Well ... a predictable result, I suppose. But just as in the corresponding fixture at their patch, we took a surprising, and somewhat bundled-in, lead.
Their passing was way above our class it has to be said, but on reflection, I also think they are a physical side, and never let Jack get anywhere near constructing anything of note - except the time he took to set up Luiz to make an accurate and exploited centre for our goal. Fouling seems to be the way of stopping the only dangerous playmaker in our side at this level, and they gamble on the ref not doing anything about it 'til the game is near-finished. One yellow card for their misdemeanours against Jack is nowhere near fair - but that's football, it seems.
This brings me to an unfortunate conclusion - that whether Villa is relegated or not, that Villa should sell Jack and take what they can for him. I don't like to say that, but to have arguably our most dangerous player perpetually on the ground does not win a team any points. More often than not he seems to be a liability as far as points are concerned. The only way we can keep him and use him effectively (i.m.o.) is if we acquire a couple of other players who are at least of equal ability.
But let's turn away from that unwelcome topic and look at some other players. Davis did what he normally does, and Samatta also. But what, oh what, is the point of playing one striker so far from his colleagues? There's no-one nearby, usually, for the striker's strength to be translated into an attack. Certainly, against the likes of Chelsea that was mostly the case. We really should have made more effort to take the game to them - we lost anyway.
And there's Conor. Against a top side, I'm afraid he doesn't look very good. He runs and he tries, but what else? The very early utterly wasted free-kick made me feel this was not going to be his day, and I was waiting for him to go off at half-time.
Well, I've not yet lost hope of staying up - but we have to get something from the Magpies and Wolves games if we stand any real chance of staying up.
So, it's still UTV from me!
Their passing was way above our class it has to be said, but on reflection, I also think they are a physical side, and never let Jack get anywhere near constructing anything of note - except the time he took to set up Luiz to make an accurate and exploited centre for our goal. Fouling seems to be the way of stopping the only dangerous playmaker in our side at this level, and they gamble on the ref not doing anything about it 'til the game is near-finished. One yellow card for their misdemeanours against Jack is nowhere near fair - but that's football, it seems.
This brings me to an unfortunate conclusion - that whether Villa is relegated or not, that Villa should sell Jack and take what they can for him. I don't like to say that, but to have arguably our most dangerous player perpetually on the ground does not win a team any points. More often than not he seems to be a liability as far as points are concerned. The only way we can keep him and use him effectively (i.m.o.) is if we acquire a couple of other players who are at least of equal ability.
But let's turn away from that unwelcome topic and look at some other players. Davis did what he normally does, and Samatta also. But what, oh what, is the point of playing one striker so far from his colleagues? There's no-one nearby, usually, for the striker's strength to be translated into an attack. Certainly, against the likes of Chelsea that was mostly the case. We really should have made more effort to take the game to them - we lost anyway.
And there's Conor. Against a top side, I'm afraid he doesn't look very good. He runs and he tries, but what else? The very early utterly wasted free-kick made me feel this was not going to be his day, and I was waiting for him to go off at half-time.
Well, I've not yet lost hope of staying up - but we have to get something from the Magpies and Wolves games if we stand any real chance of staying up.
So, it's still UTV from me!
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