Wigan Frustrate, But Unbeaten Run Continues
Wigan clearly came to Villa Park intent on not receiving another 4 goal mauling and will leave very happy with a point after a goalless draw. Mission very much accomplished.
MON and the players will be left scratching their heads at why 21 goal attempts failed to break the deadlock. Wigan were forced into 7 saves, several off the goal line, and the woodwork also helped out a number of times. At the other end, Brad Friedel was called into action twice.
I think that’s all that needs saying. We played some decent enough football, especially in the second half, but it just wasn’t happening in front of goal today and that wasn’t down to effort or commitment.
Tactically, MON predictably started the same team from the Portsmouth game, but encouragingly started switching things around after the hour mark when it was clear it just wasn’t going to work. The introduction of John Carew for Craig Gardner was a big boost to the home crowd who responded with a loud chorus of John Carew, Carew. Big John joined Gabby upfront with Heskey switching to the left and Milner back to his favoured right. Towards the end of the game, desperate for a winner, Heskey was thrown forward, Gabby moved to the right and Milner back to the left. That still didn’t pay off and Potato Head will certainly have Figueroa to thank for some timely heroic blocks.
The good news is that the unbeaten run is extended to equal the season record of 12 games for 28 points and Arsenal failed to beat West Ham so remain 5 points behind Villa. Villa are now level on points with Chelsea and Liverpool who play out their game in hand against each other at Anfield tomorrow.
Obviously a win today would have put Villa into second place, at least temporarily, so the 2 points missed will certainly be rued. Next week we’ll travel to Blackburn while the three teams above us have very winnable games. We absolutely must extend our away form to take another 3 points or it could be the start of us losing touch with the top as we count down the remaining 14 Premiership Games.
Ashley Young will be available again for the Blackburn game and hopefully that will re-ignite our cutting edge as we’re certainly looking a little toothless going forward without him.
You should follow Aston Villa Central on Twitter here.
as a quick footnote to this post i wanted to add that we can consider ourselves “unlucky” not to have won this one. remember that when our critics attribute our league position to “luck”. funny how they never remember the games we didn't win isn't it?!?
as a quick footnote to this post i wanted to add that we can consider ourselves “unlucky” not to have won this one. remember that when our critics attribute our league position to “luck”. funny how they never remember the games we didn't win isn't it?!?
I' am not disappointed with a draw, sure we were unlucky not to have taken all 3 points but we didn't lose. Assuming there is a winner in the Pool, Chelski game then at least we will be in equal 3rd place. My aspirations for the team haven't changed since the start of the season, and that was 4th anything more is a bonus.
So, i guess, yeah, i'm still a happy villain.
i worry about the backlash if we don't finish top 4 now sam. you know the “MON didn't strengthen in january so it's his fault we threw it away blah blah blah” type stuff.
personally, my aspirations at the start of the season weren't top 4 – we finished 6th last year, 16 points behind pool in 4th. that seemed too much to make up in one season. 5th and within single digits points wise would have been my reasonable expectation. maybe a tournament final, or better still a trophy, along the way wouldn't have been unreasonable too??
I noted that after the Wigan game there were a few descenting boo's from the stand behind MON, which he reacted to. What kind of twat would do that?
I ask you look at the position we are in and the points we have, yet people still boo, maybe O,Dreary was right we are fickle!
yes, i noticed that too and have watched the incident several times on replay. i noticed in the comments on damo's blog that someone suggested the fans were actually booing the ref. if that's the case, whoever booed might want to drop MON a line to let him know, because he clearly thought the team were being booed. he stopped in his tracks and looked around the the stands with a “are you kidding me?? you're booing us??” type look.
seriously unacceptable.
I' am not disappointed with a draw, sure we were unlucky not to have taken all 3 points but we didn't lose. Assuming there is a winner in the Pool, Chelski game then at least we will be in equal 3rd place. My aspirations for the team haven't changed since the start of the season, and that was 4th anything more is a bonus.
So, i guess, yeah, i'm still a happy villain.
i worry about the backlash if we don't finish top 4 now sam. you know the “MON didn't strengthen in january so it's his fault we threw it away blah blah blah” type stuff.
personally, my aspirations at the start of the season weren't top 4 – we finished 6th last year, 16 points behind pool in 4th. that seemed too much to make up in one season. 5th and within single digits points wise would have been my reasonable expectation. maybe a tournament final, or better still a trophy, along the way wouldn't have been unreasonable too??
I noted that after the Wigan game there were a few descenting boo's from the stand behind MON, which he reacted to. What kind of twat would do that?
I ask you look at the position we are in and the points we have, yet people still boo, maybe O,Dreary was right we are fickle!
yes, i noticed that too and have watched the incident several times on replay. i noticed in the comments on damo's blog that someone suggested the fans were actually booing the ref. if that's the case, whoever booed might want to drop MON a line to let him know, because he clearly thought the team were being booed. he stopped in his tracks and looked around the the stands with a “are you kidding me?? you're booing us??” type look.
seriously unacceptable.