Aston Villa 2 - West Bromwich Albion 2

Date:	Sunday 25th April 2021
Competition:	Premier League
Villa: 5.4	Martinez, Elmohamady, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Luiz (Ramsey, 78), McGinn, Traore, Barkley (Davis, 82), El Ghazi, Watkins Unused subs: Heaton, Taylor, Wesley, Nakamba, Engels, Hause, Philogene
WBA: 6.1	Johnstone 7.0, Furlong 6.6, Ajayi 5.1, Bartley 4.8, Townsend 6.7, Yokuslu 6.0, Pereira 7.9, Gallagher 5.4, Maitland-Niles 5.1 (O'Shea, 86 5.5), Robinson 5.1 (Phillips, 67 5.4), Diagne 5.6 Unused subs: Button, Robson-Kanu, Livermore, Diangana, Sawyers, Peltier, Grant Manager: Sam Allardyce 5.5
Scorers:	El Ghazi (9 pen), Davis (92); Pereira (23 pen), Diagne (47)
Referee:	Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire) 4.6
Attendance:	0

Brendan Clegg:

Well I thought that all quite miserable and I didn’t enjoy much about it even before the moronic equaliser.

I thought it was a fair shout bringing Gallagher in for some energy but I thought we were crap. In the first half only really Pereira turned up on the ball - the rest of them couldn’t make a simple pass and Diagne and Robinson were totally managed by Konsa and Mings.

I hated and resented both penalties- so soft I wouldn’t have given either and I don’t think I’d or Villa deserved to score.

Second half we were marginally better but it took a gift of a slip and a Mings deflection to ensure we scored a second, and there were a couple of other situations we might’ve done better in before the inevitable tiredness kicked in from this stupidity of us playing 2 days ago. Villa lay siege for the last 30 mins or so and frankly we had little on the bench to address it - I think Allardyce probably did as much as he could with the options available.

And it looked like we’d just about done enough to ride our luck through it before too many players switched off and we allowed a hoof, Robinson to pull onto Townsend despite us having 3 centre halves and Bartley dropping a clanger. It summed us up. I hate the Villa.

SJ - 7 Kept us ahead, maybe he could’ve called for the equaliser but Bartley just had to get rid anywhere.
Furlong - 7 I thought he never stopped working or switched off.
Ajayi - 5 A bit erratic and clumsy for the harsh penalty.
Bartley - 5 Costly error even though he’s improved. Will be mortified.
Townsend - 6 Thought he did an okay job against a tough opponent.
Yokuslu - 6 Did well at times but not the force he has been. Is getting swarmed now.
Maitland-Niles - 4 The most careless player I have ever seen. Occasionally his pace helps him make a big tackle or break the lines but rarely can you trust him.
Gallagher - 5 All running and energy but poor on the ball and decision making.
Robinson - 4 Couldn’t get into it at all and wasteful when he did get the ball.
Pereira - 7 Everything good came through him and was still sprinting to close space on 90 minutes.
Diagne - 5 Prior to the goal, after which he did improve, this would’ve been a 3. Didn’t work hard enough and wants forever to lay it off or make a pass.

Phillips & O’Shea - Did what they were brought on to do.

The season can’t end soon enough!