Manchester Utd v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Clive W]

Pretty sure everyone knows that when the ref blows play is dead. The system did nothing wrong today, the ref blowing too soon is the fuck up.

VAR then.

But then the defending team will claim that when they heard the ref’s whistle they stopped playing

[kippaxvilla2]

A referee that no one’s ever heard of to referee a game of that magnitude is bordering on corruption.

[LeonW]

Surpassed even the surrender at Wembley. Impossible to describe how bad we were. Somehow we were still in the game until the ref rode us. Joe Cole calling it right here, we didn't show up. Against the worst Man United team in living memory. A striker at 50% level of Rooney/Van Persie gets a hat trick, Hojlund was arguably our best player. Right from the first minute we had stage fright. At least Palace has liked of Eze, this United team had basically nobody.

Unfathomable decision not to start Mings given what was at stake. But Cash and then Martinez made a collosal fuck up before half time. Emery sat on his hands far too long with subs, though Ramsey made no impact, could have helped Maatsen for the first. Emerys faith in his two big summer signings was unfortunately badly misplaced. That's the last we should see of Onana, complete fraud. Watkins and Rogers were pathetic

Martinez 0 - I think his starting position is wrong, when Cash checks back he should be much higher up. But he just lost it then, for such an experienced player it just beggared belief.
Cash 4 - terrible pass obviously. Tried hard in second half to make up for it in fairness, won a good few tackles. Looked our most likely to score which says a lot
Konsa 5 - the only one of our back 5 not to make a crazy error on the day. But a leader, no chance.
Torres 3 - rubbish. Caught in possession at start of second half that should have been punished. Distribution poor and chocolate teapot presence wise.
Maatsen 0 - Second half from hell, surpassing Konsa at Ipswich as worst individual performance of the season. At fault for both goals. That foul for penalty was embarrassing with ball going towards corner flag. His head was gone early in second half and Emery should have recognised it and brought Digne in.
Rogers 2 - zero support for Cash defensively and just offered zilch with it either. Attitude a bit suspect. Fatigue obviously an issue in a great season but Emery far too loyal to him.
Onana 1 - the absolute end for me and the first man out the door this summer. Couldn't trap a bag of sand, whinging when he was eventually taken off was laughable. 50m!!
Kamara 4 - not good enough again in a big game. Picked it up a bit in second half with Cash on that side. Seemed flat
McGinn 3 - game passed our captain by. For once I couldn't complain with him being hooked early.
Asensio - unfortunate really, one of the few to get a pass early on and then had to come off after Martinez moment of madness.
Watkins 3 - dreadful, his first half performance was just rotten from one of our most experienced players. That mahogany first touch in full display. Somehow made a mess of putting Ramsey through in second

Ramsey made little impact, Tielemans was decent enough. Olsen made one great save but Martinez at his best probably puts Anand into A&E for the first. Barkley and Malen didnt get enough time.

Emery - sadly a repeat of the Palace big freeze. 66 point season still a fine achievement but we blew it spectacularly today. Can't fathom leaving Mings out today or at Wembley. Rogers on right again... predictably didn't work. Two managerial blindspots there. Had a right to expect more of his two big signings, Maatsen and Onana, who flopped massively today. Too slow to make changes, like his players he just froze.

Might be a bit early on getting rid of Onana but I take the rest of the above points. Asensio off was a call I thought was strange at the time as he was performing decently and looked a threat in playing Watkins in with balls on the ground.

[LukeJames]

Man Utd have been average to crap for ages now. At what point does their psychological hold over referees wear off?

More to the point, at what point does there psychological hold over us wear off?

[Toronto Villa]

1 up at Forest with 3 to play. Every team that falls short can point to multiple moments. That there's multiple moments is why they fall short.

Bournemouth at home was particularly painful.

[Skerra]

Disappointed with how we played and the referee. But we have two routes into the Champions League next season, and being in the Europa League with a manager that always wins the Europa League might not be the worst thing in the world.

Sorry to say but, our manager who wins trophies everywhere he goes, doesn’t seem to be able to do the same for Villa.

[Villafirst]

I still think it was wrong that Mings didn't play and Emery selected Torres instead. We rarely lose when Mings starts....

[LeonW]

A referee that no one’s ever heard of to referee a game of that magnitude is bordering on corruption.

I did wonder who the bloke was and why he was reffing this game. It’s not as though there was nothing riding on this game.

[itbrvilla]

Two draws against fucking Ipswich cost us. Win either of those games and this afternoons shit show would have been irrelevant.

That's it for me. I have been saying for some weeks now, that I thought we would finish 6th and the most decisive results for me were taking only 2 points from a terrible Ipswich team. I think only us & Spuds have failed to beat Ipswich this season.

That has cost us big time.

The 4 that cost us the most are these two, Bournemouth at home and Man City.

But, every club can list games of lost points.

losing 4 to ipswich

[PeterWithesShin]

Europa is easier to win these days as you don't have a bunch of CL sides dropping in halfway through. Doesn't mean we'll win it, we're Villa, but we have a good chance.

[SaddVillan]

Recency bias will inform a lot of fan's view of the season.

BUT in the league you end up where you deserve. Looking back  - are these the games where we blew it:

2 draws against Ipswich.

Conceding a late equaliser against Bournemouth at home -
2 points dropped

Conceding a late winner at C115ty - 1 point dropped.

Being 0-1 at Forest and conceding in the 87th and 90+3 - 3 points dropped.

A period of calm reflection is needed.

That and the realisation that with Mings in defence, we were much more solid. Should he have come on today when we went down to 10 men.

Why can't Emery set us up against sides with a back 3?

[Drummond]

A referee that no one’s ever heard of to referee a game of that magnitude is bordering on corruption.

He's on the list. You're suggesting that he was paid to make a mistake, or someone else was paid to make him make a mistake.

[tomd2103]

Pretty sure everyone knows that when the ref blows play is dead. The system did nothing wrong today, the ref blowing too soon is the fuck up.

Except VAR can go back, review and override decisions.  We've even had decisions where a game has ended, only for a penalty to be reviewed and given after the final whistle. 

I agree that the under the current rules then the correct process was followed, but after seeing that today you do have to question if that is the right process.

[ez]

Everything VAR takes ages over is something that happened while the ball is live. Ref blows, ball is dead.

Bloody annoying as no defender was getting anywhere near the ball anyway.

[Toronto Villa]

There was no corruption. But he made a massive error in blowing so soon. The goal likely stands upon VAR review but it never came to that. Now of course given how fucking mince we were we would have likely conceded twice in injury time but the error was highly consequential and significant.