Aston Villa - 2 Leeds Eleven Terrible Dirty Haircuts - 1

[SoccerHQ]

What was the actual penalty shout? That nice FK routine that completely did us and then there was a bit of contact before their forward went in on Emi?

Perhaps a nudge but a push and their player would've gone flying straight away so it would've been very soft and obviously not worthy of any review.

Thought their corners were terrible. Were so bad Buendia headed one away from edge of six yard box. Then they went with a diagonal back post attempt early in the second and Emi casually had a stroll through half their team to collect it with ease.

And of course the one we scored from twenty seconds later!

Strange team though as I enjoy watching them from open play much more than say Brentford.

[UK Redsox]

There’s winning ugly while playing badly…..and then there’s whatever the hell that was 🤷‍♂️

[Matt C]

A great three points. Level on points with Chelsea and three behind Liverpool - I wouldn’t have bet on that after the Fulham game.

A bit like one of the fixtures against this lot at VP under Deano I thought we got dragged into a bit of frantic game that suits them and not us.

Kamara is quite the player - we need to add some physicality in that midfield to help him.  Young - surely our player of the season so far - had another excellent game.

[eamonn]

Was it that lot Deano used to talk about being "dragged into a basketball match" with ? Actually, maybe it was Gerrard who said it.

[SoccerHQ]

A great three points. Level on points with Chelsea and three behind Liverpool - I wouldn’t have bet on that after the Fulham game.

A bit like one of the fixtures against this lot at VP under Deano I thought we got dragged into a bit of frantic game that suits them and not us.

Kamara is quite the player - we need to add some physicality in that midfield to help him.  Young - surely our player of the season so far - had another excellent game.

Guendouzi would be a really good pick up for opponents like this so can see why we're looking at him.

[Stu]

Reading the Graun comments section and apparently it’s really annoying how Villa time waste and generally shithouse teams.

Get it right fucking up you. Our turn.

[Olof's Beard]

I don't want to pretend that performances don't matter if you're winning because all my experience as a Villa fan tells me that a winning while playing poorly is more likely to turn into losing while playing poorly than winning while playing well.

But it is 1 defeat in 6. Given Gerrard had mustered 2 in 11, both at home and one against a shit and under strength Everton team and the other against rock bottom Southampton, to be on the verge of the top and averaging a couple of goals a game is a massive turnaround.

Leeds always seem to pull us into these ding dong games at Villa Park too. We lost a two goal lead in our last year in Championship to lose late, were three nil down in no time in the lockdown year and we had to loopy 3-3 last season. They are a tricky opponent for us but we found a way tonight when we don't usually.

We have too many inconsistent players though and it isn't going to change. They are inconsistent from half to half let alone game to game. I think we might see a high player turnover in the next 12 months.

For now, I will take us being one of the 'form' team in the league.

[eamonn]

I wonder does Gerrard want us to win or fail when he's watching us on telly. Maybe VillaCrossTheMersey can ask, if he bumps into him on a dog-walk.

And we need someone to post a new video of those young fellas in Villa shirts in Ghana (?), singing "Leeds are falling apart, again" like after we did them last season.

[tomd2103]

Was at the game earlier and it was good to get the win.  Thought we started brightly and Bailey scored a great goal, but then just lost all momentum and were a bit lucky to go into the break with a lead.  The fact we did was mainly down to a fantastic save by Emi Martinez and some good last ditch blocks.

We were better second half and looked like we were coasting after we went 2-0 up, but then conceded a poor goal (though I did think it was a foul on Ashley Young in the build up to it) and had a tense final few minutes.

Good to get the win though, especially over them.  They remain a bunch of @rseholes both on and off the pitch and Luke Ayling remains one of the most detestable players in the game, the stupid ponytailed tw@t. 

The realisation hit me through the game that the time has come to move on from some of the players if we are going to push on into the European spots.  Thought Martinez, Young, Konsa and Mings had good games and Moreno did OK considering he wouldn't have been expecting to feature much.  Thought Kamara was good throughout and was composed on the ball. 

Bailey and Buendia scored our goals so it is a little hard to criticise, but both give the ball away far too often and constantly make mistakes.  Douglas Luiz is in that category as well and they are all just so inconsistent during games.  Luiz has played plenty of games for us now, but just doesn't seem to be getting any better and constantly makes mistakes.  Watching the ghost of Danny Ings drift around the pitch in the second half confirmed we need to move on from him as well and get a far more mobile option up there.

Might seem harsh after we have just won, but we need to address these issues in the next two windows if we are really going to push on. 

[Brend'Watkins]

Kamara is an outstanding footballer, i say it every week and I’ll be saying it till the end of the season. Martinez isn’t far behind and Young is heading for player of the year at this rate.

A well fought grind out a win type of game considering how poor we were first half. One gripe I have is our over watering of the pitch at half time. Mings slipped due to it and it nearly cost us. Is it that necessary?

[Percy McCarthy]

Kamara is an outstanding footballer, i say it every week and I’ll be saying it till the end of the season. Martinez isn’t far behind and Young is heading for player of the year at this rate.

A well fought grind out a win type of game considering how poor we were first half. One gripe I have is our over watering of the pitch at half time. Mings slipped due to it and it nearly cost us. Is it that necessary?

Up to Emery I suppose. I presume he wants any through balls or long kicks from them to skip through to Martinez.

[Scott Nielsen]

How is Ayling a Premier League player? I'm all for players who come up through the divisions, but he looks like he should still be at Yeovil Town.

Someone needs to snap that jumped up little prick.

Having seen how genuinely happy he was for Emi in the tunnel, congratulating him for the WC cup win, he might actually be a good sort.

[Dave]

How is Ayling a Premier League player? I'm all for players who come up through the divisions, but he looks like he should still be at Yeovil Town.

Someone needs to snap that jumped up little prick.

Having seen how genuinely happy he was for Emi in the tunnel, congratulating him for the WC cup win, he might actually be a good sort.

Seem to remember reading something in the summer about what a decent bloke he is - charities, communities, volunteering etc.

Obviously his hair goes a long way to countering that though.

[ChicagoLion]

Leeds have to play on the front foot ,harass and press because their defence is really shit with a goalkeeper who is prone to rushes of blood.
Whenever we did attack they panicked.

How good is Kamara?

[steamer]

Mings slipped because instead of going forward, under no pressure he tried to turn and pass backwards.
this pissing about at the back is not pretty, nor blatant time wasting. two silly yellows for time wasting.
Anyway great start to the weekend, some midfield muscle and forward power additions and we could be aiming for 8th.