I haven’t written a blog post for a week or so because I wasn’t sure what I could say that hasn’t already been said. I am not referring to other blogs or media outlets but just about what I have personally written in the past year.
It got to the point where Jason from the Avillafan Podcast even suggested we looked at finding out what the best pie was at Premier League stadiums.
In the space of a week we have seen two more defeats (against Chelsea and Fulham), Steven Gerrard finally sacked and another VAR decision overturned.
Chelsea
It was the same old with this one, with a lot of huff and puff, but ultimately Villa walked away with nothing. I got speaking to a Chelsea-supporting friend of mine and he questioned Gerrard’s pre-match comments about Chelsea coming to Villa Park and ripping us to bits. Hardly inspiring is it?
Mason Mount was the difference on the day as he jumped onto a Tyrone Mings mistake to slot home after just 6 minutes. Both players were again involved in the second half when Mings committed a foul on the edge of the box and Mount stepped up to score from a free-kick.
Villa did have a go but failed to take their chances and mistakes continued to be another of their downfalls.
Fulham
Douglas Luiz was sent off in this one after Michael Oliver (the referee) judged the Brazilian to have headbutted Aleksandar Mitrović. Oliver saw what everyone else saw on the video and come to this conclusion. It was clear there was no headbutt there and the FA rightly overturned it less than 24 hours later. Yet another VAR shambles. You can see the theme in my opening statement now cant you?
Let’s be clear though, Aston Villa didn’t lose because of that decision. Aston Villa lost to a better-organised side who got their tactics spot on. One of Gerrard’s downfalls during his Villa tenure was his stubbornness to stick with a system that was suited to our players and was easily exploited.
Despite Fulham’s early domination and their many efforts on goal, they struggled to find the net. It was like watching Villa against Chelsea just a few days before. The difference is, Fulham did eventually find the back of the net through Harrison Reed with a lovely taken shot from outside the box after 36 minutes.
Mitrović doubled the lead after 68 minutes from the spot when Matty Cash was judged to handle the ball in the box. I won’t say too much here other than to ask Fulham fans about the penalty claim they had against Liverpool. VAR consistency yet again.
A bad night turned into a disaster when Mings turned the ball into his own net 6 minutes from time.
The away fans turned on the manager throughout the second half and Gerrard’s position as manager was hanging by thread.
Gerrard sacked
Gerrard was sacked around 1 hour after the final whistle and rightly so. Maybe a month or two too late but no one can say the former Rangers boss didn’t get a far crack at the whip!
I am not going to go into detail about Gerrard as I plan to write a post about the manager shortly but it wasn’t pretty how it ended. No one would have wanted that. I think most would have preferred it to work out because we don’t want to be chopping and changing managers all the time but it just wasn’t to be.