Five Ken McNaughts

Think we might have to agree to disagree on this one. Have watched it back several times and to me Watkins has the clear positional advantage – standing where the ball is dropping while the keeper is scrambling across. If Watkins just goes for the ball then, to my mind, he gets their first and scores even if the keeper clatters him. I don’t see any need for Watson to “jump into the keeper” to score that – just jump at the ball (and if the keeper initiates contact with Watkins then the only foul would be on the striker). But, like I say, people see things differently.

You can bundle a ball in as clumsy as you like – any kind of connection with his head / shoulder / chest / thigh would have put that ball in the net. You just can’t bundle the keeper in if he gets there first. But Watkins was certainly in pole position and completely checked his run while Ryan made up all that ground across his line (I can just imagine what the reaction would have been if that had been Davies or El Ghazi failing to attack the ball).

Given that Watkins is pretty fearless, I can only imagine he thought a) It was going in anyway, and b) He might have been offside, so best not to touch it over the line. Wrong on both counts, sadly. What a shame. It was just begging to be bundled in with any type of contact.

1. VAR is acting outside its remit again. A “debatable decision” (barely) is a million miles from a “clear and obvious error”. There were literally no grounds for VAR to get involved. 2. From what I could see, Michael Oliver was offered one angle – the one from behind the goal that minimised the kick on the shin – and then shown the fleeting contact with the ball rocked back and forth repeatedly. Talk about leading the witness! 3. Why did Oliver buckle immediately – pathetically – not even asking to see all the angles?? What an absolute farce all round.

I was thinking the same. He’ll have been champing at the bit watching the international games. Plus, he should be over those minor injuries he said was playing through. Would love to see Barkley grab this game by the scruff of the neck and really bring that chip-on-your-shoulder intensity he has in him on good days.

Goal: El Ghazi (11’) Assist: Keinan “Laudrup” Davis

Love the way Cash covers ground with such ease. Great acceleration and top speed. Looks a real athlete. On another note, how good was it to see the stadium banners changed to actual Claret & Blue after all that “mauve” crap last season? (It’s the little things in life that make me happy).

Pretty sure I was even more nervous than Keinan when he was one-on-one. I know it’s Burton. I know it’s the Carabao Cup. But that must feel like one helluva weight off his shoulders.

My memory was sadly of no assistance on this. But the closest I could find to that scenario (by cheating with Google) was Steve Hunt scoring a last minute equaliser for Albion in a 1-1 draw at Villa Park in Dec 1985, then re-signing for Villa shortly afterwards. No idea if it went through the keeper’s legs or not as it doesn’t seem to be on You Tube. Perhaps your memory is a few weeks out of sync and already putting him in a Villa shirt (he was one of my early favourites – great touch and composure on the ball).

And there was me thinking they got one each!

On the subject of mid-80s Villa, do you recall the product placement that used to follow a goal at Villa Park? “Goalscorer for Aston Villa, Steve Hunt... Steve Hunt drives Austin Montego.” Not sure why that stuck with me.

Jack brought this on himself. Repeatedly dribbling past Aaron Mooy like that when Southgate was watching v Brighton? Forcing the poor lad to kick him until he got sent off? Jack should have known that his subsequent Goal, Assist and MOTM performance “against 10 men” would be as good as mocked by Southgate. I mean, this is a manager who only caps midfielders who are truly world class... Jack Cork of Burnley (2017 v Germany)... Nathaniel Chalobah of Watford (2018 v Spain)... Jack can only dream of being spoken of in the same breath as these guys.

And to think Jack managed those numbers in a team that finished 17th with serious striker issues.

Seems a long time ago now, but Jota played an absolutely key role in that 2-0 home win vs Everton. Were those three points worth the transfer fee? I’d say so.

So true. Makes me sad to think how many Villa chants have succumbed to the invasive knotweed of Allez Allez (I think 2-3 times a game is your optimum frequency for an “anthem” type chant. Certainly less than 25).

Will this be replacing “Prepared” and can we have it in Latin?

Transfermarkt also state that Wesley was valued at £18m after his final season with FC Brugge. Luckily we beat them down to £22.5m. Ruthless.

Well, true, though I am already taking that as a given after these phoney “drinks breaks”. Who will be the first Sky pundit to refer to the “third period” etc.? No doubt it will be wrapped up in analytics and made to look very progressive (“Look at the amount of goals they concede in quarter one compared to quarter four...”). And then it will be just a small step to four official quarters. Yep, the marketing men always find a way.

VAR... five subs... drinks breaks... Three of the four horsemen of the (football) apocalypse as far as I’m concerned. I’m not sure what the fourth will be – a European Super League perhaps – but when it arrives I can see myself sticking to Villa history books and non-league games, while leaving the bloated “product” to its target audiences.

Yep. I imagine Exhibit A for the defence will be the previous Villa v Sheff Utd game: 0-3 after 82 mins. Final score 3-3. (It would tend to suggest that going 1-0 down in the 42nd minute is not a cast-iron guarantee of obtaining zero points).

Shouldn’t really need saying, but since social media seems rather obsessed with Nyland and the ghost goal right now... Had the goal been given, then everything from that moment onwards would have been completely different. Villa may have gone on to win, lose or draw that match. Ditto every subsequent match. We may have gone on to stay up handsomely, go down miserably, or indeed scrape through on the final day. No-one will ever know. The multiverse has infinite points of divergence. It is not limited to a single fork in the road, 42 minutes into Villa v Sheff Utd with 10 matches to go (no more than the blatant pen upon El Ghazi that preceded it).

Won the free-kick for the goal and probably took the attention away from Konsa with his attempted diving header at the near post. As has been said, Davis might not score, but he makes things happen that give us a chance of scoring. Has to start v Arsenal.

There must be something in these Sky and MOTD pundits’ contracts that stipulates no-one can mention the simple, damning, fact that VAR technology has a 10-15cm margin of error. Round and round they go with every decision, never mentioning the key bit of pseudo-science at the heart of the phoney new VAR religion..

Was glad to see him stay on his feet and drive forward rather than go down a couple of times. On the other hand, at times he took the contact, didn’t go down for a legitimate free-kick and lost the ball. Definitely overthinking things since the allegation of diving against Palace (also doesn’t appear to shoot with any belief any more). Strange one.

His heading has somehow gone from being a strength to a weakness. The Everton defence seemed to love facing him (they didn’t like facing Davis one bit – hence the number of free-kicks he won).