Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Sheff Utd

[tonyh29]

That penalty decision was so bad even Arteta is complaining about it to the press 

But we aren’t second for nothing and to come back and nick a point shows resilience, little tweak in the Jan window and top 3 or 4 is still on the cards and I’ll be delighted with that 

 

[Awol]

If I said what I thought about the officials I’d be in a cell for Christmas. Now we have to go and beat the real Utd. No worries though, still top by New Year. Then we need to do some work in the window.

And we’re still unbeaten at home. That matters. 

[KevinRichardsonsMoustache]

5 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Good point at the death - I'm glad the players have more belief than the fans do. Can understand people being frustrated, but some of the reactions are embarrassing.

Imagine telling yourselves 10 months ago that we'd have a home record of 15 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses, and our fans would be calling us bottlers and the "same old Villa" because we were behind.

Disappointing night and a poor performance but it's a **** brilliant season. Lick your wounds, give your heads a wobble, and lets batter the red mancs.

Couldn’t say it any better. Post of the night 

[Wurzel]

1. Manager got the team right, and the subs right. The players were on the field that should have won that. Hard lesson for the players, they didn't work hard enough.

2. The referee was a total joke. 

3. VAR, what is the bloody point? it gets obvious decisions wrong, refs do that and we don't have to wait 5 minutes for the decision.

4. Luiz was my man of the match, worked hard, and yet again a quality pass for the goal.

5. Well done to Zaniolo, hopefully he can have an influential second half of the season.

[holteend1982]

Poor result but great to rescue a point at the end however I feel like it's another game that has been decided by dogshit refereeing again, var has to go its a complete and utter mess

[MWARLEY2]

Quite happy. That was a loss but we got a point out of it despite the ref. That point will matter come the end of the season. A horrible horrible game that gives us an insight into how life might be like for us nearer the top. Low block for days. 

 

[AVTuco]

I shouldn't get this angry about these games. This is clearly what we are - we can get results against good teams, but we're not really top level quality, which shows against worse opposition. Unai, as great as he is, cannot change that fact.

[Adman]

Obviously frustrating but did well to get the goal as a concelation.  On to the next one

[MakemineVanilla]

If Sheffield United get that referee every week, they might stay up.

 

[The_Steve]

JJ being fouled more than their goalkeeper too 

 

 

[Sulberto21]

1 minute ago, The_Steve said:

One of the most obvious handballs not given

 

 

 

The Watkins one was clearer in the first half. 

[Jareth]

We were due some bad luck - at least 2 decisions against - but it was up to us to break them down and we didn't, take the point, move on.

[StefanAVFC]

Absolutely shafted both on field and in the VAR room. 2 pens not given, incredibly soft disallowed goal considering what wasn’t given for us on field. 
 

but we just aren’t good enough at breaking down defensive teams. 

[Davkaus]

4 minutes ago, rjw63 said:

yeah but we were playing the dead-last team, not anyone decent. It's going to piss people off.

Yup. It sucks. We should have won. But we've won plenty of games on paper maybe we shouldn't have. Totally get people venting, but we should keep some perspective of how far we've come so quickly. It was a shit night but I'm **** proud of this team.

[KentVillan]

There will be an enormous amount of bed shitting now on here, but I think we’ve always struggled more in these sorts of games than we do against teams that try to play a bit of football in our half.

We are missing some creative talent in the final third to break down a parked bus. Our attacking players are all a bit samey - quick, athletic, direct. Think we need a more technical option in there.

VAR was a bit frustrating, I thought the Ramsey thing was six of one, half a dozen of the other, and they should have just gone with the ref’s decision.

Mostly though, our plan didn’t work. We clearly had a lot of planned moves involving a central hall over the top, but Foderingham anticipated all of them. I don’t know if that was bad execution or a flawed plan, or Shef Utd working it out beforehand. Whatever, it didn’t work.

Frustrating evening.

[wishywashy]

Our defence for their goal was dire. Archer was up against SIX Villa players in the box yet somehow left completely unmarked. Amateurish

Edited December 22, 2023 by wishywashy

[Hiney]

Feels like 2 points dropped but got to be happy to salvage a point at the end. 

1st half was total domination but we created very little. 2nd half was a disgrace and Sheffield Utd looked the more likely to score for much of it.

We struggle against teams that play a low block and today was another example of it. Teams will increasingly play this way against us so we really need to work out a way of playing against it. 

Cash is no where near the level we need. We should prioritise a right back in January. 

Lenglet didn't do anything particularly wrong, but he is a huge drop in quality from Pau, especially in possession.

Diaby a shadow of the player we had at the start of the season. 

Bailey poor again today and thought McGinn and Luiz were off it.

A couple of dodgy VAR decisions, penalty in the first half and the handball. I think they got it right for the goal but on another day, we get at least 1 or 2 penalties. 

Onwards and upwards to the next game with hopefully an improved performance.

[DeepDish]

How can that be a free kick for the keeper when the United defender pushes and drags Ramsey into the keeper? Should have been a penalty.

[bannedfromHandV]

Well, sequences come to an end.

Typical that it was against probably the easiest on-paper opposition we’ve faced during the run, perhaps on a par with Luton.

We dominated the game up until the 70th minute or so when we seemed to get nervous and slack, Sheff United grew into the game and my pre-match nightmare of Archer scoring the winning goal in the 86th minute almost came all too true.

Thankfully Zaniolo had other ideas and somewhat spared our blushes.

We didn’t shoot enough, overplayed it at times and lacked the kind of incisive passing we now have with Torres and Tielemans in the side. All that being said we should have had at least one penalty, the Watkins one early on baffles me, he was clearly shoved in the back with the ball coming toward him, that we then get a goal disallowed for a little bit of arm holding on their keeper is a joke.

Frustrating, I think like others I went into tonight feeling nervous, wondering if we’d choke in the big moment. I don’t think we choked as such but it’s a sobering reminder that we’re not a top team, despite currently competing at the top. But that Zaniolo goal makes it just about bearable at least and softens the blow heading into Christmas, fingers crossed we bounce back at Old Trafford and if so, tonight’s result will be quickly forgotten.

Edited December 22, 2023 by bannedfromHandV

[Stevo985]

Shite. Horiffic reffing. But we shouldn’t need the ref to win. 
 

Keeping Cash and Ramsey on for the duration is baffling