Aston Villa faced Manchester United for the second time in six days, this time hosting them in the Premier League, following a controversy filled FA Cup meeting at Old Trafford.
Villa fans were bristling with optimism going into this one, having played extremely well against the Red Devils in the cup. The boys in claret and blue were harshly denied an equaliser by VAR and suffered yet another third round exit from the prestigious competition.
Revenge was on the agenda, and the game turned out to be another fiery clash, with an ultra-exciting conclusion.
Let’s look at the five things we learnt from Aston Villa vs Manchester United…
Crybaby Bruno
The first point I want to make is actually about Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, so I’ll get that one swiftly out of the way before moving on to much more important matters.
So, is Mr Fernandes the single most dislikeable player in world football at the moment? He surely has to be up there in the top rankings.
From a Villa perspective, he has an uncanny knack of always being somehow involved in bizarre or controversial incidents which determine the results. From his stamp on Ezri Konsa in the 19/20 season, for which HE was awarded a penalty, to his most recent brace on Saturday, which looked to have finished us off before our electric comeback.
And then there’s the petulance. When he isn’t throwing himself to the ground in apparent agony, or throwing tantrums when our players try to assist him, he’s complaining to the officials about substitutions that haven’t even been made. Yes, that’s right. That actually happened.
I’m sure everyone is aware of this by now, but it’s worth touching on nonetheless. This man had the sheer nerve to speak to the refereeing team after the game and ask why Villa had been allowed to make a fourth substitution when Emiliano Buendia suffered an injury. We had made no such change.
He then went on TV and doubled down on his accusations!
I am all for shithousery in football. A little bit of the dark arts is perfectly acceptable. But there are levels, and this man goes far beyond them.
He epitomises everything that is wrong with modern football, with his diving and his whining, and for all his on-field ability, I would be embarrassed to have someone like him in our ranks.
It has been all too sweet to silence him this season, with our beloved Emiliano Martinez playing a huge part in his last minute penalty miss earlier in the season, and our two-goal fightback cancelling out his goals at the weekend. Splendid stuff.
I have spent way too much time focusing on his antics, though, so let’s move on to the other key factors.
Only Human After All
It turns out Emi Martinez isn’t actually superhuman with infallible powers. I’m just as surprised as anyone at learning this, but we will all have to come to terms with it together.
His error in conceding the first goal has to be a first of its kind. Of course he has conceded plenty in his career, and no goalkeeper is perfect, but I can’t ever recall him making a bona-fide “howler” like this. It was just so uncharacteristic.
We are used to Big Emi plucking balls out of the sky with very little effort. He’s a glue-on-the-gloves kind of keeper. He doesn’t just save shots; he often catches them!
So when the aforementioned Bruno Fernandes’ shot was sizzling towards him after a cleverly worked free kick by United, none of us were expecting what happened.
The ball simply flew through him. His safe hands took a quick break from their usual secure work, and we found ourselves a goal down inside five minutes. It really wasn’t the start we anticipated or needed.
Thankfully the team pulled together in the second half and got Emi out of jail, something for which he was visibly pleased by at the final whistle, as he celebrated with the passionate Villa faithful in the stands.
This is by no means a case of me digging him out for the error, by the way, as he has enough credit in the bank from his previous heroics at the club. Players are only human and they are always prone to errors here and there. What counts is how those players bounce back, and we saw a number of fine stops from Martinez in the remainder of the game, and we know full well we can expect further game-saving blocks from him, in what is hopefully a long future in claret and blue.
It is worth mentioning how Steven Gerrard managed the situation, too. Emi was apologetic towards the gaffer at the final whistle, and was met with physical consolation on the pitch, and verbal defence in the manager’s post-match interview.
Gerrard then went one better on social media the following day, posting a picture of his son on Instagram, wearing the Villa goalkeeping attire, and tagging Martinez in the upload.
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A small gesture that will hopefully fill the Argentinian with belief and confidence going forward. It was a really nice touch.
A Gruesome Twosome?
In my previous ‘Five Things We Learnt’ feature, following the Brentford game, I talked about how we did need Danny Ings at the club, and that strength in depth was crucial for us.
I still firmly believe this to be the case, but I’m just not sure he works as part of a twosome alongside Ollie Watkins up top.
I would love more than anyone for it to click, as I think he and Watkins are both absolutely deadly on their day, so having them both firing in the same side would be an absolute dream. But both Dean Smith and Steven Gerrard have tried to accommodate the duo in the starting XI and it simply hasn’t paid off.
I think both players have a place at the club, and there would be absolutely nothing wrong with demoting one of them to the bench, but the big question there is which one?
Watkins was absolutely devastating for us at times last season, in his first ever top flight campaign, and he has done very little wrong to warrant being dropped.
Ings is one of the most lethal strikers in the league, and his big money move in the summer would surely have come with some assurance that he would be playing regularly for Villa.
But if the pairing simply isn’t working, then a change does have to be made, and a strong call from the boss is required.
Big clubs do have high value players sat on their benches, and if we want to establish ourselves amongst the elite once again, I think we have to operate in the same way.
For me personally, I would lean towards starting Watkins, as he seems to offer more in terms of energy and work rate, and that is required under Gerrard’s regime. Should he struggle to find the net, which of course does happen from time to time, Ings is then the perfect player to unleash when you’re pushing for a goal. It can’t be said enough, strength in depth is essential. We need quality in the first XI and on the bench, and we have that in Watk-Ings (yes I went there). But it really does have to be one or the other at this point.
Slow Starters
It is becoming very apparent that we need to start games better. In the two recent encounters with Manchester United, our opening periods of play have been almost identical, and we have conceded soft goals inside the first ten minutes of both games.
This puts us on the back foot immediately, and we are then chasing the game before we’ve even managed to stamp any kind of authority on the match.
Last season, we seemed to fly out of the blocks and often scored early, and we then did very well in either defending our leads or going on to add more to them.
We need to try and unlock that ability again, going into the second half of this campaign, because I feel we have the attacking quality in our side to absolutely tear teams apart once we click into gear, and our defence is more than capable of holding out when required.
We saw our capacity to do so against Everton earlier in the season, although once again that was a blistering second half display, rather than something we offered from the start.
A little more organisation and concentration is needed, and we need to cut out the silly minor mistakes that can lead to major setbacks.
It is still early days under Gerrard, and it is definitely something that will come with time. He will demand a much more regimented approach. He has already touched upon it in his interviews, so I am totally confident he will work on this issue with the players and we will begin to control games better in future.
Proud History, Bright Future
I am loath to use slogans of past regimes, but I feel those words are more apt for this club now than they have ever been.
For me, this Saturday showed in more ways than one that we are in the absolute best hands we could ever hope to be in. From top to bottom, on and off the pitch, we are in an incredible position, and the potential is limitless.
The club has gone all out in producing a wonderful ‘tribute wall’ at Villa Park, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of our historic and famous European Cup win.
We are often criticised and mocked for our pride in winning that illustrious trophy, but it is a hugely important achievement that not many clubs have in their record books. And it provides the perfect incentive for this current project as we strive to compete in that competition once again.
Our CEO Christian Purslow spoke to Sky Sports before the game and his words will have filled Villa fans with pure optimism.
He spoke of Gerrard’s desire to bring proven winners to the club, and hinted at further transfer activity this window. Constant improvement is sought, positive tweaks are always being made, and sustained progress has been deemed as absolutely essential.
This club is driven by winners with a proven track record of success. We have continued to bring in quality players across the field, and finally have a “big name” signing, perhaps the biggest in any of our lifetimes, at our disposal.
Philippe Coutinho showed his class and ability inside just 14 minutes on Saturday, despite not even being fully match fit.
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If we can get him firing, he will become an absolute game changer for us, and if that happens, we simply must pursue a permanent move for him in the summer.
As a team, we showed huge character to come back from two goals down against Utd, which made a change from our usual collapses against them, and that has to drive us forward now.
Our academy is also in wonderful shape, and we are producing some of the best talents we have ever seen at the club. Jacob Ramsey and Carney Chukwuemeka were both instrumental in Villa earning a point at the weekend, with neither of them looking out of place in a top flight fixture against a top side.
Every aspect of this wonderful club is in a healthy condition right now. From wealthy owners who care, to talented players who truly understand what donning the claret and blue means, we are in an excellent place, and as fans we have every right to be excited by our future.
Patience is key, though, and we cannot expect everything yesterday. This is a long term project and there is still a way to go.
Keep the faith, and Up the Villa!
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