Aston Villa 2-0 Deano’s Norwich post match thread

[Rigadon]

When you shut up shop after 70 minutes against the bottom team questions need to be asked.  We should have gone at them not just counter attacks which we excelled out yesterday.  If you took a kid for his first game at Villa Park yesterday what do you think that child would be thinking?

Something like "wow this place is AMAZING" followed by "I wonder if my dad will buy me some pop at half time" or "grown ups at football swear loads" if anything like the young me.   

[Ads]

My 7 year old was buzzing, because we won 2-0 and he got to sing Sweet Caroline (clean version) and Hi-Ho Silver Lining at the end.

[Chris Smith]

Lacklustre performance but nice to get a win and lift the mood a little. Let’s hope we can no build on it and finish the season strongly.

Great to see the appreciation for Smith, must have been a weird feeling for him but he handled it with his customary dignity.

[Luffbralion]

Did anybody else go to the Bartons before the game? I couldn't believe how quiet it was.  No queue at the bar and plenty of seats available. I wonder why. Cost of living/drinking crisis, people out of the habit after covid or are more fans choosing to drink at the outlets next to the ground?

[Gareth]

Thought that was a thoroughly professional performance, we weren’t anywhere near free flowing and it seemed the pace on the final ball nearly always seemed to be wrong but other than the 5 mins of 2nd half where they made Emi make a couple of saves never felt they had enough.  Biggest threat was the referee who was off his head and the way we killed the last 10 mins where I was in no doubt if they had got in our box he would have found a penalty was excellent.

[paul_e]

Not sure where the Everton hate has come from. They are a good historic club, decent fans, decent ground.  I think we’ve got quite a lot in common.  I don’t have a second team, but in the PL they are probably the only other club I have any affinity for.  I hope they stay up.

Do you know any Everton fans? I do and every single one of them not only spent that entire season teling me how glad they were that we were going down but also making a big deal about how we were going to 'do a leeds'. There were also comments about how it would be 'good for the league' for us to go down.

When you shut up shop after 70 minutes against the bottom team questions need to be asked.  We should have gone at them not just counter attacks which we excelled out yesterday.  If you took a kid for his first game at Villa Park yesterday what do you think that child would be thinking?

I don't think that's what happened at all. You talk about us shutting up shop but that was directly after the ref gae us yellow cards for 3 fouls in a row alongside not even giving free kicks when they made similar fouls, over the course of about 6-7 minutes. We backed off a little because if we didn't he was going to send someone off because he'd decided that was the way the game was going.


I'd hope most 7 year olds would've loved being there for a 2-0 win where we had 21 shots and hit the bar twice.

[Pat McMahon]

Obviously pleased with the win but I thought it was a poor game between a team struggling to find fluidity and a truly awful opponent who are clearly the worst in this division. With more intensity and better decision making we should easily have added a couple more.

I thought McGinn played well and gave the ball away less than recently, as well as playing a couple of top drawer cross field passes. Watkins showed his strengths and limitations, brilliant at closing down and hassling defenders ( he did a lot of work for his goal and stole possession for the second) but poor at protecting the ball and somehow slow at getting shots away. He must have more blocked shots than any other player in the PL.

Glad for Tim who had a solid but unspectacular debut, including taking a yellow for the team with an intelligent foul.

The atmosphere was flat, reflecting the fare on offer, though great to see the reception that Deano received before and after the game. However I thought it strange that he didn’t go over to the Norwich fans at the final whistle., something that a couple of their fans pointed out on the train.

[ChicagoLion]

Did anybody else go to the Bartons before the game? I couldn't believe how quiet it was.  No queue at the bar and plenty of seats available. I wonder why. Cost of living/drinking crisis, people out of the habit after covid or are more fans choosing to drink at the outlets next to the ground?

Yes it was very quiet.
I had tried to book a table last week but was told it was fully booked, some of the bookings had not showed up.

[Flin5tone]

Another clean sheet so was pleased with that. Both strikers done what they are paid to do.
Atmosphere was awful
Dean Smith Tribute/Appreciation very nice touch (even if they held his flag the wrong way round)

Why didn't we sell the empty away end seats in the upper Doug Ellis to Home supporters?

[astonvilla82]

When you shut up shop after 70 minutes against the bottom team questions need to be asked.  We should have gone at them not just counter attacks which we excelled out yesterday.  If you took a kid for his first game at Villa Park yesterday what do you think that child would be thinking?

Something like "wow this place is AMAZING" followed by "I wonder if my dad will buy me some pop at half time" or "grown ups at football swear loads" if anything like the young me.

or as my son asked me many years ago why they calling the referee a f ING anchor

[Ads]

I would assume Norwich bought the 3k off us and didn't return any. I was surprised by their low then out.

[Axl Rose]

Not sure where the Everton hate has come from. They are a good historic club, decent fans, decent ground.  I think we’ve got quite a lot in common.  I don’t have a second team, but in the PL they are probably the only other club I have any affinity for.  I hope they stay up.

Well said, and I feel very much the same.

A couple of great Toffee mates, and would be sad for them if Everton went down. I have no doubt they'd be back, much in the same way we came back, but there are far more irritating teams than them that I'd love to disappear for a while.

[dave.woodhall]

I would assume Norwich bought the 3k off us and didn't return any. I was surprised by their low then out.

Maybe they can't be arsed anymore. It's odd if they took the full allocation, didn't sell any at all and didn't let us have them back. We sold out well in advance and 22,000 waiting list....

[Woody17]

Not sure where the Everton hate has come from. They are a good historic club, decent fans, decent ground.  I think we’ve got quite a lot in common.  I don’t have a second team, but in the PL they are probably the only other club I have any affinity for.  I hope they stay up.

Well said, and I feel very much the same.

A couple of great Toffee mates, and would be sad for them if Everton went down. I have no doubt they'd be back, much in the same way we came back, but there are far more irritating teams than them that I'd love to disappear for a while.

I would be sad to see them go too, they’re the mirror image of our great club and have a bit of a soft spot for them because of it.
I’d much rather see the back of Burnley for reasons that do not need explaining. It could well be Leeds dropping anyway.

[Pete3206]

There was a very excited lad by me attending his first match yesterday. The ST holder next to me said that when his Dad told him on Friday evening he was going, he broke down in tears. Sometimes, us long term 'sufferers' don't realise how lucky we are. Also, it took me back to February 1977, when I saw my first game at Villa Park. A 3-0 win against Port Vale. Still a vivid and happy memory.