Aston Villa vs Manchester United Post-Match thread

[tomd2103]

I wonder how different the night would have been if the ref wasn't a cheat bottler?

The linesman in front of the Witton Lane in the 2nd half was awful.  Caught the behind play numerous times and missed a number of offside decisions as a result. 

[silhillvilla]

Just back from B6 , disappointed but not totally disheartened. We definitely lack an end product and I thought Gabby and Ayew were quite useless yet didn't have anything but scraps to thrive on.
We won't play teams as good as Yanited every week so that's a bonus.
Losing to them is still all so predictable .

[Dave]

*pedantry alert* The French league started last weekend, same as the BPL.

What's the BPL?

Barclays. Now, BPL is shite but not as shite as EPL.

And both are better than people *still* calling it the Premiership.

[CT Villan]

Thought we were competitive for the first 60 mins then ran out of steam. Gana & Amavi were great, Richards & Clark not far behind them. Westwood started nervously and grew into the game. Vertout, Gabby and Ayew were not good enough. Didn't see Gestede win a header either which is strange.

I also don't understand why Tim didn't bring on Kozak and put him on Smalling so Rudy could exploit the mismatch on Blind.

Really?

Yes. Really.

[CJ]

Think I'm under some sort of curse this season. Last week, I'd just set my laptop up to watch the Bournemouth match and we had a power cut from 2.45 to 5.20, so missed the whole game and had to suffer 90 minutes of WM commentary. Tonight, having taken heed of warnings of fire and brimstone on the M6 I set of really early and went down the Hagley Road instead. An hour and a half to do one mile, total journey time 2 hours and 45 minutes instead of 45 minutes, and missed the first 20 minutes of the game. To add insult to injury just as I got there I heard that the M6 was in fact completely clear and had been for a couple of hours so if I hadn't heard the warnings about the M6 I would have gone on my normal route at my normal time and been blissfully unaware of any problems. Anyroadup...the game...

Can't recall a single shot on target. They weren't that good. Neither were we. Thought Tim got it wrong taking Sinclair off when he brought Gestede on - Amavi and Sinclair seemed to be combining quite well down the left and if anyone was going to get some service to Gestede it was more likely to be Sinclair. I would have taken off either Ayew (who still looks a bit lost to me and didn't offer a great deal), or Gabby who offered even less. He must be doing something really special in training or have a secret file on Tim 'cos for the life of me I don't know why he's in the team. Gana/Gueye and Amavi were the standout players for me, and when we get Grealish and/or Gil back to play just behind Gestede, and Traore out wide I think we'll have more bite. We certainly need it

[silhillvilla]

Have to say Ayew looks dreadful, absolutely no left foot and cannot control the ball.

[SoccerHQ]

Our last 40 league games against them:

W1 D10 L29

It really is shocking, even if we were skanked a few times in the past.

All in the mind I'm afraid.

We competed very well tonight but it always seems such a struggle to even create chances against them and that was certainly a Man. United back 4 nowhere near the standard of what they were putting out 5 years ago even if they were solid.

I imagine our last 40 games v Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are much more pleasant reading. Man. City aswell we've beaten a few times in last 5 years.

[pauliewalnuts]

Gabby is a waste of space.

If Sherwood really wants to change this club for the better he needs to stop giving so many starts to such a disappointingly limited, half arsed waster.

[Caiphus]

Went to the game earlier and although it was a little disappointing, I think there were still some positives.  I thought we defended reasonably well (just seen the goal again and thought Richards dived in though), Amavi and Gueye did well, and I thought Gestede did well when he came on.  On the negative side, we didn't have a shot on target, Ayew and Veretout struggled at times, Agbonlahor and Westwood were pretty anonymous, Sherwood made a poor change taking Sinclair off and we looked exhausted for the last 25 minutes.

Gabby had a header off a Westwood corner that ended up straight at their keeper, so we did have a shot on target.  We were shot shy in general but we did at least have one.

[SoccerHQ]

Gabby will not be starting when Grealish is fit/sober and Adama gets into the swing of things.

He's lead a charmed life here last few years in terms of how often he's started considering his output but life will start to get tougher.

I actually think tonight he's an easy target, he was better than Ayew and had our only shot on target. United know how to play him now Vidic isn't there, just get Smalling onto him who matches him for pace and strength.

[Chris Jameson]

Gabby is a waste of space.

If Sherwood really wants to change this club for the better he needs to stop giving so many starts to such a disappointingly limited, half arsed waster.

I don't think he's even that good, you're being far too kind.

[Steve67]

To be greedy, if there is any money left in the pot, an upgrade on Westwood and Bacuna would be great. Neither are bad players, but, if we are to improve, we need to be more forceful in these areas. Gabby out too please.

[rougegorge]

Have to say Ayew looks dreadful, absolutely no left foot and cannot control the ball.

A bit early to say but we almost certainly got the wrong Ayew.
Amavi was the only good Jordan.

We exceeded them in our toothlessness.

Westwood played OK but is there nobody else who can take a set piece?

[silhillvilla]

We still need another CB, a RB and an upgrade on westwood . There should be money in the pot as we are only about +£10m net so far.

[Dave]

To be greedy, if there is any money left in the pot, an upgrade on Westwood and Bacuna would be great. Neither are bad players, but, if we are to improve, we need to be more forceful in these areas. Gabby out too please.

I thought Westwood was comfortably our best central midfielder today.