but we should be celebrating 3 points
The future is looking so good up the villa get in
But moaning about Dean is all part of the celebration; even at his worst he couldn’t derail the mighty Villa. I reckon he had his eyes on booking all 11 of our players!
You are right though – great result going into the Christmas period and 18 points from 10 games is brilliant.
UTV
i gonna scout wba playing magpies. not seen much of them under billic
Aren’t Newcastle going to under strength because of Covid?
they just blagged a week off and maybe they were just scared of the villa lol newcastle scored already first minute
Just saw the final score! That makes up for the at least one of our last two matches!!! Whoooooooo!!!!!!
Nice to see the defence and goalie doing well today, at least according to the BBC!
baggies equalise brilliant volley by furlong, bad defending thou by newcastle. defender stood square waiting for the ball,doesn’t even see furlong coming in behhind him
wba nice and tidy but toothless up front, they seem to be getting better now they scored.
Nothing special on show although Newcastle the more experienced and that shows. Albion lack quality and with Pereira out struggling in front of goal.
Furlong goal was superb – like to see him do that again 🙂 and Gallagher looks a very decent player. We should be looking to get something out of the game next Sunday.
Will be without Cash and Luis for Burnley game though and McGinn / Targett both on 4 yellows.
Hopefully Barkley will be back on Thursday; if not then Sunday when we could be at full strength.
gallagher missed a nice chance from inside the box. wba are similiar to us last season before covid postponement. they look nice to play against. they are toothless as well.
man utd and man city ht report nothing happened much this day
i am pretty confident we will beat utd and after watching this i fancy us against city too
omg i wasted my time watching the manc derby paint drying comes to mind. when do we play these (hands rubbing) i counted 3 shots on target by both clubs.
time to switch sports / boxing time. iam going for Aj 2nd round ko
zzzzzzzzzzzzz just woke up after falling asleep watching Man Ure v Citeh. Can’t believe all the hype leading up to the game because both teams are overrated. Pity we can’t play them both now.
Worthy of mention in my piece – and I apologise for missing it – is that McGinn signed a new five year contract on Friday; nicely celebrated by earning the penalty which gave us the win. Another sign that our owners are getting the Villa house nicely in order.
Intriguingly – does Ramsey’s selection ahead of Hourihane suggest that he might be leaving in January?
And what do we do with Davis – sadly it’s beginning to look like he’s injury prone.
great questions
first mcginn brilliant that we signed him on a new deal, he had a bad injury and that is why he finished last season off his high standards. but he is definitely a player of premiership standards. he is a improving player too always learning.
ramsey didnt look out of place yesterday. normally when i see our youngsters in first team they standout for being a easy touch, not quite strong enough to withstand the game. ramsey coped well with this and he fitted well into our system, so like i said before under smith they are all playing the same way through the ranks, so when the first team come calling they are fitting in well.
davis i like the player and he is a good player but he sadly will not make a premiership striker. before i receive my hate mail. we need a striker like watkins he holds the ball up well runs the channels well and is in the box and attacking the spaces there. he is a handful and dangerous in the box. davis can hold the ball up well and runs the channels well but he isnt a natural striker as in he doesnt attack the box. he will never be prolific in premiership.
also davis is constantly picking up injuries and he will be finishing his career before he starts it. i think smith will agree and he will promote another striker or recruit one in place of davis.
You’ll get no hate mail from me Nath too many player’s useing sick notes at our expense, sorry to be a person with no forgiveness but if your body cannot take physical contact or training tactics then your not good enough for the game of football. I’d give them once or twice but not continued injury, a broken bone yes but no to continue sick note. How about this? Yesterday’s Man Utd and City was given a Manchester born ref, would you like a Birmingham born refereeing a Villa game I know I wouldn’t. In this day and age I would think hi hi fiddle here. On a brighter note after watching Man and the other Chelsea’s game we have nothing to worry about. VTID,
i was gonna mention that bill. manchester born ref but he never ever pledge his allegiance to either, i find that b/s i was born here in manchester. but i followed in my fathers footsteps. i despise utd ,i can stomach city as they are supported by most my mates. but i find it hard that he has no feelings about them. he must secretly like or hate one or both.
i noticed on another platform mings has posted a message to fans who berated el ghazi. he is correct and it does piss me off when i see fans target our own. it is counter productive and why would we ? i understand fans get upset and angry emotions and look for ways to let of their steam. but there is no reason to get personal, we can point out players who had not played well. but i hate seeing the person stuff. we receive enough hate from other clubs fans and referees without in house fighting. hopefully penny drops and we learn to love our players and heroes all the same. cause it is a team sport and grealish cant show off his skills without the other 10 players and nowadays the squad as mings points out
Good points Nath and what a courageous and supportive action by our captain to nominate El Ghazi to take the penalty – talk about showing confidence in your players.
I like El Ghazi – there’s a very good player in there somewhere I just wonder whether he’s robust enough for the EPL and I think that’s a fair question.
I agree with your debate on Davis. His continual injury problems is an issue and I think, ultimately, it will tell against him. I like him but I feel he would be better playing in a front two but it’s not a system we employ so he may well need to go elsewhere to move his career on.
exactly i concur grealish made a captain decision on the field. fans blame managers for everything on the field. but players do have responsibilities. hats off to grealish he made a great decision. i would have taken it myself if i were him. if i were smith i would demand my striker watkins take it. but i thank god iam a supporter and not a on field decision maker.
On that subject of El Ghazi been reading on other post what your saying Nath went on, personally to rubbish a player personally is out of order, ok you question their abilities and pass a comments as I’ve done on managers or player but I wouldn’t go to that extreme. Let’s hope we stay as a friendly body of player’s and not like what’s gone on with Pogba at utd.
I have got my tin hat ready for the replies, but I am going to support Mike Dean’s refereeing.
You have a choice in advance of ‘local derby’ type games where you know there will be a lot of fouls. Stamp down early, with cards shown in the hope that other players will calm down. Or let a number of fouls go, including everything which looks like a player going down easily, and issue cards only after giving the player a verbal warning for his previous foul.
Mike chose the stamp-early option, but it did not have the calming effect therefore to be consistent he had to keep dishing out yellows.
What has changed recently is the type of tackle. I played in the Suburban and Isthmian League – and though amateur – the type of tackles and fouls was the same in the professional game at that time.
Then, defenders did not run in the footsteps of the player on the ball to try and put a stud in the heel of his boot. If you were a left back (I was) you attempted to tackle a right winger by getting half a stride ahead of him to his left and take the ball with your left foot. You did not use your right leg to make the tackle. Today players try to hit the heel of the player they are chasing. Or a left back if alongside the right winger will try to plant the studs of his right boot on the toes of the winger’s left foot; or use the back of his right knee to hit the winger’s left kneecap. Either of those attempted tackles is inevitably a foul.
In yesterday’s game repeat offenders were carded as were shirt tuggers. Fine by me.
How is that a penalty to Liverpool when it was not a penalty for villa when they both hit the elbow.
great question answer is, there are new rules which pool are exempted from. villa handball claim where ramsey crossed the ball which wolves defender hit with his arm (green zone) this means common sense comes in play. clubs like villa can not win a penalty, until they are denied three or four clear ones,
if you watch the villa pen again you clearly see the ball strikes his elbow which is in fact the red zone. we got screwed over again but this time we ended up with another pen and we scored so all is fine. b/s last three games alone the refs have robbed us points clubs like pool win pens and utd i heard have had 30 pens in one season record
Mind boddling to say the least, I actually at the time thought we wouldn’t be given that because of who was refereeing. they had to find after as to why they didn’t. How many times in our season so far been robbed!! They did at one stage say 3 monitor’s attended a game to grade the ref, you don’t hear about that do we. if you ask me its all guess work today on who is who, Villa has had bad deals in the game in more ways than one. Still move on to Thursday’s game and then Sunday at 19.15 pm ,get them and I’ll be happy chappy.
Watching Arsenal v Burnley. Arsenal look really poor and a win for Burnley now looks odds on. Mind you Arsenal have contributed to their own downfall with a lack of discipline – down to 10 men and lucky they didn’t have another sent off.
We really didn’t need Burnley’s confidence up before we play them on Thursday. Certainly won’t be a given particularly with our recent home results.
Dont ever suggest that ex players now pundits get into the VAR box. Fulham v Pool…..
1.Fulham Pen…he pushes Fulham players foot onto ball…..a pen…
2. Fulham goal….Salah pushed with both hands before ball goes to scorer….no goal.
3 Pool Pen….all wall jump …ball hits arm which was not raised just bent at elbow…..no pen.
Jenas and whats her name say officials got all 3 correct when in fact all 3 were wrong…..
Good job even when fans get back to matches that I dont go anymore as I would only last one match before being banned from all grounds….
Had to join in the laugh by Lineker and Wrighty on MOTD when they showed Shearer scoring in 10 secs years ago….he charged down the goalie and ball broke for him to score…..after doing a Henry with it with both hands……I only said the other week that he would only have half the goals if VAR was around then…..still hate him for trying to relieve Ugo of one of his eyes.
Jeez. RIP Gerard Houllier.
Yes R.I.P. Gerard…a true gentleman.