Dave Woodhall reports on another seven days at Villa Park.
I always like to start on a happy note, so well done to Villa on their consistency at Old Trafford. Let in two goals in the first half and two in the second; that’s the spirit.
Carrying on with the happy note I could argue that United first goal was never a penalty, the second an uncharacteristic defensive lapse and the third came from a deflection. Without them we wouldn’t have let in the fourth, so that’s a moral victory, or at least a moral goalless draw.
In the real word we once again approached a game against a big club with trepidation bordering on terror. I’ve said it before, but Alex McLeish based his reputation in England, such as it is, on being able to put out a team that would fight against higher-quality opposition yet on almost every occasion when we’ve played a top six side the white flag has been planted proudly before kick-off. I really wish he’d explain why, rather than coming out with some nonsense about how they’re better than us and we did well to keep the score to single figures. They might be better, but I don’t want to hear it.
There’s not much else to be said. Champions League clubs now see a game at home to Villa in the same way as we play someone like Blackburn – a routine win which might be by a few goals if we turn it on, but hardly ever will we be troubled.
At least the results on Saturday went our way, so safety is another game closer. We shouldn’t be in this position, though; no matter what else is happening there is enough quality in the Villa side not to have to worry about how QPR are getting on. Anyone with an iota of sense knows it and the end of the season should see a very lengthy and in-depth post-mortem with the finger of blame pointed in more than one direction.
Looking forward, and Saturday sees the arrival at Villa Park of Martinoneillssunderland, complete with accompanying media circus. The circumstances surrounding his departure in 2010 have been done to death, but O’Neill has retained his popularity amongst a section of the Villa support and if the afternoon doesn’t get off to a good start the atmosphere inside the ground is likely to get a bit lively. Three points would be more than usually welcome, but this one seems to have ‘draw’ stamped through it. Wouldn’t it be ironic, though, if Villa got a last-minute winner from a corner? We can but hope.
To finish on a positive note, congratulations to the reserve team, who made sure of the Premier League South title once again with a 2-0 win over Sunderland. It’s an omen.