noun
A sequence of actions regularly followed.
“Aston Villa didn’t disappoint fans on a wet Sunday afternoon with a routine victory at Villa Park against Fulham, taking them to 13 consecutive home wins”
Did we expect any less with this incredible side that Unai Emery has built?
After taking over a struggling Aston Villa in October 2022, he secured a 7th place finish in the Premier League, meaning Aston Villa would compete in European football for the first time in 13 years.
Sunday was a rainy day from start to finish:
A wet 9 o’clock start in Manchester (no surprise there then)
An hour and a half drive with constant spray on the M6 (does anyone else hate when someone unnecessarily cuts right in front of you when you’re already struggling to see?!)
A walk over to the stadium through the drizzle (we went the wrong way which meant what should have been a 4 minute walk turned into over 10)
A showery 90 minutes of football (amazing football)
Followed by a dark drive back with the occasional downpour (featuring Chelsea v Man City on a temperamental radio frequency)
I’m pleased to say, the rain, in all its efforts, didn’t succeed in ruining our day.
I’d just like to confirm that hospitality at Villa Park is an amazing experience…
Being quite nesh, the one thing that really pleased me (but not the only thing of course) was the amount of radiators. Even in the executive box which is about the size of [insert small room comparison here], there were two radiators! TWO! Heaven. Being the genius I am, I put my coat and scarf on the radiator so that when I put them back on to go outside they’d be nice and toasty.
I then proceeded to eat at least my own body weight in starters, mains and desserts (would have been rude to leave anything leftover right?!) and washed it down with a few beers (non-alcoholic like, with me being desi driver for the day). There was also a cheeseboard at full time. Yum! How on earth am I going to eat a full roast dinner when I get home?! *SPOILER* I ate a full roast dinner too when I got home.
Me and the lads had a few bets and at 1:45pm I put on my preheated outerwear and headed for my seat.
The first thing I noticed was that they played the classic Hi Ho Silver Lining by Jeff Beck which, after being at Molineux a couple of weeks back, I was particularly shocked at. Turns out, after a bit of research, a number of clubs have adopted this song. Shows how much I know!
But nothing sounds as good as ‘Hi Ho Wolverhampton’, just saying…
Villa were quick out the gates with a couple of shots in the first 10 minutes and a possibly penalty which was then overturned by VAR. Fast forward another 15 minutes or so with a few more attacks from Villa, some fouls and offsides thrown in (no cards though unfortunately, so no good for the bets) but Villa are in! An own goal, but a goal nonetheless, and Villa Park erupts! They bag a second before half time, an absolute belter from Super John McGinn… let the chant’s commence:
“We’ve got John McGinn, Super John McGinn, I just don’t think you understand…”
On to the second half and Fulham look like they’ve had a good talking to from the gaffer. A much better performance at the start of the second half compared to the first half but they can’t keep the ball out of the net… Fast break, a lovely bit of hold up play from McGinn, sneaks the pass through to Bailey who crosses it over for a tap in from Watkins! BOSH! 3-0.
Fulham get one back in the 70th minute, the stadium is deadly silent, you could barely hear the away fans, at first I thought I must be seeing things and ball wasn’t in the back of the net.
Fulham were lacking throughout most of the game, only managing to create a number of chances in the second half but they’re completely missing the finish in the final third. It’s only the start of the season but if Fulham don’t make some changes and look to spend some money in January transfer window, they could be in trouble.
We hang around for an hour and watch the first half of the Chelsea v City game. At this point I’ve even taken off my trainers and popped them on the radiator in the hope that when I put them back on, they’ll warm my feet which have literally gone numb from the cold. The day has gone by so quick and it’s time to leave, so I return my trainers to their rightful place (on my feet obvs) and we head back to Manchester. What a day!
Shout out to Shani, Jamie, Sam and Charlie for being excellent company!
A summary of my thoughts on this weekends football below:
Wolves really showed some resilience against Spurs and fully deserved the win on Saturday which sees them in 12th place heading in to the international break. Pablo Sarabia – goal of the weekend for me.
Manchester United scraped another 1-0 win over Luton Town which leave them in 6th, which is insane because the United I’ve been watching look like a team that are mid-table at best. That being said, I can see something special happening with Hojlund. Hopefully Ten Haag can bring out the best in him and I think we’ll see a lot more goals come the second half of the season.
Anyone who watched the SNF is probably sick of hearing it after that commentary but Newcastle are a tired team. I felt like they had the depth in the squad to keep up their form even with the additional European fixtures but with more and more injuries every week, this international break has come at a good time for Eddie Howe. They didn’t turn up, it was hard to watch and it was clearly hard for the players too based on Trippier’s reaction to a fans comment post-match. But I’ll back that guy, lowkey fave player in the league.
To say I’m devastated I missed the second half of the Chelsea v City game would be an understatement but I’m not sure I could have put up with watching it with my dad anyway. I’m just glad he was in a good mood when I got home!
A change of scenery tomorrow night for Bury FC v Pilkington where I’ll be seeing what goes on in the commentary box…
See you after the break. Ciao x
*Nesh, for anyone who doesn’t know and tries calling me out on the misspelling of ‘niche’, is an English dialect adjective meaning ‘unusually susceptible to cold weather‘
Also please gamble responsibly 🙂