Aston Villa News 24/7It wasn’t a bad day for Aston Villa yesterday in the chase for fourth place. Arsenal seemingly couldn’t summon up the desire necessary to beat an unadventurous City side at home, but Utd restated their title credentials by finishing off Tottenham, not an unimpressive feat given form over the last couple of games.
Today was even better, although it wasn’t pretty. Not that any Villa fan will care right now; it’s local bragging rights and, more importantly, 5th place back in our grasp. Three vital points, three wins on the bounce and the chase for fourth place remains very much alive.
The first half was bright and fairly even. Both keepers had work to do, both made impressive saves, although Joe Hart was probably slightly busier. It finished goalless at the break.
The second half did not start well for Villa at all. During the first 15 minutes there were numerous unforced errors and stray passes, gifting Birmingham the opportunity to keep the pressure on. Brad Friedel made a number of vitally important stops, game saving in fact. If he’s not the man of the match for Villa today, I don’t know who was.
Ultimately, it took a late goal from the spot to settle this. Gabby was taken down in full flight in the left channel, as he had been several times throughout the game. Birmingham players, management and fans all made stern protests that Johnson had managed to get a nick on the ball before felling Agbonlahor, which may well be the case, but that doesn’t disqualify the challenge from being a foul. We’ve all seen them given and denied, but I honestly think this was the correct decision.
Can we count ourselves a little fortunate to get the three points? Perhaps. City certainly outplayed us for much of the second half and, with the first half being reasonably even, maybe the shaded the balance of play. That’s football though, it only takes one moment to turn a game.
Frankly, I don’t care anyway. We’ve got the points. We’re still in this race.
Also, we’ve now played 36 games and have 64 points. There’s only one other Premiership season that we have had more at this stage – 1992/93. In fact, there’s only one other season that we’ve finished the season with more than 64 points – 1992/93.
Whatever happens in the final two games, in terms of points, we are now guaranteed that this will be our 2nd best season in the 18 year history of the Premier League.
UTV
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9 Comments to “Aston Villa 1 Birmingham City 0”
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What you wrote earlier about the sum being greater than the parts seems applicable today. This game was not the finest moment for Cuellar, nor was it great for Collins, Carew, Downing… in fact, I think only Freidel played better than his norm; other than clearing the ball of the line, its hard to see an area where they exclled, but somehow it added up to a tough team victory.
As for the penalty, I thought the same – I thought the takedown was not an integral part of getting the ball, but a subsequent (although obviously related event). The call could have gone either way, but after the Carling Cup and FA Cup experience with these calls, I will take it. Whether that call would have been made against Vidic and MU, who knows.
yes, cuellar actually lived up to the criticism he receives playing at right back for much of this game. generally, i think, it’s quite unjustified, but today it wasn’t clicking for him at all.
it’s almost become a meme among english pundits and commentators that getting some kind of touch on the ball negates the foul. they’ll see the tackle first time and call penalty, but when the slow-mo reveals that the tackler’s foot brushed the ball they’ll exclaim “ah, he did get the ball first”.
doesn’t matter. that was a foul all day long, it’s just a question of whether the ref would give it. as you say, whether the same rules would apply against different opposition and locale is a matter of conjecture.
Graham Poll’s column in the Daily Mail seems to answer the question of should it have been a penalty (and why) nicely:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/04/25/article-1268667-094D9569000005DC-562_468x196_popup.jpg
that’s excellent. i may well use that.
i wish the footballing world in england could get educated on this.
It seems that Agbonlahor’s speed is such a critical part of the Villa offense, that games will continue to hinge on whether penalties are called on the efforts to restrain him. It would be comforting to see some consistency in this area.
I think part of being greater than the sum of parts is the lack of superstar aura or prima donnas on this team – one of the things that endeared it to me to begin with. I see a fair amount of criticism for its lack of pursuit of international players, but does AV being so predominantly English make a difference in cohesion? Comparing Villa to, say, Arsenal – certainly the latter has more talent, but representing eight to ten nations in its starting lineup, and most of them used to being treated as superstars in their home countries – you can certainly question what the best long-term building strategy is. If they do get into the Champions League, it will be very interesting to see what is done with that money – I hope it goes first to retaining the best talent they have (and perhaps retaining Acorns instead of Twitter!).
there was a stat doing the rounds that we have been awarded at least double the number of penalties of liverpool, city or tottenham. your first paragraph is exactly right.
yup, one player can be enough to turn not only a game, but a season. however, the wrong superstar, or a club not really capable of sustaining one massive ego, can upset the whole dressing room and be counter productive.
we will be selling shirt sponsorship again from next season i believe. i assume you realise that the twitter thing was posted on april 1 and was just a little fun.
No, I guess I was fooled, but I am glad to hear it was just my gullibility. All the talk about “Twitter Park” and such was, I knew, facetious, but there is nothing intrinsically implausible about Twitter becoming a sponsor; several other commentators, I recall, were also alarmed.
I am sure that if Acorns gets dumped, it will be replaced by something equally ennobling to the human spirit, i.e., a gambling site or international corporate pirate.
“I am sure that if Acorns gets dumped, it will be replaced by something equally ennobling to the human spirit, i.e., a gambling site or international corporate pirate.”
I very much doubt it will be a gambling site, as Lerner kicked 32RED to take Acorns on IIRC.
Yes, I think you are right, I am just being cynical. I think the Acorns selection was a great gesture, one that I would hope would be followed by other teams. If it is a corporate sponsorship, I just hope it is not a name that is a great embarrassment. Fortunately, IAG is already taken.