Adel Taarabt came of age in this match. Fine performance: great skills as always but he also worked tirelessly off the ball throughout the 90 minutes and provided a lot of link-up work that we have not seen before. And had that early effort gone in the Real Madrid rumours would be flying again today. Warnock is being really harsh on Traore IMO. Villa were intimidatory all over the pitch (the ref should have got that sorted much earlier of course) and I was amazed we were as controlled as we were. A bit of naivite perhaps but certainly not deserving a public dressing down of that magnitude. Did he ever pick on Taarabt like that? The Villa fans were an embarassment to themselves. Do they know any songs that do not involve slagging off the opposition's ground, fans, local area, etc? When you think about the toilet that is many parts of inner city Birmingham it makes you wonder how they have the nerve. So the BBC's attempts to not show favouritism to their local club obviously go far deeper than the efforts of Steve Claridge. Robbie Savage is clearly determined to build on our existing mutual dislike by being about as unimpartial as it is possible to be. I forgive Alan Shearer as he is an England legend and clearly has very little brain but Savage must be put in his place pronto. Just how little PL experience do you need to be a pundit on MOTD these days anyway?
Good comments (bit hard on our Alan though) - lot of negativity from the Villa fans' songs - great to see them gob-stopped when our goal went in - schadenfreude in blue and white hoops!
I was as much frustrated with our lack of killer instinct in the box as I was with the woeful ref. Their "penalty" was at the other end of the pitch from me and everyone around thought he was sorting out a goal kick instead of a corner. To then see him walk over and card Traore and point for a penalty was beyond us all. Having seen it on TV I am still astounded, he'll be on Hackney Marshes next week if there is any justice. That useless pr**k Savage said on the radio and on MOTD2 that the ref had a great game and got every (not joking) decision right apart from one of the Hutton handballs. He's just another clown and if any further proof is needed check him out on Strictly C***s Dancing. What on earth were we doing playing SWP up front on his own? He's only about 5'5" and was up against Dunne, Warnock and Hutton who are at least 6'2" each!!! I didn't think Bothroyd had a great game, but he wasn't the only one not on form. It was hard to play against Villa and their best mate the ref, very frustrating afternoon. Warnock was a bit harsh regarding Traore after the game but maybe these days he wants to be seen to distance himself from his reputation of promoting kicking lumps out of other teams. As slack as we may have been at times I thought the Villa were even worse, what a poor display from one of the more established of the Premier teams. If Villa and The Toon are any example then the future looks bright. Europe anyone?
Is Shadenfruede the left back for Bayern Munich? Is this the BIG signing we have been hearing about in January?
