Aston Villa vs Sheffield United Post-Match

[KevinGage]

And Carragher can fcuk off, n'all.  Obvious foul? Bollocks.

The sort of grappling you see all the time before the ball comes in. The goal came about 15 minutes after that anyway. 

When they call the prats over to the screen is it to ask them to reconsider the decision? Or merely to confirm what has already been agreed at Stockley Park?  Tonight was one of a number of occasions when the ref could have viewed it and said "I am actually OK with my original call".

But they never do.

[Toronto Villa]

The last few corners from Luiz, deary me. MacPhee needs a few words tomorrow.

Lovely cross for the goal. But yes, very off his usual high standard. Practice more. Twitch less Doug.

[Ducksworthy]

Would be nice to have someone like Buendia on the bench to bring on. I’ve never rated Ramsey - then again I didn’t really think much of Archer and shows what I know.

Haha! What if Ramsay was out for months and Buendia was playing regularly. I bet we'd be saying he's shit and we need Ramsay. ;-)

Perhaps - although I did say “never” rated Ramsey. I found all the talk about “JJ” coming back and sorting things out baffling.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Would have been great to go top. But what really counts is where we are after 38 games.

[Deano's Mullet]

Worst case scenario we're 3rd on Christmas Day. We're unbeaten for 16 home games, unbeaten in the last 7, lost 1 of the last 14. Tonight was frustrating, but we're doing something right.

This

[PaulWinch again]

JJ needs to do a lot more for me. Too slow & ponderous on the ball.
Turns back too often when he used to drive on.
Mind you he wasn’t alone tonight, no snap for most of the game.

It’s because he’s not match sharp.

[Mister E]

And Carragher can fcuk off, n'all.  Obvious foul? Bollocks.
The sort of grappling you see all the time before the ball comes in. The goal came about 15 minutes after that anyway. 
When they call the prats over to the screen is it to ask them to reconsider the decision? Or merely to confirm what has already been agreed at Stockley Park?  Tonight was one of a number of occasions when the ref could have viewed it and said "I am actually OK with my original call".
But they never do.

Totally - VAR is killing the game and seeking reasons to disallow goals.

[SamTheMouse]

It's great slowing down the play against sides who want to attack, as it lets you draw their sting and control the play.

It's less effective against sides that are perfectly happy for you to control the play. That's when you need to speed things up. Bit surprised we were so slow, even after half time when I expected Emery to get them to move their arses.

And we didn't look balanced. The ball spent too much time with Bailey and Diaby both trying to cut back inside where there was no space, and until Moreno came on there was no width to stretch them on the left. He really should have started tonight.

[Rigadon]

Obvious penalty in the first half on Watkins.  Clear and compelling.  That aside, great we didn’t lose the game. 

[AV84]

Disappointing given what could have been, but  we're level on points with the team in top spot. Worst case scenario tomorrow is that we're in 3rd, level with the team in 2nd. It's still a remarkable place to be.

It really goes to show we need some sort of alternative in terms if creativity to break down these teams that don't want to play. I know we were missing Torres and Kamara but it's not the first game we've struggled to break a team down.

[Smithy]

And Carragher can fcuk off, n'all.  Obvious foul? Bollocks.

The sort of grappling you see all the time before the ball comes in. The goal came about 15 minutes after that anyway. 

When they call the prats over to the screen is it to ask them to reconsider the decision? Or merely to confirm what has already been agreed at Stockley Park?  Tonight was one of a number of occasions when the ref could have viewed it and said "I am actually OK with my original call".

But they never do.

Unless the laws of the game have changed recently, I don't believe there is any law which protects goalkeepers from fouls any more than they protect ALL players from fouls.  So if JJ was fouling the keeper, then the defender was fouling JJ and it's a pen.

The rule is a clear and obvious error, and it took SO long to look at and review I don't see how it's an obvious error on the ref's part?

[Goldie.7]

I knew it would be tougher than many thought.

I'm off to the pre-match discussion THREAD in the archives to verify this.

Lolz. Tonight was awfully predictable to be fair.

They'll play exactly like Brentford and use Archer on the counter. It's going to be a very tough match but as I've been doing my rounds apparently we've already won it.

[Behind Bluenose Lines]

Would have been great to go top. But what really counts is where we are after 38 games.

Exactly! We had to drop home points sometime, and being Aston Villa, it was against the bottom team in the league! 

Least we didn't lose though: that would have been a total bummer over Christmas! Cheers Niccolo!

[rob_bridge]

Would have been great to go top. But what really counts is where we are after 38 games.

Well said. We are not the finished article and clearly missed Torres and Kamara today.

People know We Are Here. For the first time in 25 years. We are here after half a season. Let's make sure we get 75+ points.

[Demitri_C]

Cant believe how many villa players were in the box and non of them were anywhere near archer for that goal