Thoughts and issues regarding the past and present of a great football club by "The Chronicler".

Wednesday 1 January 2020

Pouring Claret on Claret!

Incredible! We go through one of the worst periods of results in our history and then go and win at Burnley in the league for the first time since 1936 - more than 83 years ago - when Jimmy Hogan was in charge! And by the same score.

Dean Smith (having seen my last post's idea of putting Tyrone Mings in front of a back four 😎) made a wise team selection in the main part. While Dean did not want to quite copy the idea I put forward (!), he did the next big thing by having a defensive-five with Mings in central command.

In midfield, he persisted in selecting both Nakamba and Luiz, and while it worked out quite well on this occasion, I am still not convinced, but Luiz did look like something of a replication of McGinn at times. Apart - that is - from two occasions when I did expect him to score following the kind of shooting he displayed earlier this season.

This was a Burnley team that is not - by any stretch of the imagination - a team of quality. But they are known for their perseverance and determination. In Dean's selection, Villa mostly had that Burnley under control and it was they that looked mostly out of ideas, not us, with Westwood more than once choosing to pass to his old team-mates!

After that sorry display at Watford the three points earned are gratefully accepted - despite VAR trying to stop it happening - but I wait to see how the next league fixture pans out. We face Man City at Villa Park.

In the meantime, we have the opportunity to advance in cup competitions and if we can do so in style then perhaps the team's confidence will be at a high and good enough to give Man City a fright.

I hope!

UTV!

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