Annoyman

Was looking at the Brighton forum to see what they thought of all that and a lot of them were also complaining about this guy Undav they had up front. I had no idea he existed and I watched the game Saw MOTD's slowed down zoomed in replay of the Digne challenge and yeah it's a pen. They also made a convincing case for the Brighton goal being a foul as well though, had mostly turned away from the screen in disgust when it first went in. Mostly surprisingly effusive about Ings and Villa's positional organisation, with no reference at all to our scandalous tactics in the last 30

Oooof that's a big win. Thought it was quite a good little contest in the first half, but it was always a little niggly; the ref was letting a lot go and the linesman seemed to be scared to flag Brighton offside with the idea that VAR would bail him out if an offside goal went in, but that's no solace for Villa when they always led to Brighton corners. The second half was ugly as hell and we started getting cynical and racking up the deserved yellows. There seems to be a very broad consensus outside of VT that they should have had a penalty off the Digne-March collision. Maybe I need ten more slow-mos of it and my Villa bias will fade, but I just thought March went in clumsily and late on Digne and happened to get caught by the kicking leg, seen em given but not a travesty, despite Carragher's spittle-flecked attempts to negotiate it being given from the commentary gantry. Brighton had more dangerous approach play than I'd have liked them to be allowed, but they were quite toothless in the box and our last ditch defending in the area was pretty committed and well-drilled. Martinez is a magnificent bastard and as I've said before, I hope he never lines up against us for another team because I'd survive about two minutes of his timewasting before I combusted from rage. His concussion scare is going to be like Cowboy Bob Orton in the WWF wearing the cast for years after the supposed injury. Routine save, oh sorry lads my catastrophic brain injury's playing up again, out for a throw it goes. Their goal was a bit of a horrow show and even with the break coming up I expect there to still be teething problems adapting to the new playstyle that might cost us more than it ended up doing today Digne was very solid down the left and stood his ground well in the tackle on a couple of occasions. Young's become a really good presence around the team to shore things up organisationally and mentally. Mings had a difficult first half but dug in deep in the second half when it became more of a rearguard operation, though he was still dangerously wasteful carrying it out of defence a couple of times. I'm not sure there is any footballer in the Premier League more widely hated by opposition fans, and I wish he scored more of set pieces even if just for how much piss it would boil. McGinn's execution and range of passing was off and we could have got more counters going if he'd been less sloppy, but he worked hard and did the dirty work effectively towards the end, and did well to get on the end of the Buendia throughball for the pen Kamara is very tidy and as noted many times appears to have been incredible business on a free, he sometimes looks like PES on easy mode where you're just mashing x to casually dispossess people Buendia's casual rolled pass for the pen and diving header were both magnificent, hopefully more influential displays to come from him in time Ings really, really earned his money today. There's nothing like fans madly rain-dancing behind the goal to try and put a penalty taker off, then just having to sit down and shut up imo Overall delighted that we have not yet tanked Emery's famously above 50% win ratio. It feels good to be comfortably mid table and not terrified going into the break, although I'm sort of expecting to log on to BBC Sport on boxing day and find that our entire first team is suspended for Liverpool after somehow picking up 43 yellow cards in the last match before the World Cup

The only shot on target they've had since they scored is a corner, despite having had what three corners with blatant offsides in the buildup

Deflection took it in but calm feet to make the shot

Go home Lewis you're Dunk Love the defeated body language of fans behind a goal who go all out to try and put off a penalty taker and fail miserably That casual little clip of a pass from Buendia, lovely stuff

Bricking it tbh

Stats doing Luiz dirty by not counting his corners as shots on target Does he have more goals than assists from corners this season?

Free hit tonight. I can see the result going the other way because of the probable reaction from them, what refs tend to be like when we play them, and our reduced options in midfield, but if Emery beats Utd at Villa Park and Old Trafford in the same week after all the trouble we've had with them over the years, they can build the dang statue already

I wonder if we switched at Brentford because the sun was so bright, so it was going to be harder in goal for Raya. I've still got a faint halo of light in my eyes from squinting at a few too many replays of the Bailey goal trying to figure out what on earth it looked like. Taylor was terrible in a way that favoured United for most of that game today, but their fans did identify that not only was their wall seemingly insanely far back on the free kick, but we got away with taking it a foot or two back from where he'd drawn the marker, which probably did make it easier for Digne to get it up and down. Maybe a bit of retrospective restorative justice for a few of the Vidic red cards that never were though ay My favourite moment of that game was the split second realisation that Watkins' pass for the third was good, and that everybody was going to get out of Ramsey's way in time for him to smash it Second place was, in the stoppage time of a potential first win in 27 years against United, Douglas Luiz saying *** it and attempting to score another direct corner instead of playing it short. He won't stop because he can't stop

God the amount of good goals this weekend is ridiculous

**** YAAAAAAASSSSSS Watkins delivering

Lads show some respect they're booing their own players for not beheading us

damn, the Newcastle fans hate Buendia almost as much as they hate Jamal Kashoggi's widow

Being one place above the relegation zone on goal difference after losing 3-0 to Fulham: this is 5d chess actually

Highlight of the MOTD2 coverage for me was these absurdly sassy poses from Buendia and Bailey

I mean yeah, fair enough really

Luiz and Bailey neck and neck in the MOtM vote at the time of writing; Bailey looked shorn of all the clumsy neuroticism of his recent performances and just seemed to be enjoying himself and living up to his Bundesliga highlight reels; Luiz was an absolute bastard in midfield all game Nice to see Ings excited that Watkins had finally finished off his miniature suite of chances, despite being on a hat trick and being in a position where he could have steamed in and finished it himself; also nice to see some confident, creative short passing on the edge of the area Older viewers will recall everyone thinking Kevin McDonald should get the job full time after a good post-M'ON start in 2010 and us then losing 6-0 to Newcastle, so not getting carried away, but for now: Thanks Danks - Thdanks Hat tip to the handful of BBC BTL daytripper scum commenters being all like "oh so they could have performed for Gerrard but chose not to, how beastly" - no they couldn't fellas your boy was really that bad

OG and Agbonlahor on the breakaway for 2-0 iirc, Luna one was years later under Lambo

Southampton at VP, our one fully convincing performance under him

Well, he tried to miss it Ings was steaming in to clean up the mess with a tap in for a hat trick, and he still got excited when Ollie finished it himself

I don't even care that we didn't win, I'm just glad it's over

Can't think of any argument in favour of Smith going that wouldn't also apply here. Smith had actually proven he could improve a Premier League team's position in the table The next two games are just wasted time to get a new manager in if Gerrard stays, and we're well past the point where the kind of heroic-but-futile performances we put in against City and Liverpool last season are enough to cut it

I have to say if anything this ref's gone a little early, he could easily have got two more years out of that hairline imo

I'm beginning to question whether Calum Chambers will ever win the Ballon D'Or

Ugh, that was a tough watch. So many long balls lumped at 5'10 strikers headed effortlessly clear into a central midfield that contains none of our players I don't have much of a sense that Digne is better than Matt Targett None of the Palace fans round me could figure out what the penalty was given for even after the replay, I could see it but it seemed overcooked and daft Not sure why Watkins went to so much effort to antagonise their fans when he scored, that worked out great huh Bailey at least got an assist and had a fine effort hit the bar I think it's clear enough at this point that Mings/Konsa/McGinn are only going to take a team so far, but I think we really might look back at some of the other players in this squad with a sense of regret/irritation at the wasted potential in the future. Not sure why Martinez wouldn't easily get enough first team football to keep him in the Argentina team anywhere else he wants to at this point, and if Buendia moves on because he was sacrificed to a futile attempt to rehabilitate Coutinho's career it'll be criminal Palace were very good tbf; I can see us playing this badly and winning 1-0 at some point this season, not that it'll be much more enjoyable