0 voters
Unused subs: Kelleher, Williams, Henderson, Origi
GOAL: Mohammed SALAH 33’
GOAL: Mohammed SALAH 61’
Sub: Minamino on, Keita off 45’
Sub: Jones on, Gomez off 58’
Sub: Milner on, Firmino off 68’
Well, that was shite.
And the award for most unbelievable result of the season goes to…
The absence of Alisson after a training injury caused the usual pre-match panic in certain quarters and the COVID-related lack of Sadio Mané meant that we gave the new £41m pound man Diogo Jota his first Premier League start. Still, it was pleasing to see Henderson on the bench as he works his way back from injury.
Adrián has generally been a solid backup when our bearded Brazilian custodian of the rigging has been absent- indeed, the Spaniard had not previously lost a Premier League game in which he started for us- but he soon gifted the ball to Grealish, who teed up Watkins for a simple opening goal. Grealish then set up Barkley for a golden opportunity but the former Everton man scuffed his shot and we were lucky not to be two goals down within nine minutes.
It took us ten minutes to snap out of our lethargy, with a blocked shot from Baby and then a drilled cross from Robbo cleared behind for a corner. A lovely move down out right then led to Martinez blocking Bobby’s shot and Salah was denied a clear penalty when McGinn blocked him in the area. Villa’s ‘keeper was lucky to escape without being punished when he gave the ball to Salah. Bobby was then thwarted by Martinez after wriggling through.
Just as it looked as though we were imposing ourselves on the game, Watkins was released down the Villla left and rifled the ball into the top corner, giving Adrián no chance. I thought that the striker was fractionally behind Gomez but VAR did not agree.
Two goals behind after twenty three minutes and Ollie “Championship player” Watkins on a hat-trick… was the wine already taking its toll on my mental faculties? I finished rubbing my eyes in disbelief just in time to see a dipping shot from Jota tipped over by Martinez; Barkley then spurned another opportunity just after the half hour. Baby then set up Salah to pull one back with aplomb. That goal marked the Egyptian’s one hundredth in English football; just imagine how many he would have had if he could finish.
Adrián then pulled off a fine save at his near post to block Barkley but had no chance when McGinn’s long-range shot was deflected off Virgil to reinstate Villa’s two-goal lead. Virgil was booked for a frustrated lunge at Barkley; the ensuing free kick was turned back from the byline and Watkins nodded home from close range to bag his hat-trick in the fortieth minute. Robertson was then denied by Martinez as we entered stoppage time; Martin Twatkinson then somehow awarded Villa a free kick when Jota was kicked by Mings on the edge of the home side’s penalty area.
Taki on for Keïta at half time came as a bit of a surprise; Baby hadn’t been great but was no worse than several others.
Barkley finally scored ten minutes after the restart, his shot deflecting off Trent’s outstretched boot and looping over Adrián to make it 5-1. Mo pulled a goal back on the hour mark, after being released by Bobby. Grealish had a shot take a huge deflection off Fabinho for Villa’s sixth of the night- completing a hat-trick of deflected goals to go with Watkins’ legitimate trio. Adrian stuck out a foot to deny Watkins his fourth as the forward raced clear in the 72nd minute; Grealish made it seven three minutes later after being left all alone by Trent on the halfway line.
Fuck it- I give up now.
Hopefully this game will act as the kick up the backside the team appears to desperately need; since winning the title we have generally been well below our best, a few games excepted. The international break won’t help as the players will be scattered all over the world; we resume against the table-topping Bitters in a fortnight’s time and anything less than three points will be unacceptable.
MOTM: Everybody involved with Manchester United Football Club. For serving up a pre-match treat that no chef could ever hope to equal. Pity that we were just as bad as they were.
Wow. That was epic.
I thought it would be a tough watch , but this was concerning. As mentioned in prematch , I rather lose heavy against a non rival once than giving multiple games away 0-1 , but this is not excusable.
What killed us was losing the ball upfront and Villa switching really well tonight. They played fast and precise upward before any counter pressing could take hold and they got really , really lucky tonight with deflections and gifts from us , but they earned it.
My concern is that margin might unsettle the team seriously and that Klopp has a tough job on his hands to bring confidence back until Everton , because after the 4th our heads went.
Nothing clicked and we crumbled - the first time in ages I’ve seen this really.
Let’s hope we can use trhis as a positive and massive rocket up the arse.
No Motm from me tonight.
Who the hell voted for Joe Gomez? Come on, fess up.
Fair play to Villa. Watkins looks a great investment.
Humiliating
I could have thought of better ways to end my week off.
Thiago, Kostas and Sadio. What’s going through their minds?
That was the longest PL match I’ve ever watched.
Somebody accidentally put milk in my coffee earlier on today,i’ll never speak to that cunt again.
What absolute fucking nonce is voting for Joe Gomez as MOTM after that?!?
Yes but just warning signs, i really feel this high line is the biggest problem. With our fullbacks flying up the pitch its asking too much of the CBs
This was taken from the match thread btw.
Pride comes before a fall, fuck me we’ve gone into a black hole… The Snappy Klopp comments against Keane coming back to haunt him. Sloppy would be kind…
Embarrassing start to finish, every single player. food for thought, we’ve believed our own hype far far too long. Need to go back to the intensity and hard work which won us the league, not this arrogant laziness. God we got punished.
Seeing terry, forgot that cunt was at Villa, even worse.
Mascot obviously, he’s his dad.
None of them really deserve it but as i always vote had to give it to Mo
Adrian has never been solid, he is a poor keeper.
I have no words. I am absolutely dumbfounded that the Premier League champions can concede 7 (SEVEN!!) let that number sink in. 7, against Aston fucking Villa. We somehow managed to make United conceding 6 irrelevant because we managed to be worse.
Lets talk a few home truths, Alisson is injured way too much for a keeper to allow us to have a less than great backup. Gomez has been pretty wank for a while now, he is regressing, we need a new starting CB. Bobby needs to ride some pine for a while. Start Jota in the middle. The high backline doesn’t work, it was exposed regularly last season but we got bailed out by poor finishing and Alisson. Time to change.
LFC ensuring a record remains (4W in 3 years) outside of their legacy.
I’m glad Villa went on to bang in seven, because it highlights that Joe Gomez was horrendously exposed by a terrible midfield performance.
He was terrible, no doubt about that, and his performance deteriorated as his confidence plummeted. But he got absolutely no help from his team who left him wide open over and over again.