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So as predicted in the Sheff Wed preview as soon as one draw arrived along came a second one straight away, while the Hull draw was bad enough the one Wednesday night was about as galling as it gets, I must confess I left Portman Road absolutely bloody furious after we had let Two points slip through our grasp right at the death in a game that in my opinion, and in many others too we dominated pretty much throughout. I don't like scapegoats when things go wrong and we all have our own ideas as to why we failed to see it through but for me it was glaringly obvious and I will leave it by saying had we not made the Two substitutions which saw the arrival of Sears & Ward we would without question have won that game. Sometimes it is easy to see tings through Blue tinted specs but we hardly got much luck did we, a sure fire Red card in the opening minutes went unpunished and seeing how bad Sheffield Wednesday were with Eleven men I think we would have taken care of them comfortably had their best defender been sent off, add to that a crazy penalty conceded by Jordan Spence let them back into a game which they never threatened in, ok he made a hash of it but that wind was very strong and I am sure that had something to do with him mistiming his header, let's not forget Jordan once again showed his worth to the team with yet another assist for the opening goal. I also felt we got little luck with the amount of injury time played before they equalised, where the hell did it all come from ? Forgetting all the negative stuff I am of the opinion that with Huws and Adeyemi returning we really are not far off being a decent team, what last night also showed me is that two deep sitting Midfielders can work, Skuse & Connolly had good games and kept a very good player in Barry Bannen quiet for much of the game. Ultimately we are still very much in the mix and handily placed but the Four points we have let go in the last Two games would have made a massive difference, we have now lost only once in the last Five games so if we can continue to pick up something in the next Three or Four games things will be looking good as we approach the half way point of the season.
Something that is discussed quite often is Freddie Sears and how MM has "ruined" him, sorry but for me that is a load of old tosh, ok in the beginning when played out wide you could have a bit of sympathy for Freddie but this excuse just goes on and on and on now and for me its rubbish. Mick stuck with Freddie throughout a horrendous number of goalless games as he had belief in him and what he brings to the team, that should give you confidence not the reverse, I have seen many games over the last year or so where Sears has been in goal scoring positons akin to where a striker would be and he fluffs it time and time again, his decision making is almost always poor and he makes the wrong choices, I just think he is actually struggling at this level and the arrival of Waghorn & Garner has showed it up even more. If the opinion that MM "ruined" Freddie is a correct then the same has to be said of Johnny Douglas (signed as an attacking Midfielder and played as a Defensive one), Luke Chambers (an out and out CB who was played for almost Two seasons as a RB), Waghorn & Didsy (both at times playing almost as wingers) and in the last Two or Three games Callum Connolly (a Defender being played in Midfield), a couple of those (Douglas & Chambo) took loads of stick from the fans but they just got on with it, why were they not afforded the same sympathy as Sears ? No for me he is past his best and needs to be moved on in the Summer.
Next up we head to Villa Park, the scene of one of our best away days last season, Villa are flying of late and are now up to Fourth place in the Championship table, they have some really good players in Hourihane, Onomah, Adomah, Grealish, Terry etc etc, of course John Terry is missing due to injury which helps but they still look a very tough nut to crack and this will be a real test for Town, in some ways this is the type of game that may just suit us as Villa will be expected to take the game to us and force the running, this could just play into our hands with the likes of Garner, Waghorn and Celina a real handful on the break, sadly Didsy will not be available due to the crude challenge which sees him requiring surgery on his Groin so someone else will possibly be given their chance to shine. Anything from this game would be a good return but as we showed last season with an inferior team to what we have now it can be done. With the table still very tight every point is vital and a Third successive draw would represent a very decent days work, I would not bet against it as we are scoring goals for fun, it's just at the other end which yet again continues to be our Achilles Heel, surely we are due a game where nobody makes that One costly error aren't we?
The Opposition – Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club were formed in March 1874, by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Handsworth which is now part of Birmingham.
Aston Villa's first match was against the local Aston Brook St Mary's Rugby team. As a condition of the match, the Villa side had to agree to play the first half under rugby rules and the second half under football rules.
After moving to the Wellington Road ground in 1876, Villa soon established themselves as one of the best teams in the Midlands, winning their first honour, the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1880.
The club won their first FA Cup in 1887.
Aston Villa were one of the dozen teams that competed in the inaugural Football League in 1888 with one of the club's directors, William McGregor being the league's founder. Aston Villa emerged as the most successful English club of the Victorian era, winning no fewer than five League titles and three FA Cups by the end of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1897, the year Villa won The Double, they moved into their present home, the Aston Lower Grounds.
Aston Villa won their sixth FA Cup in 1920, soon after though the club began a slow decline that led to Villa, at the time one of the most famous and successful clubs in world football, being relegated in 1936 for the first time to the Second Division.
Like all English clubs, Villa lost seven seasons to the Second World War, and that conflict brought several careers to a premature end.
Aston Villa's first trophy for 37 years came in the 1956–57 season when they won a then record seventh FA Cup Final win.
The team struggled in the league though and were relegated two seasons later, due in large part to complacency. However, Villa returned to the top-flight in 1960 as Second Division Champions. The following season Aston Villa became the first team to win the Football League Cup.
Villa was relegated for the third time in 1967.
The following season the fans called for the board to resign as Villa finished 16th in the Second Division. With mounting debts and Villa lying at the bottom of Division Two, and after much speculation, control of the club was bought by London financier Pat Matthews. However, new ownership could not prevent Villa being relegated to the Third Division for the first time at the end of the 1969–70 season.
However, Villa gradually began to recover and in the 1971–72 season they returned to the Second Division as Champions.
In 1974, the club won the League Cup and, at the end of season 1974–75, Villa returned to the First Division and into Europe.
Villa were back among the elite and this culminated in a seventh top-flight league title in 1980–81.
In the 1981–82 season, Villa won the European Cup with a 1–0 victory over Bayern Munich in Rotterdam. The following season Villa were crowned European Super Cup winners, beating Barcelona in the final. This marked a pinnacle though and Villa's fortunes declined sharply for most of the 1980s, culminating in relegation in 1987. This was followed by promotion the following year and a runners-up position in the First Division in the 1989–90 season.
Villa were one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992, and finished runners-up to Manchester United in the inaugural season. For the rest of the Nineties however Villa went through three different managers and their league positions were inconsistent, although they did win two League Cups and regularly achieved UEFA Cup qualification.
Villa reached the FA Cup final in 2000 but lost to Chelsea in the last game to be played at the old Wembley Stadium. Again Villa's league position continued to fluctuate under several different managers. After 23 years as chairman, and single biggest shareholder, Doug Ellis finally decided to sell his stake in Aston Villa due to ill-health. After much speculation it was announced the club was to be bought by American businessman Randy Lerner, owner of NFL franchise the Cleveland Browns.
The first Cup final of the Lerner era came in 2010 when Villa were beaten in the League Cup Final.
At the end of the 2011–12 season after Villa finished in 16th place, only just above the relegation zone.
On 28 February 2012, the club announced a financial loss of £53.9 million. Lerner put the club up for sale on 12 May 2014, with an estimated value of £200 million.
In the 2014–15 season Aston Villa scored just 12 goals in 25 league games, the lowest in Premier League history, and Paul Lambert was sacked on 11 February 2015, Tim Sherwood succeeded him, and saved Aston Villa from relegation while also leading them to the 2015 FA Cup Final.
Sherwood was sacked in the 2015–16 season, as was his successor Rémi Garde.
Eric Black took temporary charge of the team, but was not able to prevent Villa from being relegated for the first time since 1987.
On 2 June 2016, Roberto Di Matteo was announced as the club's new manager, before being replaced by Steve Bruce on the 12th October.
Last season Villa finished in 13th place with 62 points.
I think you could be very correct about Freddie. I'd place money on him doing a Keiffer Moore and being a top scorer in League One, but by a clearer margin. Still not 100% convinced it's ALL him who's the problem ----> Mick and woeful supply at times. Throw in issues with confidence and it's not great. League One could ignite his career. I always thought he'd have been Ipswich Towns Ally McCoist...... 30 poached goals a season with the occasional raker into the postage stamp from 35yds.
Yes, draw will definitely be the order of the day and a decent result. Another 2-2 maybe? Might put a wee fiver on that!
Ref Caption:
Ref: Steve, I want to talk to you.
Steve Bruce: ......
Ref: That, is the worst nose job I have EVER seen.
SB: ......,
Ref: Steve? Talking to you. I'm speaking here.
All the villa fans at the table waiting for Steves reply: .....,
SB: ......
Ref: That nose, Steve?
SB: .....
Fans: ......
Ref: Steve?
SB: .....
Fans: ......
Tension building......
Ref: STEVE?? Your nose, mate?
SB: ........
Fans: ......
I think the injury time was about right to be honest as there was 5 subs and 4 goals so probably 5 mins might be about right. But im still gutted we didn't win.
Would take a draw at Villa to be fair, but a win is in the realms of possibilities
Gave it to the home team, would be surprised to take anything from this. It's whoever wants it more on the day, believe they'll possess a greater interest. Took in a game there earlier this year, considered a refund on exit it was such a disappointment - can only hope the traveling support see something improved this time around.
So good to have Huws available again and it looks like he may start today, not sure who these other "fresh faces" may be that MM speaks of, knudsen obviously but im not filled with excitement at the thought of Iorfa, Sears, Ward and Bru tbh but we will see.
It was the Witton Arms pre game last season before the game, crap pub tbh but great atmosphere as packed with very noisy Town fans. Hopefully the same today.
Not the most inspiring lineup, especially in midfield. Shame huws isn't starting but perhaps not quite ready. Think based on that lineup we will do very well to get a point, lets see what happens
Was there a match today or something, where's the participation.
Took in game analysis from a rival page and reads they deserved the victory. Had a goal ruled out and created sporadic opportunity but can't dispute eventual outcome. 30,000 represents a good crowd but all told we're unlikely to challenge the promotion places by end of season.
Do they still play the 'Don't Look Back in Anger' over the speaker system at end of game. Possibly apt for today but there'll be further opportunity in the weeks and months ahead to achieve.
There isn't much to report from the match in all honesty. The less said about the 2nd half the better. Therefore this post is also going to contain my moaning. I was bashed by some 'superfans' last week in my Hull report. So I'd advice those people to put me on ignore or just not to read it.
First half I can accept our team's performance. Effort wise it wasn't too bad. They tried. However there was no central midfield whatsoever during the entire game and many our attempts would begin with the hoofs from our central backs.
Sears who himself played in that 3 men line behind Garner tried a lot. Cooperated well with Knudsen at times but in fact was playing as a left winger. Even Stevie Wonder would have found out long ago that Sears wasn't a winger. But that one who is our manager and who himself thinks he knows best still carries on playing him in his unnatural position.
He played better though in compare to last Wednesday whereas Ward once again was completely useless.
The disallowed Garner's goal. I can't comment if it was a correct decision as it was too far from our end.
Villa fans hadn't been happy with their team's recent home performances. The defeat to Sheffield Wed followed by below par one against Sunderland last Tuesday. And it came as no surprise for me because they were poor. There was barely a threat and it was us on the front foot for the most of the time. As I've said that effort wise it was fine. I couldn't question that however we badly lacked that element of quality every time we got into their box. Their defence was shaky and that was the chance for us. Many corners however no good outcome out of that. Johnstone in the Villa's goal despite all our efforts remained untroubled.
The goal which Villa scored came against run of play and was a bit harsh on us but this is what you pay for calamitous defending. Everyone is on Iorfa's back but before the ball reached Adomah in our box no-one was bothered to challenge Whelan who set this all up.
Half time reflections? We needed more courage in the second half and the introduction of Celina and Huws. They both came on in the 2nd half but turned out to be a big disappointment. So was the entire Ipswich team.
Second half was terrible. Was extremely painful to watch. There is practically nothing to report. I mean any positive aspects. Skuse's shot was blocked by their defender and Waghorn's good delivery from the corner was followed by Garner's header that went over. Two little pointless things and nothing else.
Iorfa's fatal positioning led to their 2nd goal and the game was beyond reach. The heads dropped but that ain't excuse. Why on earth the team didn't show a bit of effort to get back to this? As had been the case in the 1st half we had no central midfield. We chase the game so we needed a few extra yards forward from everyone particularly non-existing midfield. But no ! Skuse very comfortable in his customary 'safety mode' and offering no support whatsoever for the strikers and Connolly not doing better.
And we kept hoofing. Strong, athletic Villa defenders and we hoof and hoof. Well done McCarthy ! What a genius ! Simple passes that could create an opportunity were beyond our scope. There was literally nothing to worry for their defence and Johnstone. The latter will have been bored sh1tless.
The 2nd half remainded us who we were. Just a drifting average Championship club. I can accept the defeat but I want the team to show some commitment and desire. There was none of that. Never ever have I left any football ground before the final whistle. I didn't do this today either but if I had done so I wouldn't have missed anything. We looked like a non-league outfit for the majority of 2nd half. So painful to watch.
Some people, the 'positive brigade' keeps screaming about the goals we have been scoring this season but what about our defending? Mistakes time and time again and it doesn't look we're going to eradicate that. According to some Skuse who is 'vital' part of our team and second defensive midfielder give us a protection. What protection I am asking? We keep shipping goals so what's the point in playing two defensive midfielders? Why not offering support for the strikers instead? I don't know what is going on during the team's training sessions. No extra work for defenders? But it has to be mentioned that once again lack of investment is a significant reason of that. The money weren't invested last summer to sign a proper central back.
Iorfa? Wolverhampton are sick of mediocrity and decided to go for promotion and we take of their average/poor players on loan. Ipswich Town the kings of mediocrity are happy to take up that option. But the other question is what does Iorfa offer us that Emmanuel didn't? Really stupid decision to send the latter out on loan.
I've heard comments that Villa spent a hell lot of money in compare to us. Yes and we aren't in the same league as Villa in terms of spending. But very often when I was voicing my frustration over MODERATE lack of investment from Evans in the last few years I was ridiculed by some.
Very poor performance last week against Hull followed by the positive one against Sheffield Wed and again brought down back to earth today. 2nd half was a sheer agony. We don't eradicate our defensive mistakes, we keep playing two defensive midfielders regardless of result.
Another game where we started well and seemed to have the measure of the opposition only for individuals to again make howlers which ultimately swung the game in the home teams favour. Seeing the starting line up in the pub had most of us fearing the worst anyway with Iorfa, Ward and Sears all in, I was pretty disappointed to see Huws, Spence & Celina on the bench and while not in the same league as the Cardiff game it kinda felt similar in as much as MM seemed to have little belief we could win this game.
Surprisingly Town started well and apart from one half chance for Villa it was the Blues who looked to do all the pressing, most of the play ahd been in the Villa half as we moved the ball around with confidence. It appeared our brisk start had been rewarded in the 15th minute as Garner challenged their keeper for the ball before ramming it home after the keeper spilled it, our celebrations were short lived however as the ref had blown for a foul by garner, it really was hard to see if it was a correct decision but even so it was so disappointing to again not get the decision go our way. The game was just drifting along with very few real chances at either end, Town had still looked very solid and pretty comfortable and it was testament to them that the home crowd were very quiet indeed. Territorily we had the upper hand and most of the play was away to our Left towards the Villa goal, we had seen nothing to suggest we couldn't get a result although when we did get in and around their box we lacked that key pass or any real quality to fully unlock their defence which it has to be said had looked pretty shaky. In true Town fashion we yet again contrived to gift them the lead and again it was yet another woeful piece of defending, we failed to clear a corner and then some shocking defending by Iorfa allowed Adomah to run into the box, Skuse tried to get in a last ditch tackle but missed it altogether and Adomah lifted it over Bart and into the net,yet again we were looking at a deficit when we had edged the game without creating much. We had a chance not long after their goal but the header from a Town player went over the bar. There was still the feeling among the Town fans that this was not lost and the opinion of many of us was that celina & Huws had to come on for Sears and Ward.
The second half was not very old when Town missed a great chance to level, at the time it looked like Garner had put a free header over the bar following good work from Waghorn but by all accounts the ball hit him and went over. The second half had not started anywhere near as good as the first and Villa looked to be the team trying to get forward, thankfully MM broke with tradition and brought on the subs with plenty of time still to be played, thankfully it was indeed sears & ward to make way with Celina & Huws coming on. Sadly for Twon no sooner had we changed it we fell further behind and once more it was an absolute joke of a mistake from the hapless Iorfa which gifted Adomah his second, quite what the on loan Wolves man weas trying to do god only knows but it was woeful beyond belief, game over really. Our luck did change for the better shortly after the goal as Iorfa had to go off with what looked like a hamstring problem, I never wish injury on anyone but if we are to lose any player for a while I have no issue with it being him tbh. The last twenty minutes really saw Town offer nothing and if anyone looked like scoring it was Villa, thcn changes had made little impact and we seemed devoid of ideas.
A game which started with promise and purpose got worse from our point of view the longer it went on, we lacked any real quality today, yes we tried hard and worked hard and for 30 minutes were solid but yet again individual errors have cost us, if it isnt one player it is another, today it was iorfa who has to take the majority of the blame but Chambers too could have done better for the first. We had no drive from the Midfield and the wide players alos found it tough the longer the game went on. I expected nothing and that is what we got but it is the third game running that could and maybe should have gleaned more, Villa are not great and pretty shaky at the back, it has to be said but we probably did miss Didsy today while the starting Eleven left a lot to be desired, the argument will rumble on forever as to whether we should play with two defensive Midfielders but Wednesday night and for the first half today it worked pretty well in all honesty.
Read the reports, thanks for those......., and since witnessed some high(low)lights. A few flappers in the back line. Some of them actually look as if they don't know what they're supposed to be doing. Well, on two blatant occasions anyway, (not the goals). Not seen enough to establish if it's the midfield creating the initial problems but for the love of God, Mick, Terry, Mevans, whoever, sort that sh*t in January. Any player who does that Tommy Smith half stride, half prancey, dance "wtf am I doing" sh*t -----> get rid of them.
God forbid injuries to the front line. Hopefully they remain fit for the difficult period ahead.
And maybe I've missed this in other discussions, but is there an answer as to why Bersant Celina isn't being introduced until the hour mark?
Bluemike wrote:Celina had been in from the start in recent games Marko, I think it was just a case of MM rotating the squad, something I bloody hate in all honesty.
It's a shame he doesn't rotate the squad properly, and give the likes of Chambers and Skuse a rest, but I suppose that will never happen.
Ipswich Town v Aston Villa
