Ipswich Point
After the trip to Portman Road, Aston Villa had secured three points…in a week, across three games, when they had hoped for at least seven. The reality of the Championship bit hard into Villa’s expected promotion push. This wasn’t going to be as easy as just spending £50m+ on decent Championship players.
Yes, there’s been injuries and it takes time to bed down the team, but there’s no doubt Di Matteo is started to feel a little bit of pressure. It’s unlikely Doctor Tony will be sleeping too comfortably in his bed in China either, at the moment.
Meanwhile, here’s five reasons to feel cheerful as Villans…
1. Resistance
When Ipswich decided to venture forth after parking the bus in the first hour or so and blocking everything Villa could throw at them, the game looked like it was only going one way in the closing stages. It was certainly looking like deja vu for Villa fans as Ipswich came on string, forcing Gollini into a smart save and identical goal line clearances by Kodjia and Cissokho.
But Villa held on and didn’t drop the point. It was progress after late goals had cost them enough points to put them in the automatic promotion places already.
A third clean sheet for the season was also a positive step too, especially considering Micah Richards played in defence for most of the match!
2. Less than Toon
Avoiding defeat and Wolves surprise win at St James Park meant despite their poor league position, Villa actually have less defeats than Newcastle United. Granted we a knocking up more draws than an Alex McLeish team at the moment, but the fact we’ve had the fourth most amount of shots suggests we are at least on the right track.
Will it be Sob on the Tyne Part III this weekend? Lets hope so.
3. Hello Albert
Finally, the man who was brought to bring balance to the midfield and give us a proper threat down the right flank has appeared. Albert Adomah finally played for Villa albeit in a substitute cameo role in the later stages.
It’s too early to get any insight into the player, but it will be interesting to see if he makes a start against Newcastle.
4. Tweet Support
MOMS has suggested to the club the idea of having a Twitter address for supporter issues for a while now. A lot of other clubs run such an account side-by-side to their standard Twitter account. Now, finally it’s here. If you have any Villa supporter issues or questions you can contact the club on @AVFCSupport .
Please refrain from trolling etc, as it’s better if it’s a positive experience for the club and a useful one for supporters.
Speaking of new Twitter addresses, we’ve set one up for the My Old Man Said podcast, so you can drop us any questions or issues you want discussing on the show. Check it out here – @AVFCpodcast.
5. Return of the Sicknote
Finally, it looks like Aaron Tshibola is fit and ready to go. It looks like he was fit earlier in the week, but Di Matteo wanted to give him a little more time to make sure. There’s no point rushing someone back who has been building a reputation of being a sicknote.
If Tshibola can string a run of games together, this could be good news for Villa, as hopefully he can become the type of dynamic midfielder we’ve been desperately short of and that will be necessary in order to gain promotion.
Tshibola did see some action in Monday night’s U-23 game against West Brom, but got sent off after two yellow cards in the 5-2 defeat.
Lets hope he lasts longer for the first team when he returns.
UTV
“Dr Tony got rid of the clowns running the club and bought in ones that know something about football before we are relegated yet again.”
Was he not the idiot who appointed them in the first place?
The only we fans could have anything to be cheerfull about is if Dr Tony got rid of the clowns running the club and bought in ones that know something about football before we are relegated yet again.