ASTON “Lucky” VILLA 0-0 Wigan: 12-man Wigan get a point

By: Chris | January 31st, 2009

Today could have been much worse if I’m being honest. Aston Villa lacked a cutting edge up front and Wigan Athletic could easily have nicked a goal with their impressive play on the break. Meanwhile, at the Emirates, Arsenal couldn’t make us pay. Manchester United did us a favour too, beating Everton at Old Trafford.

But we need to get used to the fact that the shadowy powers that be will do everything in their power to protect the so-called Big Four. That means that when big decisions crop up, referees like Rob Styles, universally seen as a cheating f*cknut of the highest order, will not give them Villa’s way.

The other thing we’ll have to get used to is teams coming to Villa Park and parking the bus, and that’s fine. Sadly Wigan decided to chuck in a load of cheating too, just to compound Styles’ ~~performance~~ behaviour.

For our part, Villa did okay today. We were poor in the first half and dominant in the second. We had four or five cleared off the line, one which I was convinced had crossed, and Zat Knight hit the post. In that second half, we should have had a penalty for a blatant foul on Craig Gardner and possibly another for a handball. I didn’t see that one, but the Holte End went bloody mental. Really, it was just one of those games.

The “referee” spoiled the match by allowing some of Wigan’s more cynical tactics to continue. Rob Styles is a total disgrace and should be struck off. If you could find a football fan who disagrees, I’d be staggered. Twice he called us back for taking a quick free kick, I’d love to hear exactly why he thought that was acceptable ~~decision-making~~ behaviour.

Steve Bruce’s men defended absolutely wonderfully this afternoon, but they were running down the clock from the first minute to the last. Every single time Chris Kirkland plays at Villa Park, he time-wastes his anaemic annoying skinny little arse off. It’s cheating, and Styles, predictably, did nothing.

I was also under the impression that leading with arms, pushing and holding were fouls. More fool me. As for Paul Scharner’s feigned injury – when Wigan played on for a full minute before Mido moaned at Brad Friedel to put the ball out – that was disgusting.

So, Wigan are a little too physical but fair play to them for doing it with a referee that let them get away with it. And they defendly absolutely brilliantly, chucking bodies in the way of shots and playing out rather than hoofing it, something we did far too much today. From the Villa perspective, it was just one of those matches.

But it’s time to get this backpass-inventing f*cking pondlife scum out of football:

Pic: BBC Sport