What an excellent performance, probably our best of the season. The league table normally doesn't lie, whereby going into yesterday's match my main concern was that we didn't lose, and I fully expected a draw. To produce a performance and result like that fully exceeded all my expectations. We were so good that Cash couldn't get anywhere near close enough to maiming any of our players. His captain got himself sent off giving a pretty good impression, no doubt triggered by the frustration of being played off the park.
After one or two 'over the top' early threats Villa were dreadful throughout, we totally outclassed them. They started fuffing around in their own third early on, a tactic which was always going to cost them a goal which duly arrived when we were gifted the all important second goal. Emery got his tactics totally wrong, he clearly set up defensively to negate us, whilst misguidedly retaining a belief that his team were good enough to go toe to toe with us and beat us. Wrong.
Villa and United are not the real threat to our finishing top four and qualifying for the CL. We are a better team than either of them. Our biggest threats are a remaining fixture list containing matches against teams who are maybe, and I stress maybe, better than us, together with other fixtures against teams whose sole ambition will be to stop us playing. Our biggest weakness remains the dropping of points against teams we should be beating, by virtue of the negative tactics they employ. The Fulham game next weekend will be interesting as regards whether we can reproduce the type of unstoppable performance we saw yesterday, or at the very least, find a way. Every game now needs to be a Cup Final, until that fourth place is sewn up.
I seldom comment about individual performances, for me it is all about the Club and the team. It is gratifying therefore to see how this squad really do seem to be developing as a 'together' unit, whether they are playing regularly or not, with no room for those for whom it is all about themselves. One general observation though concerns Sonny's inspirational performances since returning from Asia. He really does seem to be developing into an outstanding leader, something I would never have expected despite having always been one of his greatest fans.