Match Review: Aston Villa 3-3 QPR

It was always going to be a weird one for me last night. After having countless people unable to make the game with me, I woke up yesterday morning unable to keep away from a game of such importance.

“Screw it, I’ll go on my own.”

It turns out plenty of people go to Football solo, and if anything it really showed me the power of the game. I got friendly with the people around me; whom I’d later end up hugging and screaming in their faces, and I never felt awkward being on my tod.

This was particularly well-welcomed in a time where we, as Villa fans, have received much negative (not to mention hypocritical and hyperbolic) press for fan behaviour.

I’d always thought of football chiefly as a tool for me to spend valuable time with my Father and Brother, as well as a distraction from the general miseries life manages to throw at all of us – but going on my own proved to myself once and for all that I am deeply, deeply, and irreparably in love with this club.

But enough about me.

What a game of football we experienced last night.

Value was definitely achieved for the price of admission, but I was still left driving down the M42 feeling ripped off.

It was a game we should have won with some degree of comfort, but Villa being Villa, could never make it easy for ourselves, and again proved our reputation of being a team of two halves to be true.

After going a goal behind so early, we showed great character – probably the best thing Sherwood’s bought to this team - in quickly firing back with two of our own, and we really should have kicked on from there and sent QPR back to the capital with a sore backside from a thorough kicking at the home of Football.

But it took Benteke heroics to save us from dropping into the bottom 3 - the most powerful Christian since Jesus himself. (not my own but I love saying that)

Despite this disappointment, and as I will always stress even in the darkest of times, there were some real positives to take from the game.

Gabby proved somewhat that he is capable of turning up against teams from outside the midlands, Benteke showed form reminiscent to his 2012 killing spree of goalkeepers, and we (for the most part) were able to control a game and show attacking intent, something we haven’t quite been able to get in good balance for some time.The team also showed that there is certainly fight and a bit of steel about them, yet another factor we’ve been sorely lacking in season’s gone by – which I again must credit our Cockney maestro for.

I was also really impressed with the fan backing tonight, it would have been understandable to stay away tonight after the disappointment against Swansea and inevitable heavy loss at The Library of Dreams, but the Holte was full and made plenty of noise, not that I’d expect anything else.

This isn’t to say there weren’t glaring concerns in the team.

Defending for all 3 goals was sub-par with more horrendous marking, and the now-routine conceding from a set piece. As dominant as it felt we were, especially in the first half, I never for one second felt comfortable with the defence, and QPR were always a threat on the counter.

We also managed to continue the running theme of being gut-wrenchingly vulnerable at Full back, with Richardson and Bacuna getting caught out numerous times, though the entire blame for this can’t be placed solely on their shoulders. Frankly, the formation tonight got narrower and narrower as the night went on, and our lack of width was troublingly Lambertian – leaving the poor sods exposed as always.

But we’re still in the fight, we’re not in the bottom 3, and we ultimately managed to prevent QPR from getting all 3 points – probably more imperative than winning the game ourselves.

There’s still plenty of football to be played, and I still think Sherwood will see us safely into Premier League football next season, but the games don’t get much easier from here on out; and we can’t keep leaving games thinking ‘we should have got more from that’, that costs dearly in the relegation scrap.

Onwards to White Hart lane.