Man U 0-1 Aston Villa post match thread

[SoccerHQ]

Friedel got a good reception when he came back with Spurs. Crouch aswell.

[TonyD]

MOTD2.  Class ending. 
Made me laugh at lot. 
Watch it.

[Lizz]

End of MOTD2, very good.

[Rory]

What happened on MOTD2? I never watch that bollocks.

[TonyD]

It’s up there with Ronnie in front of the Holte for me.

[Lizz]

They showed the penalty miss interspersed with clips from NASA.

[Rory]

They showed the penalty miss interspersed with clips from NASA.

Fair play, that sounds pretty good.

[LeonW]

Maybe bringing in Ronaldo wasn't the smartest move.

Just as Ashley Young was for us in my opinion. Great player under MO'N and I love him to bits for that. Somewhat soured by his blatant dive whilst playing for Manchester United. Against us.

Me too. Was thinking about this the other day; how many ex-Villa players can you say have our ‘best wishes?’ Mellberg, definitely. Then look at others; Yorke’s behaviour prior to leaving was pretty poor and then playing for Blues. Southgate talking about wanting to go to a bigger club and then going to Middlesborough. Barry throwing a paddy about wanting to go to Liverpool who then seemingly didn’t seem to really want him. The list goes on.

Quite a few from that era actually, largely because they retired or moved overseas. Angel, Bouma, Laursen, Petrov.

If somebody leaves because they can't get into the first team, has given us years of service and wants one final challenge overseas, or whatever, I generally would wish them well. Anybody who is a permanent fixture in our first XI and moves to another English club, thinking they're better than us - they can fuck off.

I don't mind Ashley Young. He served us well, left us in a dignified manner over ten years ago, and is now a squad player for us. He's not a legend, but I'm happy to have him at the club

I was thinking more in relation to your second point about players moving on to play elsewhere rather than those retiring or aging out. There have been far too many of them who’s behaviour has left a bit of a bad taste. Some more than others.

[D.boy]

No mention of the Villa result during discussion but the end of the programme was funny. Fancy the beeb mocking Man Utd.

[Rory]

Maybe bringing in Ronaldo wasn't the smartest move.

Just as Ashley Young was for us in my opinion. Great player under MO'N and I love him to bits for that. Somewhat soured by his blatant dive whilst playing for Manchester United. Against us.

Me too. Was thinking about this the other day; how many ex-Villa players can you say have our ‘best wishes?’ Mellberg, definitely. Then look at others; Yorke’s behaviour prior to leaving was pretty poor and then playing for Blues. Southgate talking about wanting to go to a bigger club and then going to Middlesborough. Barry throwing a paddy about wanting to go to Liverpool who then seemingly didn’t seem to really want him. The list goes on.

Quite a few from that era actually, largely because they retired or moved overseas. Angel, Bouma, Laursen, Petrov.

If somebody leaves because they can't get into the first team, has given us years of service and wants one final challenge overseas, or whatever, I generally would wish them well. Anybody who is a permanent fixture in our first XI and moves to another English club, thinking they're better than us - they can fuck off.

I don't mind Ashley Young. He served us well, left us in a dignified manner over ten years ago, and is now a squad player for us. He's not a legend, but I'm happy to have him at the club

I was thinking more in relation to your second point about players moving on to play elsewhere rather than those retiring or aging out. There have been far too many of them who’s behaviour has left a bit of a bad taste. Some more than others.

Agreed on that, Leon. In my lifetime, Yorke, Southgate, Barry, Delph, Grealish are the most notable. I don't wish any of them particular personal ill-will, but I always hope they and their new clubs fail.

[Sexual Ealing]

Lord forgive me, but I'm coming around to the idea of three centre backs because:

A) Deano is an attack minded coaching genius and it means we actually play with less defenders as a result, Targett and Cash are midfielders.

B) We're dominant in either box at set pieces, and with our new coaching guru this will reap further rewards

C) Twice before, under Taylor first time round and then Brian Little, moving to three at the back triggered massive upswing in form, and it feels we might be on the cusp of that again.

I repented on this last week and neither of you even noticed. I THOUGHT WE WERE FOUR-AT-THE-BACK MATES?!

[LeonW]

Maybe bringing in Ronaldo wasn't the smartest move.

Just as Ashley Young was for us in my opinion. Great player under MO'N and I love him to bits for that. Somewhat soured by his blatant dive whilst playing for Manchester United. Against us.

Me too. Was thinking about this the other day; how many ex-Villa players can you say have our ‘best wishes?’ Mellberg, definitely. Then look at others; Yorke’s behaviour prior to leaving was pretty poor and then playing for Blues. Southgate talking about wanting to go to a bigger club and then going to Middlesborough. Barry throwing a paddy about wanting to go to Liverpool who then seemingly didn’t seem to really want him. The list goes on.

Quite a few from that era actually, largely because they retired or moved overseas. Angel, Bouma, Laursen, Petrov.

If somebody leaves because they can't get into the first team, has given us years of service and wants one final challenge overseas, or whatever, I generally would wish them well. Anybody who is a permanent fixture in our first XI and moves to another English club, thinking they're better than us - they can fuck off.

I don't mind Ashley Young. He served us well, left us in a dignified manner over ten years ago, and is now a squad player for us. He's not a legend, but I'm happy to have him at the club

I was thinking more in relation to your second point about players moving on to play elsewhere rather than those retiring or aging out. There have been far too many of them who’s behaviour has left a bit of a bad taste. Some more than others.

Agreed on that, Leon. In my lifetime, Yorke, Southgate, Barry, Delph, Grealish are the most notable. I don't wish any of them particular personal ill-will, but I always hope they and their new clubs fail.

Reckon you could probably add Downing and Steve Hodge to that blacklist.

[rooboy316]

With all the chat about tactics, etc, I wondered whether we are just continuing with 3-5-2 for now because it gets people use to the system and because (mainly) we had an unkind fixture list and 3-5-2 gives us more defensive stability. When easier games come along, Smith may switch back to 4-3-3.

I do wonder as well whether we may end up with lop sided team/system in some games where required.

We’ve certainly got way more tactical options and players to keep people guessing then we’ve had in a long time. The fact we’re not entirely sure yet says it all.

I like this tactical/formation flexibility. Horses for courses and all that, plus it makes it just a tad harder for the opposition to plan and set up against us. The 3-5-2 has worked well in a couple of difficult fixtures, and it also allows us to be more attacking by using Buendia in the midfield 3 instead of Ramsey, in some games/periods of games. While it's hard to make the most of Bailey and Traore in the 3-5-2, I'd imagine we would switch to a 4-3-3 or similar when those two are available and properly match fit.

[robbo1874]

OGS is a terrible manager. Two extremely average midfielders in Fred and McTominay sitting in front of the defence, Sancho on the bench and he seems to have completely ruined Mason Greenwood, who a couple of seasons back I thought was just about the most promising young English player in the Premier League.

I haven’t seen much of Greenwood over the last few years as I only watch Them if they’re playing us. I thought he was pretty dangerous looking down their right and probably their biggest threat. From what I saw, he seemed the most likely to score. I’m going to watch it again tonight!

[robbo1874]

Thought the Villa fans were great yesterday, can't remember hearing the United fans once during the match.

dunno if we get the same feed on Optus Sport in Aus, maybe we do as someone else mentioned the commentator saying after Spoono Penandes missed that it will probably land inside Villa Park (Elland Rd, probably more likely) but the Villa fans seemed to get louder and louder as the match went on. Great scenes when we scored and at the final whistle.