Aston Villa v Man City, a referee and two linesmen Post Match Thread

[aj2k77]

We aren't owed anything. We haven't been good enough in any of the finals we've lost since we won a Cup. We've been second best everytime.

[Villan82]

Good write up here.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/mar/01/aston-villa-take-seat-at-top-table-but-leave-with-worry-theyll-never-belong

Good piece. I grew up with us as a major club. And, to be fair, we have been in four major finals since 2000. Still, it is sickening to see how the game has evolved since 1996 and how we have been passed out by clubs that were way below us.

[Villan82]

We aren't owed anything. We haven't been good enough in any of the finals we've lost since we won a Cup. We've been second best everytime.

Fuck me. I agree with you 100% (see my other post).

I'm just saying surely the stars will align if we reach another final and it will 'click' in a way it has never clicked in those other finals.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Much better performance, and had that Engels shot gone in could have won it.

Ref was poor.

Would like to stick with Mings and Engels for the rest of the season. Need a new left back whatever division we are in next season though.

Davis was good when he came on, as was Samatta.

Play like that for the rest of the season and we might yet stay up.

[Des Little]

No shame in that performance today. We need to show the same levels in league games and give ourselves a chance. Huge games on the horizon, let’s hope we get to it.

[aj2k77]

We aren't owed anything. We haven't been good enough in any of the finals we've lost since we won a Cup. We've been second best everytime.

Fuck me. I agree with you 100% (see my other post).

I'm just saying surely the stars will align if we reach another final and it will 'click' in a way it has never clicked in those other finals.

We need better players and a better manager.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

Anyone see the fighting in the lower tier at HT I think it was? Just been sent a video of it and it’s pretty sickening stuff, with a woman sent flying. Absolute scumbags giving our club a bad name. 99% of our supporters were fantastic today.

[robbo1874]

That wasn’t bad at all. At least we turned up this time. Game kicked off 2.30am here and I said to myself I would go to bed when the third went in...guess what? Focus on staying up now.

[Toronto Villa]

Dean had a pretty intense team talk on the pitch right after the game. I imagine it was along the lines of play like that every week and we will stay up. Let's hope Southampton was indeed the bottom of the barrel and everything from now until the end comes with as much energy and desire, and improved quality which will be every bit as critical.

[tomd2103]

Good write up here.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/mar/01/aston-villa-take-seat-at-top-table-but-leave-with-worry-theyll-never-belong

I can't decide whether that's patronising or an accurate summation of where we are.

The guy who wrote it is a Villa fan, I think.

I think he supports Spurs.

It's a good (if sobering) piece though. On balance, I think I disagree with him in our specific case because he's discounting the importance of the wealth of our owners. That said, the general thrust is pretty spot on, given that sport ought to be able to function without recourse to billionaires.

Agree SE.  We were discussing on the way back to Birmingham the ball park figure we would need to spend to get to the point where you can bring players like De Bruyne off the bench. 

As for the point about us not competing with Manchester City, how many clubs can actually compete with them? I would say only Liverpool in recent times.  Arsenal can't anymore, neither can post-Ferguson Manchester United, let alone us.

[Legion]

Good bloody effort. I thought Douglas was great.

Now carry on that level into the rest of the season, don’t let it drop.

Douglas was great? He was awful mate.

Yeah, if not for Targett's comedy first half I'd say he was our worst performer out there.

And you'd be wrong.

My eyes and common sense tell me that I'm not, David, but thanks all the same.

Everyone I've spoken to says you are.

You mean, you and your pals who agree with everything you say regardless?

Hard not to be reaffirmed in an echo chamber isn't it.

That is pathetic. Grow up.

[Toronto Villa]

ATAL always so very angry

[ChicagoLion]

It was a good effort and we needed that extra bit of good fortune or exceptional piece of play to get level.
Mason is a shit  bag of a referee and a twat.
I don’t think any one had a bad game, they were just too good at times and we had to work hard just to stay in the game.
I have heard the “ play like that every week and we will be fine “ Enough times to know it to be true and unlikely.
We can be proud of that performance and hope it is the start of our fight back.

[alanclare]

The Guardian has a very fair-minded report on the match which includes this sympathetic paragraph:

Villa were chasing a first major trophy since Brian Little led them to the League Cup in 1996 and how Dean Smith, the manager, and Jack Grealish, the captain – both Birmingham boys and lifelong supporters of the club – would have loved to pull it off. They gave it their all and, when it was over, those in claret and blue crumpled to the turf, their spirit finally broken. They could leave with their heads held high, courtesy of the late push, in particular, and the applause of their fans in their ears. It might serve as a consolation in the coming days before the fight for Premier League survival resumes.

And a final paragraph:

And so for Villa perhaps avoiding a trouncing is their trophy. Fighting like tigers in the second half: a trophy. Forcing City to bring on Kevin De Bruyne: a trophy. Claudio Bravo’s late save: a trophy. Never giving up and singing your team off the Wembley turf like heroes: a trophy. It may not be the sort of trophy you can plonk in a cabinet or buff up and show the grandchildren. But for now, and for the foreseeable future, it may just have to do.

[Taylor]

Just got back and proud of the team, never known the Villa fans so quiet at Wembley throughout a game. I was happy to see the tactical change that Dean made prior to kick off, and could have snatched a late equaliser.

Now onto the important matches to stay in this league.

I was in Club Wembley. It was closer to the city fans and all I could hear was Villa. Actually CW was supposed to be neutral (I got asked to remove my scarf) but that was all Villa too.