Villa- post match thread

[Master Splinter]

Agree to a point, but a stronger side would have made the refereeing irrelevant.

I still think we should get the pitchforks ready.

Like The Invincibles made Riley irrelevant?

[Özim]

I'll swim masochistically against the tide and say although we were poor, it's the first game of the season and even the best squads rarely get off to a flyer. I honestly believe the ref screwed us in this game. He allowed play to continue after Scheszny fowled but then gave a pen after they fucked up. Koscielny got the ball for the second penalty and shouldn't have been sent off. Had he not been sent off, Villa's third goal would not have come.

Don't get me wrong. There needs to be MAJOR changes at our club. Not just in personnel on the pitch but also at boardroom/transfer level. Should Wenger be amongst them? Somehow I still don't know. All the poker-like mind games played with the fans makes it deviously difficult to tell who is responsible. Whatever happens, new blood is required - and not just any drippings from the Tesco Value butcher.

Solely judging upon this game alone, officiating cost us. We're in a shit situation with squad depth and our club's direction but I won't blame this defeat solely upon that. No doubt I'm inviting a wave of insults against the tide of popular opinion, but nonetheless that's how I see it.

Sorry there's no excuses in my book, we were awful last season and scraped 4th place so we're not the best of squads by any stretch. Villa were pretty much a team of kids playing away from home and we should have been prepared and ready to beat them comfortably.

You can blame the ref all you like but if we had a decent team the ref wouldn't have come into it as we would have comfortably overcome them. We brought it on ourselves, Wenger has got his comeuppance, he actually used how we played in a friendly match as an example of how good we are.

People complain about the ref when results go against them, he might not have had a great game but he's nowhere near as bad as some are saying he was.

[Munchies]

I think everyone needs to calm down, we're only 3 points off the leaders.

[Joker]

I'll swim masochistically against the tide and say although we were poor, it's the first game of the season and even the best squads rarely get off to a flyer. I honestly believe the ref screwed us in this game. He allowed play to continue after Scheszny fowled but then gave a pen after they fucked up. Koscielny got the ball for the second penalty and shouldn't have been sent off. Had he not been sent off, Villa's third goal would not have come.

Don't get me wrong. There needs to be MAJOR changes at our club. Not just in personnel on the pitch but also at boardroom/transfer level. Should Wenger be amongst them? Somehow I still don't know. All the poker-like mind games played with the fans makes it deviously difficult to tell who is responsible. Whatever happens, new blood is required - and not just any drippings from the Tesco Value butcher.

Solely judging upon this game alone, officiating cost us. We're in a shit situation with squad depth and our club's direction but I won't blame this defeat solely upon that. No doubt I'm inviting a wave of insults against the tide of popular opinion, but nonetheless that's how I see it.

Referee was bad but I don't think we can blame the loss on the referee. I don't think the ref should have played advantage for the original penalty anyway, he should have blown up immediately. The 2nd pen was 50-50 and regarding the red card, Koscielny was stupid to tackle like that when on a yellow card. I did think Vlaar should have gone as well though, and all in all the referee was definitely incompetent, but like others have said a better XI out there would have won that match.

[Özim]

Like The Invincibles made Riley irrelevant?

Yes, they went on a record 49 match unbeaten run, I'd say they made the ref irrelevant by in large.

[Niall_Quinn]

Jovetic/Cesar/Gundogan is missing

In a way I'm glad we didn't sign a player called Bender.

[Master Splinter]

Jovetic/Cesar/Gundogan is missing

Well, Bender, Suarez and maybe Higuain were the only bids we actually made, so it's all stupid really. If you allow the swell of newspaper/internet garbage gossip to fuel your irrational disappointment, you deserve that disappointment and more.

[RomfordPele]

Like The Invincibles made Riley irrelevant?

Riley is different class.

Pretty sure we had shonky refs against us for some of the previous 49 games though.

[Niall_Quinn]

I think everyone needs to calm down, we're only 3 points off the leaders.

And we can make it 6 no problem.

[Özim]

In a way I'm glad we didn't sign a player called Bender.

Worse still we could have signed 2 Benders