

Despite a night that will live long in Villans’ memories, Unai Emery immediately switched his focus from Bayern Munich to Manchester United following his side’s massive 1-0 victory under the floodlights. One hopes the players soon followed suit. But it was certainly something to savor, knocking off the German giants in the competition once again in what seemed like a fixture of destiny.
Bayern started brightly, pressing hard and hunting in packs. And while Villa could occasionally play through, Bayern maintained a 2-1 ratio of possession throughout the match. But that seemed to have been expected, and Villa were largely content to go long as often as not to bypass the pressure. Ollie looked to have the better of Bayern’s CBs, and indeed was brought down on a break that more than likely would’ve yielded a clear goal-scoring opportunity. The ref bottled it, not even awarding a foul. Pau Torres then seemed to have opened the scoring, but Jacob Ramsey had wondered offside during the move.
As the second half wore on, it appeared both sides just might have been willing to settle for a draw until Torres played in Captain Chaos who coolly bypassed Neuer with a fabulous, instinctive finish. From there, it was Emi Martinez’s time to play the hero as Bayern pushed for a point.
Lots more to be said, but I think it already has been. Everyone stepped up and dug in. They stuck to the plan and yielded few big chances. And a raucous, roaring Villa Park enjoyed a historic evening that only confirmed Villa know who they are and what they’re about. We may not boast the biggest names, but neither are we cowed. With Emery at the helm, we’re going to stand a chance.
Then you know it’s real because United come calling at the weekend. You won’t hear Emery whinging about it, either. I have no idea what to expect, but I do know ten Hag’s job may well be on the line and it’ll be interesting to see whether his players will fight for him. I’ve not watched them much, but I’ve read about the poor displays, lethargy, disjointed pressing, basically being all over the shop. Doesn’t seem like they’ve shown much affection for him so far. But you never know.
What I also know is that for whatever reason, United have long been one of those bogey sides for us. I also remember Emery’s first game in charge.
So while the disappointing draw with Ipswich has been wiped right out of Villans’ minds after Wednesday’s heroics, Villa stand a real chance of starting to change the balance between them and one of the chief antagonists. They should be flying high, and I wouldn’t really want to bet against them.
Over to you.
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Plug
You lucky b******d
Just watched villa on tour unbelievable atmosphere noise buzz then the singing to jhon duran,plus taunting Munich with its happening again brilliant
Mings and kamara lined out to play for u21
Some super comments on the last thread Plug, that just reminded us all how the excitement is so much more intense if you’re able to actually ‘be there’! One of those nights that live in the memory.
Emery and the players have a real challenge now, to keep the momentum going.
Watching the United/Porto game, I was trying to decide what result would be best for us. Would it be good for united to win and come into our game over-confident, or if they lost, would they lose their confidence, or maybe feel they had a point to prove? I eventually decided, it didn’t matter much, it’s all down to whether the players want to fight for Ten Hag to keep his job or not.
Yep, I’ll be there again tomorrow. Wiping the floor with Manure is well overdue. I’m sick of disappointments caused by them. Time we turned them over. At first I considered we might come up mentally short after the Bayern show. But then we rolled over Citeh and the Arse at VP within a few days of each other so we know it’s possible. Putting my faith in Unai with this one.
James, the din used to come from just the Holte End. That’s not the case now. All 4 stands join in relentlessly and are at their best when the opposition are “big cheeses”. Manure is one of those.
Cash in carlos dropped
Bailey in ramsay injured
Barclay in onana injured
Mcginn still out,kamara and mings both got 45 mins yesterday
Both sides suffering a bit of ‘morning after the night before’ in that first half.
Philogene showing sings of the player he can become, which is encouraging . Bailey improved as the half went on and it will make a huge difference to us when it finally fully clicks foe him again
Can’t watch today just reading comments on other site,I thought we must be 2 or 3 down ,not drawing, even with another injury
A distinct lack of chaos so far. Amused to see us getting a slightly fairer share of the refereeing decisions today.
JG. . . I’m sure I know which site you’re on. . . .I swear it’s being taken over by Blues fans. Being a Villa fan on the Villa blog must feel like being a Kamala supporter on Twitter.
Well
That was as blatant a case of a ref bottling an obvious decision as you’ll see
The ref’s turned against us this half
He must have received new instructions at half time
Good job that one didn’t go in. . . .it should never have been a free kick
Let’s see if one is given next time a Villa shirt is pulled
We played better amd we’re the better team second half, but it just wasn’t quite clicking for us when we reached their box. Some lovely bits of build up play, particularly towards the end, but ultimately, a frustrating watch
Well I suppose that’s a point that is usually robbed from us. Ref certainly reverted to type in 2nd half and kept manure in the game. Got to say I think Cash is a better right back than Konsa. Nothing worked for Rogers today. Phillogene coming along nicely. Can’t be bothered working out a motm.
What a shame that Philogene didn’t get his goal. He’ll lie in bed tonight visualising what he ‘could’ have done. Should still be proud of a game well played today though. He’s a genuine member of the squad now, and you certainly don’t feel our quality drops when he’s playing.
Jbd, agreed about Cash having earned his place at right back. Such a shame that Konsa wasn’t able to finish the game in his favoured position though.
For once, I’m grateful for an international break. . . let’s hope it’s long enough to see some of our injuries properly mended.
Think we all know what would have happened if a Villa player had been in Rashford’s place. Will things ever equalise?
Just had a quick survey of the other blog. I think f**m is back with another alias.
Jbd. . . not only is f*** back on there, but he’s cloned himself several times!
My goodness, that site is less uplifting than a night out at depressives anonymous.
I guess things would be far more positive on there if this week, our rubbish players had somehow managed to keep 2 clean sheets, beat one of the best teams in Europe, and take a point from our nemesis side, in the Premier League.
. . . Oh. . Hang on.
10 matches played
1 defeat
3clean sheets
Duran looks a worldie
Rogers bidace look like they can kick on
Injuries are hurting
Emery is doing fantastic as are our players
International break coming so hopefully mings kamara mcginn Bailey will be ready to go
after it
Atmosphere at VP today was down on Weds night. Likewise the team performance. Seems the exertions of our great night out took its toll on everyone. Thought Manure gave us more respect than previous years. They did not want a balls out fight with us and set up accordingly. It led to a disappointing game.
Not many discussion points. Thought Rogers had a poor game by his standards. But he did have our best chance. Bidace had a decent game and might have won it at the death but was unlucky.
Injuries continue to happen so the international break is welcome in my book. A chance to recover some playing staff.
Rob Jones had a reasonable 1st half but as R0bbO mentions above, his 2nd half performance didn’t seem even handed. Rashford was extremely lucky to stay on the pitch after yet another cynical foul whilst already on a yellow.
Grateful for small mercies. Seeing the weasel smack the crossbar with his free kick (which wasn’t a foul) was most satisfying.
Reflecting on the week. After match day 7 we’re on 14 points and sitting pretty. At the quarter stage of Champions League round robin matches we have maximum points. We’ll take that every day of the week.
And of course, the big celebration. Two clean sheets in 4 days. Like buses we’ve waited forever for one then 2 turn up together.
One other stand out observation. Our crossing into the box was well below standard from both flanks. So many times we failed to beat the 1st man. Something to work on otherwise the wild man of Borneo will start fearing for his job 🙂
Just seen the rashford decision, disgraceful as usual, while I admire emery restraint on officials we are not getting rub of green with them
We would need some of our commentators to blast refs var etc
JG.. . . the Rashford decision was baffling. The players, the commentators, even his own manager all agreed that Rashford should have been sent off. You can’t help imagining that it would have been different if it was the other way round, but maybe as our profile grows, we’ll start to be treated more even-handedly by referees, when playing other top sides.
Plug, our crossing was dire today, as were our corners and set pieces where we were crossing or shooting.
Tha ka good ess this was balanced so what by some really slick inter-passing at times, particularly towards the end of the game.
Big Jhon signs a new contract with Villa. Great news and well done young man. Whilst the details are kept under wraps, he’s wearing a big smile and no doubt Monchi has moved to protect our assets.
A great week just got better for me.
Plug
Super news about our favourite Colombian
It is good news about Duran…He’ll be making more, which it seems like he’s earned, and will make it easier for us to stand firm on a big fee.
Bruno free kick…I was sweating that, tbh. Seemed tailor made for a gut punch. But I’m guessing Emi was in his head a touch, and after watching several times, I’m pretty sure that he had it even if it hadn’t been that touch high.
But everyone’s right, very poor call in the first place. And I don’t think Rashford or United could have any complaints if he’d seen a second yellow.
On officiating, it’s interesting to me that the standard applied so far in the CL is different. Lots of Villa players thinking they’d gotten a kick for being bundled or pushed over like in the PL, but they generally weren’t given. I think it was probably fair both ways, but they’ll probably need to adjust for that going forward.
I see Keith Wyness is saying that his contacts at Aston Villa were begging him to help them get rid of Jhon Duran.
I don’t believe it.
He calls himself a football consultant, but why would anyone consult with someone who was going to go to the press telling such stories? Assuming his stories are completely made up, then he’s just looking for attention. If they’re not, it would be even worse. Who would use a consultant who goes blabbing your secrets to the media?
Champions League refs do let the game flow John, unlike our EPL refs that buy the acting falls every time. Players throw themselves to the ground for a slight touch at their peril in the Champions League. But on the flip side, penalties are dished out for any ball that brushes a hand in the area in the Champions League whereas the EPL is a bit more sensible about such things. Only a bit mind.
rObb0, Wyness has to script any crap to earn whatever the media sites pay him. He does it with aplomb in the comic that uses him. Empty vessels come to mind. Bottom line is Unai decides who goes, who stays etc when wrestling with PSR regs.
Think Carsey has blown his audition this evening. Bellingham as a false 9? TAA at FB? Colwill at CB? I couldn’t determine a structure in our play. At least Ollie as sub provided an assist.
The suits will be mightily unimpressed at the amount of paper planes on the pitch. Greece were full value for their win. Even had a further 3 goals disallowed. He’s duck soup.
Plug, there’s no pleasing an English crowd at an international event. They’d be up in arms even if it was lawn bowling.
So, Carsley mixed it up a bit and got pelters. Southgate played boring and got pelters. How important is this international go round? Not very IMO. For me it’s pre season level importance. Mix it up, who knows? He could have hit on something that was eye catching. Carsley isn’t a mope, he’s done well under the radar. Don’t write him off yet.
Don’t let the media drum up excitement over nothing. What will the winner get? Just another big shiny tin badge with ribbons.
Ian, I agree with everything you say with the exception that unfortunately I have written Carsey off. At least today’s performance had some structure to it but it still left me with plenty of questions (despite the 1-3 win). TAA at LB? Palmer on right wing must have the pox because nobody went near him. He eventually moved inside looking for some ball and then we lost all attacking threat down our right. That’s down to Carsey.
Kane looks more past his sell by date each time I see him. The introduction of Watkins made such a difference and in my book he had 2 assists as the free kick that TAA scored from was down to his running down the left. They tried to blame Ollie for the Finland goal but he was marking the No10 and not the scorer who was Stones man. I suppose a win is a win but I thought we made hard work of it and only prevailed because their strikers were poor.
Not sure about Tuchel as England’s next coach. He was streets ahead of Lampard at Chelsea but seems to court unrest elsewhere. Let’s say I’ve got reservations. Hope I’m wrong.
Pleased to be back with real footie again now. Fingers crossed for injury free return of international players. There’s a job to be done at Fulham.
Thank god international break is over,just one more before march
Probably came at a good time for us,according to the boss everyone’s fit tomorrow bar olsen
So
We could have
Team subs left out
Martinez gauci
Cash carlos mings
Konsa boggard kosta
Torres matasen
Digne
Onana barclay beundi
Tielmens kamara
Bailey bidace
Mcginn ramsay
Rogers
Watkins duran
Emery has hard work ahead
That looked better in box when writing it
Doesn’t matter how it looks James. The content is what matters and the injury front is easing. I’m not expecting Tyro and Kamara to be ready starters yet. They will need time to get up to speed like Buendia did. Perhaps an intro from the bench towards the end of the game?
Fulham are no mugs and it’s going to be hard work today. Guess we need the win to keep up the pressure. Can we get it?
PS. I’ll be down VP mid week for the Bologna game.
Team News:
Martinez, Cash, Carlos, Torres, Digne, Tielemans, Onana, Ramsey, Rogers, Bailey, Watkins.
Subs: Gauci, Konsa, Barkley, McGinn, Duran, Buendia, Philogene, Maatsen, Kamara
Interesting that Tyro is not among the subs but Kamara is.
Interesting lineup news, indeed.
Fresh page up for those interested.
COYVB