Manchester Utd v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[PaulWinch again]

I’ve calmed down now and in the cold light of day I don’t blame the referees or Unai, it was Cash and Emi who fucked that up.  With Emi on the pitch we would have done them

Lay of the booze. We weren't even 2nd to the second balls when Emin went off.

Well yeah, but going into the second half 11 vs 11 is entirely different.

[VillaTim]

I’ve calmed down now and in the cold light of day I don’t blame the referees or Unai, it was Cash and Emi who fucked that up.  With Emi on the pitch we would have done them

Lay of the booze. We weren't even 2nd to the second balls when Emin went off.

Abysmal performance. Didn't show up .

[Mellin]

I’ve calmed down now and in the cold light of day I don’t blame the referees or Unai, it was Cash and Emi who fucked that up.  With Emi on the pitch we would have done them

Lay of the booze. We weren't even 2nd to the second balls when Emin went off.

Tracey has some explaining to do.

[PeterWithesShin]

It was a clear red for Emi, a clear fuck up for our 'goal', a clear penalty.

[Somniloquism]

It was a clear red for Emi, a clear fuck up for our 'goal', a clear penalty.

With Holjunds touch taking it well away from goal, not sure on the clear goal scoring opportunity side of DOGSO. But it was such a clumsy challenge, AND after the bollocking the refs would have gotten from the FA Cup decision, I'm not surprised it was a red.

[AV82EC]

It was a clear red for Emi, a clear fuck up for our 'goal', a clear penalty.

Spot on.

[john e]

The ref made a massive mistake and probably cost us the game
Emi made a massive mistake and probably cost us the game
Cash made a massive mistake and probably cost us the game

The ref made a mistake but he wasn’t the only one
It Ended up in our own hands as we wanted and we failed

Spurs will be in the Champions League next year which will grate because we are a far better team
But they’re there because they actually won something that’s something we’ve failed to do for 30 years and it’s something Unai has to put right while he’s with us, hopefully starting with that Europa cup thing

[PaulWinch again]

Yup.

[DC1874]

Agreed win fuck all deserved fuck all

[HolteL4]

Forget about today basic defending this season has cost us, for example Nottingham Forest away Cash kicks it away and it doesn't matter what happens today we qualify for the Champions league. It's the constant playing ourselves into danger that has cost us this season not what happened today

[Pat McMahon]

Thing is - the decision is terrible, but it’s still 0-0 after it. We lost after that - I kind of want to know how with several more days to rest/prepare against an all time bad Man Utd side we turn up and play so utterly pathetically.

The whole tone and tempo was wrong from the outset, as it was against Palace.

A bit of attacking verve and zip and they could've been 0-2 down in the first half hour and business as usual for them this season. We'll never know because we gave them the courage to grow into and ultimately control the game.

I completely agree with both of you.

Swapping messages this morning with a couple of mates I used to play football with in France, a Wednesday fan and a Gas head. They were convinced all we had to do was put them under early pressure, play on their misery from Wednesday night and they’d feel sorry for themselves. I warned them of our record up there and how I feared for us in this game.

Instead we do the usual slow start to the game and let them gain momentum. We have had too many big games where we get it wrong in terms of tactics and attitude. I remember two years ago we had to beat Brighton to get European qualification and we went at them like terriers from the off,galvanizing the crowd and giving us belief. And a two goal lead. We weren’t running on empty today and one last push would have changed everything. A colossal wasted opportunity.

[paul_e]

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.

The process is fine. The daft decision to blow the whistle was the only problem.

Blowing the whistle is part of the process. VAR is supposed to correct clear and obvious errors, it's mental that a ref blowing up for whatever means no VAR.

But anything that happens with the ball after the whistle has blown hasn't happened. Because the ball is no longer in play.

So VAR doesn't correct referees poor decisions.

It corrects poor decisions made when the ball is live. The whistle stops that.

Interestingly, very early on in the match, the live text mentioned Heaven brought down Watkins when he was last man but the flag went up so offside was called. The live text person mentioned Ollie looked onside. Anyone have any thoughts on that? It probably should have been reviewed as it was a potential red card call, but again might also have fallen into the cracks between what VAR can and can't review.

If it's the one I'm thinking of they were level to the naked eye but as he was making an attempt to play the ball at most it'd have been a yellow card, which can't be given on review (for some reason). In much the same vein the Diallo foul on Onana was 100% a yellow card but the ref didn't give it so couldn't be checked. Given Diallo then got a yellow 25mins later before going on to score the opener there's a fair argument that he was lucky to be on the pitch to score it.

[steffo]

Over 38 games we look back to Ipswich & Bouremouth at home that's 4 points dropped and add 1 pont away at man city when the Chelsea spy dived in in the last minute. They all add up.

[john2710]

Despite the refs monumental error, which will get lost in the, United would have won 2-1 instead. When it mattered most we didn't turn up, again. I'm more angry about that than anything.

Whether it's the player's fault, Emery's fault or both of we need to do something to address how we play away from Villa Park over the summer. I don't know if we thought we only had to turn up, but we were second best everywhere. Given what was at stake you'd think we would have been fired up for it. We're great when teams let us play at our pace.

You can't legislate for the idiotic challenge by Martinez. If it's the 89th minute & we're drawing when only needing a point, fair enough but to leave us a man down for 45 mins is criminal.

[Mellin]

Not familiar with the butterfly effect, then?