What a night in Belgium for Aston Villa in the Champions League. A good performance, but more importantly, a much needed win, with shots on target.
Villa fans were understandably nervous ahead of the match, and like always, we were all waiting in anticipation to see who Emery picked in his starting line-up at the Jan Breydel Stadium.
To say some Villa supporters were unimpressed with the team selection would be an understatement. There was plenty of negativity when the line-up was announced.
In fact, I didn’t see many comments offering much encouragement to some of the players selected. It was quite disappointing to see.
Hemming, who seemed to receive a lot of criticism before a ball had even been kicked, was one of Villa’s best players on the night. Had he taken one of the two excellent chances that came his way, it would have capped off a fantastic evening for the youngster.
Jackson also got himself on the scoresheet and barely put a foot wrong all night. Every time the ball was played into him, he rarely lost possession. Time and again he laid the ball off to teammates and helped get Villa moving forward. It was a very mature performance.
Super John McGinn opened the scoring with a sublime finish. He simply guided the ball beyond the goalkeeper with ease. It was a beautiful goal and exactly what Villa needed.
Gomes also responded brilliantly after his red card against Brighton a few weeks ago. He was full of energy, covered plenty of ground and played his part in an impressive midfield display.
At the end of the night, Emery had been vindicated. He picked his starting eleven. The criticism followed. Then Villa went out and won the match.
By the final whistle, many of the same players who had been questioned beforehand were receiving praise. Funny how football works sometimes. UTV
Players read social media. People make comments. Certain comments are actually abuse. Players read social media. How does negative comments help confidence help? Can’t we be different. Abuse is a criminal offence. Can’t we Villa fans make positive comments. Saying I’d prefer Jackson at front because he’s quicker than Merson is an opinion with factual evidence (otherwise he’d still be playing!). Saying a player is useless and we shouldn’t be playing him, is an opinion which may or not be proved right in a football context, but a 100% fact is that abuse will never help the player get better whilst he is part of our club. Great club, great team, great players. Actions speak louder than words. Lets put the great into evidence by our attitude. I’d rather in this game play ABC instead of DEF because of this strength in this game outweighs this Players strength at the moment. However, in Unai we trust. Dont sing it, show it. I believe in your comment albeit it is posted retrospective. But I have no reason to doubt you would have said the same beforehand or even probably did. But I wasn’t in your space at that time. Nor was any supporter in Unai Emery and his players space at that time of deciding tactics, who to play, who has a knock, who has a personal matter. So let us all consider how we make our comments and do so aware that our player might read it. No matter how much they earn, positive comments are having no negative effect. Encouragement. Support. IUTV.
Serial European champion manager makes correct team selection despite upheaval and change to his squad. What a shock!
Seriously, some ‘fans’ out there need to stop supporting Villa and go down to St. Andrews every week instead. Absolutely f@$*^n’ clueless. You’re an embarrassment to our great club and bring nothing but negativity to an already testing situation.
Call yourselves ‘supporters’? Go check the dictionary and see what that word actually means because you obviously have no idea. Fair opinions are one thing – outright slagging off and abuse is another. You clearly have no understanding of where we are and what we’re trying to do. This is the problem with social media. It gives a voice to people who shouldn’t have one.