Aston Villa v Palace Post-Match Thread

[dave.woodhall]

He didn't seem in any pain at the boxing last night.
Another waster , good riddance to him .

We've got rid of a few wasters on here as well. CoopersInjury was one, SilhillVilla was another. Good riddance to both of them.

[Skerra]

I can see us losing 2 and winning 2 in our last 4 matches.
Let’s face it, being Villa, whatever European competition we end up playing in, we ain’t going to win it.

[Small Rodent]

This is how much it means to a Palace supporting friend of mine. And how we are seen as a “bigger” club. (He’s also a mean Hammond organ player for The Gene Drayton Unit and French Boutik…check em out.)

“I'm currently weighing up whether or not it was the greatest day in my Palace supporting history...

When we won the semi in 1990, Cleo wasn't born. In 2016 we beat Watford, but she was travelling in S America.

Yesterday we were together, and it was quite possibly the most complete performance I've seen from any Palace team. Absolute magic”

[Small Rodent]

This is how much it means to a Palace supporting friend of mine. And how we are seen as a “bigger” club. (He’s also a mean Hammond organ player for The Gene Drayton Unit and French Boutik…check em out.)

“I'm currently weighing up whether or not it was the greatest day in my Palace supporting history...

When we won the semi in 1990, Cleo wasn't born. In 2016 we beat Watford, but she was travelling in S America.

Yesterday we were together, and it was quite possibly the most complete performance I've seen from any Palace team. Absolute magic”

[Brazilian Villain]

Good for him, I hope they win the final. Before we beat ourselves up too much, I can't imagine Liverpool fans were too impressed by losing their semi-final to the 2015 version of Villa. They still did okay in subsequent seasons.

[cdbearsfan]

It's not the same though. They're Liverpool, they always win trophies. That's why their "supporters" choose to support them, and also why anything they win doesn't count.

[eamonn]

The TV companies will no doubt celebrate the finalists, but in reality the true spectacle would have been Forest v Villa, the two more storied and bigger clubs, fighting to return to where they should be, and with supporters who know what it means.

Maybe we could ask the FA if we can both come back to Wembley for a 3rd/4th place play-off. Winner gets a shield or a plate...

[Rory]

It's not the same though. They're Liverpool, they always win trophies. That's why their "supporters" choose to support them, and also why anything they win doesn't count.

Too right.

I think there was an attitude (which I was guilty of falling into) a few weeks ago along the lines of whatever that quote was about us 'knocking on more doors than a pair of Jehova's Witnesses', and as shit as this analogy may be, it's how I see it.

Three doors simultaneously, to be precise, and the feeling was that one of them might just answer.

The CL-winning door was always a toughie, with a 'no canvassers, no free newspapers' sign next to the letterbox, and a sofa and contaminated needles on the yard.

The 'top five' door may still be a go-er, who knows. But we're about five steps up the path and, after Man City, have realised the lunatic who owns the place hates Jehova's Witnesses and has laid a minefield in expectation of us calling.

The 'FA Cup' door was the most appealing. It had a beautiful front garden, flowers around the door, and a welcome mat with a cute jack russell on it. The old lady who lived there even invited us in.

Then the old lady spiked our tea, broke our arms and legs, and the jack russell bit our nuts off.

Within a few days, and now with broken limbs and sans bollocks, we've gone from trying our luck at three houses, to having to try to negotiate the rest of that 'top-five' path or end up dead on every doorstep.

[baddowvillans]

People been mentioning how pissed off Watkins has been, but Mings has been overlooked for some massive games. I wonder how he’s feeling…

The last four games have been huge and the only one we won was against Newcastle. Guess what? Mings played in that one and that one alone.

 Pau played in the other three we lost.

Is it unfair to make a comment on a forum to exchange  views about the match that it was a mistake to not start Mings instead of Torres.  Most at not denigrating Pau simply saying that on the basis of previous games against Palace Torres has struggled with the physicality of players like Mateya.  Unai made a mistake !

[Meanwood Villa]

Complete surprise to me when Rashford did not appear for the warm up - anyone know when was he declared unfit? 

Praps playing him on the left wing was going to be Unai's change of tactics against Palace and that injury scr*wed all the week's planning and meant Asensio had to come in and McGinn moved?

Too late to care much, but ....

Out for the season. It was in most of the papers today

Thanks - but when did he/they decide he was unfit?  Was it at start of last week so they had loads of time to prep?  Or was it Friday afternoon/yesterday?  Main pre-match article in yesterday's Guardian was all about the impact Rashford was going to make (and Unai saying he wanted to pair Rashford and Ollie). 
Unai's subsequent reaction to the question about Rashford's injury just seemed more abrupt than normal....   

It's a fair point. As far as I'm aware no one knew he was injured before the team came out.

[Meanwood Villa]

As in, none of us fans. So when did the coaching team know.

[Meanwood Villa]

It's not the same though. They're Liverpool, they always win trophies. That's why their "supporters" choose to support them, and also why anything they win doesn't count.

Amen

[Meanwood Villa]

Nice analogy too Rory

[eamonn]

Beautiful imagery, Ruaidhrí Óg.

[nigel]

Just had the nihilistic urge to watch the goals again for the first time, is it unfair to suggest that Emi might have done better for all three?

Me too, just watched the highlights. I agree, most definitely the first two.

He seems to go down early for the third inviting Sarr to put the ball where he did, I mean, the game seemed lost after the first one but there you go..

How about looking at the shambles that happened in front of him that led up to Eze and Sarr being free to pick their spot?