Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Steve67 on October 05, 2025, 04:11:49 PM
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Tedious watch, two good bits of finishing from Malen, got the job done. Three points.
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Played really nicely for 3/4s of the game, and should have been out of sight. Felt the subs didn’t really work today and it’s a problem that when Ollie goes off no one can hold the ball up.
But another win, a couple of lovely goals. Torres and Bouba impressive again, obviously Malen did great. Feel like Rogers is definitely finding his way back, some lovely turns and an assist.
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Tedious watch, two good bits of finishing from Malen, got the job done. Three points.
This may be the script for the season
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Great result at Turf Moor
(https://i.ibb.co/LDTHVFVX/IMG-0121.jpg) (https://ibb.co/LDTHVFVX)
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A win was vital, and we got it. Just 3 points behind Palace after their brilliant start to the season. A win against Spurs would be nice.
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Even on points with Newcastle and Brighton despite the narrative around the respective clubs. Not bad considering our shit start.
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Not as close as 2-1 looked. Their keeper had a good game.
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Tedious watch, two good bits of finishing from Malen, got the job done. Three points.
Second half was quite good. Cheer up, Steve!
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Tedious watch, two good bits of finishing from Malen, got the job done. Three points.
Second half was quite good. Cheer up, Steve!
Sorry Jane, I was hoping that we'd get rid of the negative goal difference and take them to the cleaners. I was frustrated with the lack of energy but a win is a win.
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Far from tedious but a bit nervy at the end.
Unai won the tactical battle by changing formation but over thought things when he took McGinn and Watkins off.
Bogarde excellent.
We look far more clinical but still unbalanced
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Hard to decide what is the bigger relief, the three points or not having to listen to Alan Smith drone on anymore.
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Tedious watch, two good bits of finishing from Malen, got the job done. Three points.
I'm surprised at that. We created the most we have in any match this season and Dubrankva kept them in it for long periods. I think their goal was the second chance they had.
(https://liveblog.digitalimages.sky/lc-images-sky/lcimg-f8566537-7a21-4b6a-b022-8d0d42fd8944.png)
Disappointed to concede the goal. Watkins seemed to be clearing a lot in the first half so not sure if him not being on meant we defensively didn't have a decent player to meet the ball earlier.
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Hope Buendia is okay, incompetent referee.
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Hope Buendia is okay, incompetent referee.
He was thoroughly abysmal.
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We've got a winning momentum going into the international break. I didn't think that would be the case a few weeks back.
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Probably made it a bit harder at the end that it should have been. Thought we could have really stepped on it when we went 2-0 up, but we dropped off it and let them back into it.
Special mention for Bogarde, who I thought was very good.
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Hope Buendia is okay, incompetent referee.
Yes me too. That looked a definite red but that ref was awful.
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Bogarde looks like he’s gained a yard of pace to me, he runs away from players now.
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11 days. 4 Wins. Onwards
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Guessand looked decent at the end too. Comfortable beating his first defender and held onto the ball well.
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Getting better.
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Tedious watch, two good bits of finishing from Malen, got the job done. Three points.
Tedious? Sound like a Gooner!
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Bogarde looks like he’s gained a yard of pace to me, he runs away from players now.
He had a great game, he's not spectacular but hardly puts a foot wrong and fills in nicely at the back when needed.
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Been at Aston station for 30 mins, left before the final whistle.
We and Birmingham deserve absolutely nothing.
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We’re now comfortably nearer to the Champions League places than the relegation zone!
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As easy as a game as you could hope for after an away game on Thurs night. Burnley were awful, keeper aside. Tactically too, Parker letting Konsa and Torres particularly have as much time on the ball as he liked was odd. For us, interesting to see Malen up top with Ollie and he took his two goals superbly. Really impressed by Bogarde in midfield, he outshined Kamara. Main weakness was Digne I thought. Just not an outlet on that side anymore. Really disappointing to concede another goal in the air, brutal defending. We missed McGinn badly after he went off, as others have said we didn't get enough of a lift off the bench today. Not that it mattered.
Martinez 7 - brilliant save in first half, at his best I think he challenges for their goal in the air. Distribution is excellent these days.
Cash 7 - fine as per usual, made a hash of a routine header that eventually led to the goal.
Konsa 7 - easy street today but has to take some blame for that free header.
Torres 7 - too easy if anything, distribution was fine
Digne 6 - improved a bit second half but we need Maatsen to step up now
Kamara 7 - bit of a cruise but maybe tired after Thursday. Assist for first but not a difficult pass.
Bogarde 8 - some transformation, tactically superb always in the right spot.
McGinn 8 - excellent again on right, huge miss when he went off
Rogers 7 - finished with an assist and kept trying to do the right thing. Rhythm still a bit off
Malen 8 - two fine finishes and a threat throughout. Struggled when Ollie went off
Watkins 7 - easy street really, movement and touch were fine. Thought he should score that one before half time
Not much of a lift off the bench. None were particularly bad but we need more.
Emery 8 - big call to put Malen up top worked out very well. Faith in Bogarde was rewarded too.
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As clinical as Malen was my MOTM goes to Bogarde. A joy to watch him bring the ball forward and he operates like he's on auto-pilot, never looks troubled. Praise too for Kamara, the way both defensive midfielders work so well together is in no small part why we look so good in central defence. between the four of them it was pretty seamless.
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Bogarde looks like he’s gained a yard of pace to me, he runs away from players now.
Suspect it's more the confidence to try to do that sometimes rather than looking for the most basic pass every time.
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Annoying to concede so sloppily from a corner. They didn't have to work hard for it, the lad was all on his own.
On the plus side, I think we've only conceded once or twice from open play this season which is impressive. Decent corner from their lad Hartmann. That's Troels from The Killing (Forbrydelsen)'s son, I assume?
I loved Malen's goals, he has that far-post arrow-shot trademarked now, all of his goals seem to be that way. The emphatic strike on the second is how you see top players in confident form, finish.
I've been a bit critical of him and wondered did he have the heart to really fight for a spot but today he seemed to show he's best deployed as a second striker. Not sure how often we will play both him and Watkins together, though.
Important to get 3 points today. Something to build on, confidence and injured players gradually returning. Hopefully Youri is back for the tricky run of games after the international break.
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Agree with the praise for the Bogeyman, he looked class. Dropped in at RB well when Cash pushed up.
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I can only see Burnley Rovers going straight back down, another team of cloggers that look like they'd be happier playing rugby league. Impressed with their keeper but other than him the ref was their best player, the useless tosser.
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We never got out 2nd gear today and didn’t have to really. Sloppy goal to concede when we were coasting made it more tense than it needed to be. Ollie Watkins still seems a long way off it and the final ball in the opponents third isn’t crisp. Good win though going into the break. Schedule gets a lot harder now with next 4 against very good sides. We will need to be much better after the break or we might find this little bit of momentum come to a sudden halt.
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Maybe but our goal difference was our undoing last season and if we can't rack the scores up at home against a relegation favourite, I'm not sure we're gonna be +10 or higher in GD come next May.
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We controlled the game and should really have won that much more comfortably, as apart from a shot in the first half, we kept Burnley well away until their goal. Also Dubravka made some excellent saves.
Although Cash's mistake led to the corner that then led to the corner from which we conceded, Martínez should have comfortably collected the ball. He must've thought it was a GK but it was obviously a corner. Either way, he should've just collected the ball.
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I can only see Burnley Rovers going straight back down, another team of cloggers that look like they'd be happier playing rugby league. Impressed with their keeper but other than him the ref was their best player, the useless tosser.
Agreed, they were truly useless. Parker is out of his depth too. Don't get Walker's mindset. His legs and heart are gone so why bother struggling for another year in the PL? I know he has plenty of mouths to feed but even still.
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He was too busy shoving one of their players, if he'd ignored him and watched the ball he'd easily have punched it clear.
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Our offside trap was bang on all game too. The refs letting play go before calling it back often makes it look like we've been compromised, but we hadn't. Big improvement.
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Four wins on the spin and we're looking more and more like the efficient Emery team we've all come to appreciate.
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Seven points from the last nine. That will do nicely. Onwards and upwards!!!
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We needed that as the next 3 games are testers - Spudz, Citeh & 'The Mighty Reds YNWA'
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Seven points from the last nine. That will do nicely. Onwards and upwards!!!
Six from six is even better.
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Good win. Thought he took McGinn and Watkins off a bit too early but other than that, happy with that.
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Played well, 2-1 flattered them and it would have been the biggest travesty since OJ if they'd escaped with a draw.
Malen obvious choice for man of the match with his two good goals, but Kamara was also excellent and I really like Bogarde. Glad he got an ovation at the end.
Rogers not back to his best but more like it, and some encouraging signs from Guessand when he got on.
Their goalie played out of his skin and I thought their number sixteen was quite good.
Imternational break, now. DO NOT GET INJURED, please.
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Was there a reason Ollie went straight down the tunnel when he was subbed?
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Finally back in town.
Fine performance, Torres in the form of his life and could end up captain, Bogarde great but having Kamara as your bodyguard helps, apparently Watkins chucked a moody but who cares, Marlon ace and overcoming games like this though considered easy is where we fall so many times.
Nice to go into another confounded break in relative comfort
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Bogarde looks like he’s gained a yard of pace to me, he runs away from players now.
I think that's confidence more than anything. everything about him looks sharp at the minute.
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Quite comfortably the worst team in the league. They only scored because of us, we are our own worst enemies. But we were comfortable.
Bogarde was motm for me. He was brilliant. Malen took his chance today too excellent finishes. Also felt cash had a good game despite the mistake that led to burnleys goal.
Four wins on the bounce is very pleasing. The real tests now begin with the next three
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Ollie came back in a tracksuit and sat on the bench, so assume it was an injury.
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Or he needed a piss.
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Was there a reason Ollie went straight down the tunnel when he was subbed?
He wanted to check if Smirker had already posted about his stats.
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Have Sky stopped doing those quickly released highlights of each game. I couldn’t get Live TV here in the US so was listening to Rego and Tayls on AVTV so haven’t seen the goals.
By the sounds of it Dubravka saved them from a spanking with 3 or 4 top quality saves. Which is typical for the Villa that the opposite turns into Lev Yashin at VP.
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When stroll though games like that it proves we are getting back to form.
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Enjoyed that. Their goal was gifted to them and they barely had a chance other than that. Two great finishes from Malen. Ollie and Morgz take note. Bogarde looks so much better this season, as does Pau. When Pau purrs, so do the Villa?
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Have Sky stopped doing those quickly released highlights of each game. I couldn’t get Live TV here in the US so was listening to Rego and Tayls on AVTV so haven’t seen the goals.
By the sounds of it Dubravka saved them from a spanking with 3 or 4 top quality saves.
On this page for me. Might have removed it for outside of the UK.
https://www.skysports.com/football/aston-villa-vs-burnley/report/531190
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Have Sky stopped doing those quickly released highlights of each game. I couldn’t get Live TV here in the US so was listening to Rego and Tayls on AVTV so haven’t seen the goals.
By the sounds of it Dubravka saved them from a spanking with 3 or 4 top quality saves.
On this page for me. Might have removed it for outside of the UK.
https://www.skysports.com/football/aston-villa-vs-burnley/report/531190
Ta, yeah doesn’t work outside UK. I’ll have a sniff around on YouTube.
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Lots of positives today, the win being the obvious.
But also :
Malen looks good alongside Ollie
Rogers had some nice runs and seems to be getting his confidence back
Bogarde looks mature and assured in the middle with Kamara
Important minutes after returning from injury for Barkley and Onana
All in all a good solid win and that’s 5 unbeaten now going in to the international break
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Like a home game in 2023. Regulation win, on to the next.
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Thought we played well, Malen has a good eye for goal.
Pau was just class alongside Konsa, and Marty Cash had another solid game.
The central midfield pair were excellent, and Bogarde is improving with every game.
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Kyle Walker and his cloggers can fuck off back to The Championship. That is all.
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Or he needed a piss.
Interesting point. Do players ever need a wee mid-game or is the bladder conditioned to "behave itself"? - the same way, no one likes going for a poo away from home and the bowels generally accept this brain-messaging.
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First 70 mins were the quietest and flattest I have seen and felt the ground for many years.
It was like the whole ground was hung over.
3 points were very welcome and although Burnley are unbelievably bad, their goal gave them some belief and they made the last 10 mins a bit more uncomfortable that they needed to be.
Mentions for Konsa who was magnificent and for Bogarde who is developing very, very nicely into a very valuable squad member.
4 in a row…..we are getting there, slowly but surely.
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We controlled the game and should really have won that much more comfortably, as apart from a shot in the first half, we kept Burnley well away until their goal. Also Dubravka made some excellent saves.
Although Cash's mistake led to the corner that then led to the corner from which we conceded, Martínez should have comfortably collected the ball. He must've thought it was a GK but it was obviously a corner. Either way, he should've just collected the ball.
I was in the north stand and could see that the ball was going for a corner so no idea why Wmi didn’t just claim it A soft corner to concede and shit defending too. I haven’t seen it back but I thought it was close enough for Martinez to come and clear it.
Plus points were Malen’s two goals and Roger’s getting an assist and showing more signs of discovering form. Kamara, McGinn and Bogarde all excellent too, the latter looking increasingly like he believes in himself now.
Very annoyed at the challenge on Emi at the end. Presumably VAR looked at it and decided it was accidental?
All in all a low key win after a tough away tie in Europe. Perfect 😊
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Very annoyed at the challenge on Emi at the end. Presumably VAR looked at it and decided it was accidental?
I suspect the ref told them the arm was high but he didn't see any foul. VAR couldn't then over-rule what he told them. The fact that the ref didn't see any foul at all after booking Emi for arms high when there was nothing like that one is what is pissing most people off.
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That arm to buendias face was awful. Was there a card?
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Getting there aren't we. Some good movesbut we do lack pace. Defence was pretty solid, they only way they were gonna score was from a set-piece.
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That arm to buendias face was awful. Was there a card?
No card
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First 70 mins were the quietest and flattest I have seen and felt the ground for many years.
It was like the whole ground was hung over.
3 points were very welcome and although Burnley are unbelievably bad, their goal gave them some belief and they made the last 10 mins a bit more uncomfortable that they needed to be.
Mentions for Konsa who was magnificent and for Bogarde who is developing very, very nicely into a very valuable squad member.
4 in a row…..we are getting there, slowly but surely.
Where do you sit? I’m in M4 in the Doug Ellis and thought the atmosphere first half was pretty good, even before we scored.
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Oh, the club need to sort these patches of empty seats, I presume from the GA+ tickets not being sold. We hade sh*ts seats today as nowt much normal tickets available, they could have been sold.
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That arm to buendias face was awful. Was there a card?
No foul
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Really, really chuffed with Bogarde winning tackles bringing the ball forward just all round good. Long accepted that you can barely tell anything from lower Holte about potentially contentious stuff at North stand end, but want to see that challenge on Buendia again, felt like it took the ref an age to stop the play!
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That arm to buendias face was awful. Was there a card?
Yes a yellow was shown to Emi M for telling the ref he's a ******.
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That arm to buendias face was awful. Was there a card?
No card
Should have been.
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Thought we were good today. Really starting to get back to the Villa under Emery we know.
Kamara great again. Lovely pass for the goal. Torres is ideal for this type of game. Played well again. McGinn caught on the ball a number of times but some lovely link up play. Was probably Bogarde’s best game for us.
Watkins looks gassed at this stage of his career but we did miss his hold up play once he went off. His ability to run in behind and press quickly is another matter. Rodgers is very lax with the ball. We all know just as he does just how fantastic his ball carrying is but his decision making needs to improve in terms of releasing quickly vs driving forward or using a screen to shot. But he’ll definitely get there. Big moment for Malen today. He showed his worth with two very tidy finishes. His pace up front was most welcome.
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That arm to buendias face was awful. Was there a card?
Not even a whistle.
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All in all very satisfied after the Thursday night away game. 4-1 would have been a better score to show the difference in two teams.
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That arm to buendias face was awful. Was there a card?
Not even a whistle.
I thought it was a red. Fleming knew exactly what he was doing there. Probably the only thing the ref got wrong.
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That arm to buendias face was awful. Was there a card?
Not even a whistle.
I thought it was a red. Fleming knew exactly what he was doing there. Probably the only thing the ref got wrong.
The ref was letting lots of foul play go, it just encouraged them to play dirty.
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First 70 mins were the quietest and flattest I have seen and felt the ground for many years.
It was like the whole ground was hung over.
3 points were very welcome and although Burnley are unbelievably bad, their goal gave them some belief and they made the last 10 mins a bit more uncomfortable that they needed to be.
Mentions for Konsa who was magnificent and for Bogarde who is developing very, very nicely into a very valuable squad member.
4 in a row…..we are getting there, slowly but surely.
Disagree to be honest, I thought first half it was really good and best this season in the league, later period in second half went quieter when we were conceding possession a bit but then picked up again
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My take on the Buendia incident was that little Emi was attempting to foul their player, in fact I was cursing him for doing so. I haven't seen it on TV so I assume a trailing arm/elbow caught him. I can sort of understand the ref's hesitation in stopping play given the circumstances of the match and where the ball was but clearly he should have stopped it immediately if player safety is the priority, as I understand it is meant to be.
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That arm to buendias face was awful. Was there a card?
No card
No freekick and no card.
Flemming clearly moved his elbow towards Emi II and the ref should have had VAR adjudicate on it. Dangerous play is supposedly what VAR is there to check for.
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But they only call on what the ref "misses" so if he stated that he saw the arm hit the face, but didn't see it as a foul, then VAR will struggle to show a clear and obvious error.
What really pissed me off was he looks at Emi down holding his head and doesn't instantly blow.
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But they only call on what the ref "misses" so if he stated that he saw the arm hit the face, but didn't see it as a foul, then VAR will struggle to show a clear and obvious error.
That isn't the rule, and never has been. Before VAR came along they used to refuse to increase suspensions for incidents which were seen by the referee, so maybe that's what you're thinking of?
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I can see why refs have been a bit more reluctant to instantly stop the game as soon as a player holds their face, because unsurprisingly players are doing it when they haven't been touched to stop the game(give a 1 game retrospective ban, or a retrospective yellow or something) But from the replay he was clearly looking at this one.
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I actually enjoyed today which probably shows how low a bar this season generally has been.
Of course Burnley are limited and I'd be amazed if they stayed up but we started at a good tempo, two lovely Malen finishes and we should've scored far more.
Unnecessary nervy finish, think Unai messed up the subs a bit to end up with out of form and unconfident Rogers having to play CF. Missed McGinn's intensity when he was subbed.
Just happy with the three points but this feels like one of those games against bottom half last season when we should've scored three or four and came off the pitch having just won by a one goal margin so given we missed out on the main objective last season on GD that might be worth thinking about.
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But they only call on what the ref "misses" so if he stated that he saw the arm hit the face, but didn't see it as a foul, then VAR will struggle to show a clear and obvious error.
That isn't the rule, and never has been. Before VAR came along they used to refuse to increase suspensions for incidents which were seen by the referee, so maybe that's what you're thinking of?
Clear and obvious errors is what I'm referring to. With anything from VAR (in the prem), they go on what the ref tells them they saw, then see if there was something clear and obvious he missed which might affect the decision. So if he told VAR he never saw any arm swing, they might have flagged it up for him. But if he tells them he saw the arm swing and felt it wasn't anything more then a coming together because he didn't see the player deliberately look first, then they wouldn't see anything to override the ref.
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Very annoyed at the challenge on Emi at the end. Presumably VAR looked at it and decided it was accidental?
I suspect the ref told them the arm was high but he didn't see any foul. VAR couldn't then over-rule what he told them. The fact that the ref didn't see any foul at all after booking Emi for arms high when there was nothing like that one is what is pissing most people off.
Cheers S.
As you say, probably 5 minutes earlier Buendia got a yellow for what seemed an innocuous challenge in the air. A challenge with more serious outcome on Buendia is then ignored and he allowed play to go on. The fact he had treatment for what must have been 5 minutes makes me think it was a bad one. For the ref to ignore it seems shit. Be inept by all means, but please be consistently inept.
I heard it was the ref’s first PL game which may explain some of this.
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We would have drawn that game last season…
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Get back from Oktoberfest, see Villa have won. Life is good sometimes.
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We had to be patient at times today and I thought we did ok. One lapse of concentration made the game look closer than it was.
McGinn in the middle is so much better.
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"Quietest and flattest atmosphere in years"...really? Sounds like recency bias. There's been plenty of half-empty Villa Park nil-nils or defeats when we were shite with a mediocre manager and it's felt like a morgue.
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Watching on TV I would say Emi’s arm was in a natural jumping position when he caught their player and got booked, whereas the a Burnley players elbow was high and made a clear ‘elbowing motion’.
It was really inconsistent.
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But they only call on what the ref "misses" so if he stated that he saw the arm hit the face, but didn't see it as a foul, then VAR will struggle to show a clear and obvious error.
That isn't the rule, and never has been. Before VAR came along they used to refuse to increase suspensions for incidents which were seen by the referee, so maybe that's what you're thinking of?
The spirit of the rules is that they can't re-referee the game unless it's a mistake that has a fundamental impact. So once he didn't give anything all they can do is propose a red card or uphold his decision. If the VAR thinks anything in between it's irrelevant. I suspect they looked at, thought it was a foul and yellow card and therefore nothing happened.
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Yeah, they can clearly advise him to look again and give a red card if they think the incident was worthy of one. Whether the referee was looking at it or in the opposite direction makes no difference. They would only advise to stick with the on pitch decision if they don't think it was a sufficiently egregious call.
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Anyone else get Joachim vibes from Malen?
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Thought we bossed iit for 80 minutes. I didn’t agreed with the substitutions as it proved we lost our way somewhat afterwards. Their goal, if Mings is there it ain’t happening, that’s not saying any particular player is at fault it’s just what it is.
I wish we put teams of this level to the sword long before we give them a glimmer of hope. Still, a win is most welcome with more sterner tests coming up, but having said that, there’s nothing to fear.
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Anyone else get Joachim vibes from Malen?
Narp, he can uturn on a sixpence, and score. Excellent signs from him.
Edit to say: Joachim had a 45 to left or right, Dony has a full 180!
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Yeah but if he was there then Pau isn’t and he’s been key to our improvement of late. It’s not coincidence he’s back in (and properly in form) and we’re looking an attacking threat and much better structured again.
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Watching on TV I would say Emi’s arm was in a natural jumping position when he caught their player and got booked, whereas the a Burnley players elbow was high and made a clear ‘elbowing motion’.
It was really inconsistent.
Was it the same player by any chance? Thought Emi's was a little naughty too but at least he's jumping and trying to get leverage. For the hit on Buendia, the Burnley player has both feet on the ground and if anything seems to check up before letting fly with a straight arm smash. That's a level beyond protecting the ball where you typically get your body in front of the ball. Ref about 5 yards away didn't even give a free.
Similar incident last year with Mings who was very fortunate I thought to avoid red too.