I like playing Villa (other than wife being a Villa fan and causing some rows)… had some memorable games against them.
The 93/94 game (2-2) was one of the best games Ive seen in terms of two good teams going for it.
And this in the cup. The mental strength of a Ferguson team was ridiculous
You can create goals within seconds when you have Scholes pinging balls from the middle of the pitch with RvN up front. Very little build-up play is needed and you don't need to dominate possession.
Furthermore, when you have a team of winners who are used to winning and know how to win - the players simply won't accept defeat.
Most of the players from that era, could probably walk into our current team and immediately be the MVP. It just goes to show how low our standards have fallen.
A few years ago, many on here were raving about A. Martial. I wrote on this forum that he wouldn't even make the bench in 1999. Despite this, people were thinking that he is a star player of some sort. Unfortunatley, this mentality still persists with fans, hailing bang-average players as great players.
Most of our player roster, IMO, isn't good enough and should be sold.
I'm expecting a good (close) game today, but given that it is away, I think Villa will win. There'll be lots of goals in it though, that's for sure.
I read we have only lost three of our last fifty games against Villa. That's pretty insane.
Damn...I'm a stats man, but that took me by surprise.
In saying this, under ETH we do seem to be breaking all kinds of negative records.
I still think that Villa will get a narrow win. If it was at OT, I think we'd win, but as it's away, the odds would be in Villa's favour.