Dave Woodhall sees Villa end the year with a draw at home to Brighton.
I’ll be glad when 2024 ends. It might sound strange to look back at a year that saw so much (relative) success as a (relative) disappointment, but it was ultimately frustrating because it could have been even better. Yet again we got to the semi-final of a competition that was ours for the winning only to throw it away with a few minutes of defensive insanity. We lost our home invincibility and stumbled across the line of Champions League qualification, although that does sound a bit like first world problems with a vengance.
During the summer PSbloodyR foiled our attempts to improve on fourth and I still say it was brought in specifically to stop us winning the league. Then we had a few injuries to players who were just starting to get into form. We win a couple of games, start to think we’ve got it sorted, then go on another bad run. We watch other teams mess up, then so do we. And on it continues. I should be use to it by now; if ever there was a club guaranteed to turn triumph into disaster it’s the Villa.
And the year ended in exactly the same way. We had to play on Monday night because Brighton had been on TV earlier, which is always annoying, and the prices had been put up for some reason, although that didn’t prevent yet another almost full house, which probably meant Chris Heck was hacked off that he hadn’t put them up even higher. There were a few changes to the line-up, one in particular being enforced, and the biggest talking point seemed to be the continued absence of Tyrone Mings. Maybe Unai Emery doesn’t want to risk him too often, maybe he really is surplus to requirements, but either way Villa play better with him in the team than on the bench.
As was proved after twelve minutes when Brighton, whose away form is as bad as ours, took the lead. Then to make matters worse, not long after that Pau Torres had to go off with what looked like a serious foot injury. But Villa persevered and after having one penalty claim ruled out Ollie Watkins soon afterwards celebrated his 29th birthday with a successful spot kick.
One-one at half-time and it got better a couple of minutes after the restart when Watkins chipped a lovely ball through to Morgan Rogers to put Villa into the lead. And then it got decidedly Villay. More chances were missed and while Emery is undoubtedly a managerial genius, Brighton made their substitutions to change the game while our boss waited until after the inevitable equaliser. Even then Watkins had a late chance but managed to hit over the bar from close range.
In fact Watkins, and in particular his performance tonight, probably sums up Villa’s year. It’s hard to fault a player who scores one and makes another, but as so often, he had the chance to win the game with something to spare and his final touch was again erratic. If he was a bit deadlier, and if the defence was a bit more secure, Villa could be going into 2025 with genuine hopes of winning the title. Instead, we’re hoping for an improvement to get back into the chasing pack.
Good article Dave, I never thought I would criticise Ollie Watkins but if I’m honest, after he scored his penalty, I thought he won’t score again in this match. He never appears to get double goal returns with any regularity. I don’t believe he thinks he can do it, which is a shame as the chances keep