Blame the Ref: Villa lose to United in FA Cup
Sunday, 07 January 07, 11:13 AM · Comments (13)
Who else do you blame for adding four minutes onto the end of that second half? If four minutes needed to be added onto that second half then there should be matches in the Premiership with ten or twelve minutes added on. If that match deserved an extra four minutes then David O'Leary was the first muppet in space.
If ever there was a case for a minute to be added on that was the match. What was different from the first half to the second; United needed a goal!
I would have been more than happy with a draw and for an hour I thought for once I'd predicted the right result but it wasn't to be as United won 2-1 with goals from Larsson and Solskjaer, the winner spinning under the must be embarrassed Király.
We nearly had United though and they didn't win because of that team spirit I often talk about as we matched them today. They won because they know how to pass, create space and are aware of what's going on around them.
How many times do we have to see Angel not control the ball or make one of his half hearted passes to a member of the opposition? I actually wrote down on my notes 'had enough of Angel' and wasn't sure if I was going to write it here but I think I have to.
Bouma played well again as did Baros with his one real chance. I'm getting a little annoyed at Petrov's inability to get the ball over the wall from free-kicks and was glad to see Barry march over for the second one we had. I think I was even happier when Petrov went off and I honestly don't like writing that.
It was no surprise to me to see Henrik Larsson score for United. He is a great player and the script was almost written for him. To see Ole Gunnar Solskjaer score the winner with seconds to go also isn't that surprising.
I'm very unhappy tonight. Mainly because of the additional four minutes as it wasn't right and very unfair. It was also unfair that they celebrated the goal for nearly a minute and Ronaldo went down feigning injury for nearly thirty seconds but the referee didn't add that on properly.
I've also figured out why they call it the Theatre of Dreams. It's because you could fall asleep if you're a home supporter. The travelling Aston Villa fans made more noise than all the United fans today. When you consider the attendance was 74,924 then that is some achievement and no doubt there will be reference to it on the official web site sometime next week.
Martin O'Neill is an intelligent man and he'll know that to make Aston Villa great again is going to take time but he will be frustrated tonight for the same reasons most of us probably are. He'll also know he's got to take most of the players aside and go back to the basics and practise passing, creating space and teaching his players to look up to see what's around them.
I'm not happy but this is going to take time. I just don't know if Mr Lerner has enough £'s to make it happen!
Leave your comments below and be quiet as you might wake up a Manchester United supporter.
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13 Comments · Add yours
Totally agree - we're on the way up
I'm not sure we're on the way up just yet; we had good team spirit but some of the players need a lesson on awareness, positioning and passing.
There were good points but also bad points. I'll put my analysis up later.
We give the ball away to cheaply, always looking to rely on Gabbyâ€s pace and against teams like man utd it wont work. JPA is no target man. After watching the last few games I canâ€t recall us making 5 passes in row. If we are going to play with pace down the sides and one up top lets bring in Backham!! I know what most people will say to this. but he can pass, he plays with heart and if you have Moore when fit and Gabby itâ€s going to create a lot of set plays. Which we donâ€t currently make the most of!
Where is the Flair!
12 months ago, under that barrage, O'Drearys men would have capitulated within 10 minutes. The team that narrowly beat us today at their own ground make Chelsea look like the Baggies.
McCann is worth 10 Michael Carricks, Ridge and Cahill were awesome and more than that, the whole team kept the faith.
Rooney, Giggs, Ronaldo, Larsson were the difference today. Put it this way, If those players had pitted themselves against the rest of that ManUre team, they would have bagged a load of goals.
This is a long road and we are better than before. Simple. O'Neill will turn our club around and if he can get us to attack as well as we defend, then we will have no troubles.
Up the Villa!!
Damian mate, i totally agree with you cos im not sure either whether Mr Lerner has the money to make Villa great again, but we'll all know by the start of next season when MON will have had the whole summer to make the signings of his choice.
....and depressed today after the game!
Good battling performance, it shows once again that Man Utd are always in favour of referees!! We are on the way up and it will take time but have faith!!!
You can moan all you like about refs and added minutes the pure fact is that we conceded from a bad goal keeping error from a championship class player.Forget moaning about the ref and target the players who are not preforming as the should namely Petrov and in my opinion a very over rated Gabby.Disagree you may but when was the last time any of you saw him take any 1 on ?? exactly, he has so much pace but can t do anything with it.We are along way away from being anywhere as good as a top four team
Oh my god ... 4 minutes from f@&%ing where ? Never have I been to an away game and not heard a squeak from the home supporters !!! Christ 6,000 villas fans never stopped singing their hearts out and even when Man Utd went ahead the " Glory Hunting Fans " that next week will be supporting Chelsea, didn't even challenge the love and dedecation from the Holte Enders in the sky ! And what cheak !!! when we were warming up the b@^%$£*'s turn up the music towards the wawy end to try to drown us out !!! Well played to all and never b 4 have I burst into tears when the Northern SCUM scored in extra time which wasn't needed ...
GREAT DAY OUT SEE YOU ALL THERE NEXT WEEK WHEN WE'LL SING OUR HEARTS OUT AGAIN.
YIPEE EI EH.. YIPEE EI OH ... HOLTE ENDERS IN THE SKY !!!!!!!!!
Chris Hoy
Northfield Massive !!!!
On the plus side Ridge and Cahill and an absolute stormer of a game! The older, more experienced players should really take a look at themselves for being outshone by these two boys. Its not like they had it easy playing against Rooney and Larsson!
Let's not look for excuses. I thought we were poor. the players didn't seem to want the ball especially gabby who's confidence seems to have drained from him by being played out of position. he was terrible! Petrov's attitude is a worry. he has the class but seems a sulker when things are not going his way. he needs better players around him but surely a player of his ability should be able to take command when things are not going well. the others gave their all but as i've said so many times before are not good enough if we want to go places. I'm fed up with a midfield packed with cloggers.
Chris- I couldn't believe my ears when I could hear "Aston Villa" being sung on the TV. I was thinking "I swear the game was Old Trafford..."
Dee- you're right. Petrov is a bit like Baros, when it doesn't go his way he just sulks off and loses his commitment to the team.
Gab needs to be upfront or more of an inside right like he was at the start of the season before Moore got injured and we had to change our formation.
The 4 minutes given was a disgrace, which just shows how much help Man U get. How ever, when we went into extra time we were in control and should have tied it up, but over on the left what did Samuel do, he just passed it back to them and eventually the goal came from this blunder.