newhavenhibby

Some good points especially that it was almost certainly pre planned for players to be coming back from an offside position as the kick is taken so hindering defenders trying to get back ........see it a lot in the modern game. Interesting to watch the ref at the free kick, as when the United player was "blocked" and went to ground he didn't immediately blow and indicate a foul, which if that was going to be his decision I would have expected to see him do that and be immediately blowing his whistle and raising his arm if he felt it was obstruction ( before the ball was put in the net)........OK the positioning of the Villa forwards might need checking on VAR but the falling of the United player was the most obvious thing to see. If it was all that obvious, why did it take 4+ minutes to decide anything? I don't think that whether the United player would have got there or not is important...........if he was fouled or obstructed then that is a fact and a free kick to United . You cannot speculate that he would or would not have got near the ball at any stage.

I think the big point here is that in a competition you have the same rules for all the games taking part. it is stupid to have the odd Premier League grounds using VAR yet all the other games just rely on instant ref / linesman decisions. As was shown last night the game can be slowed down for many minutes whilst the powers that be look for a reason to disallow the goal. I'm sure last night they initially looked at the offside and then spent the rest of the time trying to find any reason why it should be chalked off. I cannot imagine that the same scrutiny would have been given if the opponents had been Liverpool, Chelsea or Man City. I did say when Gerrard went to Villa, now being not one of the "top", "special" sides in the division, then he would have to cope with many decisions going against him.........something he didn't experience in his first job at Rangers where of course he was in charge of one of the two "special" sides up here.

Aye, Paul is SJMs brother. We used to have Stephen as well, all three have scored for us. ( and for St Mirren) Too many tricolours in our end......I counted three which is three too many.

Second time I've seen him "live" and he is quick, has good feet and works his socks off. However he won't get two easier chances donated to him by the Leith U12s than on Sunday. True he still had work to do but............ At the first, one minute after we had scored, ones instructions to schoolboys would be, concentrate at the back, don't switch off and don't allow the opposition space in the final third ( especially between your centre backs). This is exactly what Hibs did! ( plus our keeper should have positioned himself better so there was no space on the nearpost and force Kyogo to shoot across him) At the second, true the linesman had signaled for the sub and the fourth official had the board out for the substitution but schoolboys are told to play to the refs whistle, don't stop and at the very least get someone to stand over the ball to prevent the freekick being taken quickly .......against the law , yes, but nobody gets penalised for it. Again, amateur stuff Hibs and won't happen down South. I think he will move to England but he's not going to meet this type of defending and will be a lot tougher for him. He'll also have to improve his play acting, diving, cheating, the likes of which I've never seen the like..........especially the one in the Hearts game when up against Souttar..........embarrassing. The best one on Sunday was when he still thought our player was on him so collapsed as though he'd been shot.......only to find our defender had stopped and was a good yard off him. Should have been a yellow but the ref just had a quiet word with him......one of many baffling decisions from that enigma that is John Beaton, supposedly a referee. For his antics, Kyogo is taking up the mantle of the player to hate the most up here from Morelos of Rangers.

Hope he's bringing a f***ing magic wand with him. He may also have forgotten how sh*te the refs are up here. ..........or perhaps he didn't notice before, as a player!

Heres to a good return to Anfield for Stevie Gerrard and his Villa side.

They are both great prospects . Watched Hickey when at Hearts but haven't seen as much now due to his move to Bologna in serie A. By all accounts he is doing well. Patterson got a good run of games when the more experienced Rangers fullbacks were out but now struggles to get a start. Came on I think yesterday against Livi as a second half sub. Believe he will get his chance and does look a great prospect. Will possibly see more of him on Wednesday night when Rangers are at Easter Road. Hickey would be the better bet as he has been playing regularly so that experience will count. He can also play midfield. According to the press up here Gerrard is the favourite to sign Ryan Kent. A player I like and has done well in Scotland. Whether he can make the switch in class to the Premier League only time will tell.

Good luck today to all at Villa and especially Steven Gerrard ( didn't think I'd be saying that a month ago ) , lads and lasses. Win , lose or draw I hope there are some positives to be taken from the performance to give the fans hope that the Gerrard era will be successful. 'mon Villa.

Aye , a good appointment and think he will do well there.

Most despised team in Edinburgh also, Zhan.

Interested to read "weechops" comments, that as he, as a Rangers fan , SG only has one style of play and just a plan A. ( try watching a Jack Ross side ) Of course in the SPL every team with the exception of Celtic, sit in against Rangers and look for a set piece or a stroke of luck to get a goal. Therefore most games he has the same conundrum of breaking down a defensive unit. The huge challenge for him is going to be a game plan against all the different styles of play and talent he is going to come up against in the English Premier League teams.

Agreed re Ryan Kent, who I have mentioned before as the only possible player SG may want, then I remembered Patterson. Doig has the potential to go on to be a star but he is far from English Premier League standard. We are most definately a selling club ( more so than Rangers, I'll be respectful as we are guests on this forum) and he will go sooner rather than later and hope he goes to an English Championship club first to continue his education, especially in how to defend!!

Agreed, but to keep a squad of 30 + differing types of players onside you need a range of man management skills and not just "do what I say or else" . Lennon had this attitude and lost more than one dressing room.

I talked yesterday about SG not bringing any players from sevco...........forgot about the young fullback, Nathan Patterson who is certainly going to climb to a much higher level than the SPL...........maybe????

2 positive things I have witnessed about Gerrard whilst watching him up here are firstly, you will see some passion on the touchline and he will tell it as it is and tell the media so. He doesn't accept being second best. Secondly, he does seem to possess good man management and that could be seen with him and the loose cannon Morelos. Never any stories of dressing room tiffs / feuds.......always seemed a "happy" squad.

Only just noted that Austin is at Villa!! What do you guys think of him? We knew him for 4 years when assistant at Hearts...........not the most popular amongst JT fans. Cannot see SG wanting him especially when bringing his own backroom guys.

I think over the last couple of weeks you have seen in the Premier League you cannot guarantee anything, with Burnley getting a point at Chelsea and Palace winning at Man City. From reading this thread, fans already have an expectation of how many points will be good, so SG certainly will have to hit the ground running, assess and sort the side very quickly. I'm sure he will have a good look at the squad up till xmas and then see if he will be given enough finance to strengthen the side in the areas he sees as weak.

With McGinn it will depend how he plays him and how he sees his best position. I think he will have a look at the Villa midfield ( as all playing departments) and then decide where he would like to strengthen ( all? ) and then of course, especially in the Premier League, will depend on how much of a budget he is given. Obviously up here you can pick players up for relative peanuts who will do a good job in the SPL at sevco level, down in the Premier League it is a different scenario and it will be interesting to see how he adapts to this. He may decide that with proper coaching he can change the fortunes of many of the players already at Villa.......lets hope so.

A real gamble by Villa. Won one competition up here ( in a 2 team League) and for that got lucky as Celtic went through a bit of a turbulent time surrounding Lennon etc. See he is bringing his coaching staff down to Villa Park ( think that must include all the Scottish refs he had in his back pocket for a couple of years ) and I hope he doesn't want any players, as I can only think of possibly Ryan Kent who would survive in the Premier League and do a half decent job. One thing for certain, Stevie, is that with VAR you will get some penalties awarded against your team.. From the Villa perspective I hope he does well but he is certainly going to find the standard and more importantly the expectation more intense that anything he has faced in his managerial career so far.

We don't care where they go................just go True comment about there being too many clubs and the point is muted every year...................however the powers that be, stick with the status quo. I presume you meant the football was lower half Championship level and not the Stadium. All teams play Celtic and Rangers by sitting in as with the relative quality of players there is nothing else you can do. However, we tried it last night but were still 3 down in 30 minutes. We then had a go, played some good stuff and put them under pressure and Joe Hart had to make 2 great saves. Perhaps had Ross had a bit more belief we could have made a better fist of it from the start but thats Jack Ross for you and his great Plan A. They do struggle in Europe as there they face the same problem as the rest of the Clubs do against them in the SPL.....................lack of quality etc that comes from the gravy train of bucket loads of cash. In the SPL they are a big fish in a small pond but move to Europe and they are a minnow.

Its days like yesterday that make us wonder why we support a football club ( at least Villa scored 2!) ...........and then next week we are back again cheering them on. Players, managers may come and go but the Club and fans are always there. Worse for you Villa fans though as cruising the game for 80 minutes before losing to a local rival ( that's hard to take).........Smith has to take a long hard look at the substitutions. Big reaction needed now in the next game.

Brilliant result lads and lasses, enjoy your evening

Aye, they are certainly making their ground a fortress.......no pundits that might have a connection with the other arse cheek, no away fans allowed in for the foreseeable future this season and as expected their fans had the full bigot songbook out last night . Good job the authorities at Chelsea FC aren't up here as they are only trying to catch one bigot for having a go at John McGinn whereas up here they would be after at least half of the Ibrox crowd. Mind you I cannot remember how many times I have been called by their fans a Fenian b***ard and I am Welsh and christened as such The media and papers up here lap it all up and pander to it and we will always get the usual club statements that they are working hard to eradicate all of the sectarianism etc Orange Order marches tomorrow but they do have to be silent when passing Catholic churches Well done Lyon...............................and Real Betis.

Aye, both Macey and Gordon played well today although I feel Gordon is the better all round keeper. Macey is improving, the more game time he gets, something he didn't get at Arsenal ...........including his loans. in the seven years on Arsenals books he only played around 50 games in total. ( mostly in one season at Plymouth) His distribution with the ball at his feet still needs work and sometimes positioning on crosses is suspect. I'm sure the coaches are working on this and as I said there is nothing like being involved in games. We were concerned when Marciano went to Feyenoord but Macey is growing in confidence and doing well.

Correct Hornso. His brother Leslie played for Middlesex and Arsenal but was not as successful at cricket compared to Denis.