With a 100 odd day lull in the Premier League fixture list, Aston Villa finally got back onto the pitch earlier tonight as we welcomed Sheffield United to Villa Park for the long-awaited restart of the 2019/20 calendar.
There’s no denying it was a little bit strange, but rather predictably we had the weather for it in the build-up.
That wasn’t the only storm to come from the game, a technology failure from the Video Assistant Referee system failed to award us two penalties (one nailed on, the other arguable) and the VAR bods were similarly flummoxed on Sheffield United’s clear goal. Although in that case, we did learn that the Hawkeye system is capable of being beaten by a mischievously placed goalkeeper – who are often found on the goalline.
With the ‘eyes of the world’ watching, I think most people would agree the consensus was ‘what the hell did we just watch’.
Two points dropped, more positives than negatives – but the negatives have long been known and we seem incapable of fixing them – but the game in hand has gone and we only got a point, when we deserved far more on the balance of the game.
Speaking to the Sky Sports following the end of the 90 minutes, head coach Dean Smith was left disappointed.
“We deserved a victory tonight. I know they’ve scored a goal that isn’t given because of technology, but we did enough to score tonight. I feel for them, but I’ve had technology go against me, and we’re probably due that little bit of luck.”
A point is a point as they say.
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Football Returns But Villa Disappointingly Drop Two Points- Match Stats
We probably merited more, but playing Davis up on his own raises questions with Smith in my eyes. For all his strength and hold up play, Davis rarely scores. Samatta should have been in with him from the off.
I really think our wingers fall short time and time again, so playing two up top should become a priority now.
A draw at home is just not enough.
We definitely merited more Tony for me. I saw sense in starting with Davis as a more unknown quantity as no doubt Sheff U were better prepared for Samatta. Use Davis to bully and help tire, then Samatta’s more nippy style could’ve been a benefit. But with how the game went both would’ve been better (unless Davis was truly knackered), but even then, we need Jack, McGinn and Hourihane central and playing closer to the striker if we’re only going to use one so they can take the potshots. I’m not as critical as some about our summer dealings, but the season has shown where we got the balance and options wrong and have largely hamstrung ourselves.
Thought we played well, and it was nice to get McGinn back and have him see a good portion of match time. He should be back to his old high level self soon. Agree would like to see both Samatta and Davis together up front to see what that pairing could do.