Villa 1 Man. United 2 Post match thread.

[Drummond]

I'm going to watch the whole game back again to be sure I wasn't blinded by matchday bias but I felt we were really good.

In another day Watkins' header, or McGinn's shot would have gone in and their header would have gone straight into Martinez. But it didn't and we're left rueing another kissed opportunity to beat these fuckers.

It meant an awful lot to them to win.

[LeeB]

I’d rather focus on how Emery got us to play. We were good to watch, controlled the tempo and controlled the game. We looked very good. Individual errors cost us the game, not Emery. Errors from some of our players and refereeing decisions.

Emery has completely turned us around and we’ve played some fantastic football along the way. He’s helped turn Villa Park into a ground most teams fear again. Yesterday was not his fault. If we defended the corner better (which shouldn’t have been), buried our chances, it would have been a great win. All ifs and buts, but the way Emery has managed us since he’s arrived is incredible and other than the score, we played extremely well yesterday. There’s also players coming back from injury now and Ramsey was a huge plus yesterday.

Bailey was terrorising them, and as soon as went off, it looked like we'd settled for a draw. It was a really, really bad decision.

Agreed, we took our foot off their throats.

[Mister E]

I was pleasantly surprised - having missed both the Jawdie and the Chelski games - how well we played yesterday. Plus points were the performances of Ramsey, Bailey (2nd half) and Cash. I liked the increased tempo of our game compared to recent ones. And, I was pleasantly surprised that Carlos and Lenglet didn't look like the train crash I thought they were going to be against a quick opposition attack. Watkins played okay yesterday; his movement was excellent. The 'sitter' (which is how I saw it at the game) was in fact a really good connection on a fast / fizzing cross and the keeper's reactions were far better - seen again - than when I saw it in real time.
My main concern - apart from the missed opportunities - was the concession from another set-piece: As with Schar in the Jawdie game, Hoyluund appeared to have all the time in the world to move onto yet another MaGuire header (we'd already seen that routine 3 or 4 times from corners, before their goal). Without that soft opening goal I think it would have become a Villa win as we pressed our obvious advantage on them. It's perhaps where we miss Mings most.
I'd like to have seen Ted come on instead of Z: why play Z at all if we're not going to actually purchase him, when a few minutes for Rogers would have started his journey in the Premier League.

[VillaTim]

Kamara marking Maguire on corners is such a basic oversight , and so costly

[Risso]

Kamara marking Maguire on corners is such a basic oversight , and so costly

It was just ridiculous. You've seen him beaten at every corner, including one that led to a goal, so why keep doing it? Maguire is a big old unit, and Kamara isn't. We've been dreadful at defending set pieces lately, and they seem to be getting worse.

[VillaTim]

Kamara marking Maguire on corners is such a basic oversight , and so costly

It was just ridiculous. You've seen him beaten at every corner, including one that led to a goal, so why keep doing it? Maguire is a big old unit, and Kamara isn't. We've been dreadful at defending set pieces lately, and they seem to be getting worse.

i think its a case of coaches get so wrapped up in detail and minutia they sometimes miss a glaringly obvious error. This is one of them

[Smithy]

I was pleasantly surprised - having missed both the Jawdie and the Chelski games - how well we played yesterday. Plus points were the performances of Ramsey, Bailey (2nd half) and Cash. I liked the increased tempo of our game compared to recent ones. And, I was pleasantly surprised that Carlos and Lenglet didn't look like the train crash I thought they were going to be against a quick opposition attack. Watkins played okay yesterday; his movement was excellent. The 'sitter' (which is how I saw it at the game) was in fact a really good connection on a fast / fizzing cross and the keeper's reactions were far better - seen again - than when I saw it in real time.
My main concern - apart from the missed opportunities - was the concession from another set-piece: As with Schar in the Jawdie game, Hoyluund appeared to have all the time in the world to move onto yet another MaGuire header (we'd already seen that routine 3 or 4 times from corners, before their goal). Without that soft opening goal I think it would have become a Villa win as we pressed our obvious advantage on them. It's perhaps where we miss Mings most.
I'd like to have seen Ted come on instead of Z: why play Z at all if we're not going to actually purchase him, when a few minutes for Rogers would have started his journey in the Premier League.

The opening goal only happens because Ollie wasn't as well drilled as the defence to step out of the six yard box when the corner goes that deep. You can see as the ball goes to the back post, all of the defence midfield is up past the six yard line - no one on the posts.  They know any knockdowns going forward could catch the forwards offside.  If Ollie goes up with the defence, Hojlund is two yards offside.  You can see Ollie react and step up realising his position is wrong, but Maguire has already headed.  He was half a second too slow.  The whole defence had their hand up for offside because they thought their offside trap had worked as intended.

Our back four plays for offsides, that's what we do now, and they're getting really good at it.  The forwards, not so much, clearly.

[Risso]

Kamara marking Maguire on corners is such a basic oversight , and so costly

It was just ridiculous. You've seen him beaten at every corner, including one that led to a goal, so why keep doing it? Maguire is a big old unit, and Kamara isn't. We've been dreadful at defending set pieces lately, and they seem to be getting worse.

i think its a case of coaches get so wrapped up in detail and minutia they sometimes miss a glaringly obvious error. This is one of them

Well if the goal wasn't enough to remind them, I'm not sure what would.

[Drummond]

Kamara marking Maguire on corners is such a basic oversight , and so costly

It was just ridiculous. You've seen him beaten at every corner, including one that led to a goal, so why keep doing it? Maguire is a big old unit, and Kamara isn't. We've been dreadful at defending set pieces lately, and they seem to be getting worse.

It's not the first time we've had complete mismatches at corners. McGinn has been tasked with marking some key players too in the past.

Overall we are shorter than other teams, and it definitely affects us. I think it's why we take so many short corners etc. We try and work the ball into the net rather than relying on a big man to get on the end of them.

[Demitri_C]

all well and good playing well etc and saying things like "on another day we win that" , but that is a game we had to win or at least not lose. It's a huge momentum shift. Absolutely gutted as you can sense what happens now . Hopefully Kamara is back soon but again knowing how things go it's 2-3 weeks out which turns into 5-6 weeks.

Have to agree with you tim. It was a must not lose game. The resultis a complete disaster.  Had we beaten Newcastle it wouldnt have mattered as much but we lost that one too.

We cant keep trying to remain positive and hope for miracles. We have been playing shit since the city game and had some fortunate results. We wernt as shit yesteeday as a attacking sense but the finishing and defensive work has been absymal. 8 goals conceded in last 3 home games. Thats simply not good enough.

Also the set pieces at times were championship level. What the hell are we doing in training?

[Chris Smith]

Football can be so frustrating. We have made a lot of chances over the last 2 league games but whereas everything flew in against Sheffield United nothing did yesterday. While being disappointed with the result I have to be encouraged by the performance. With injured players due back I fully expect a good run over the final months of the season. For instance Ramsey rediscovering his form and Digne being available makes us much stronger.

[Ads]

Ramsey, when he is on it and travelling, I think with his goal threat, is actually better than the floppy haired one. The later played to be stopped, the former just can't be stopped.

[TonyD]

The offside for their corner goal was obvious in real time. 
Why didn’t VAR intervene?

[Demitri_C]

The offside for their corner goal was obvious in real time. 
Why didn’t VAR intervene?

They trying to say because it went for a corner VAR couldn't intervene. Absolute nonsense. Its so infuriating hearing these bullshit excuses to help the bigger sides

Var didnt even check for the pen either.

[Ads]

The dive was incredible too from Rashford. Cheating bastard.