The good and bad: Aston Villa 1-1 Crystal Palace

avillafan

·15 May 2022

The good and bad: Aston Villa 1-1 Crystal Palace

With all the excitement of Phillipe Countinho’s deal being made permanent at the end of season awards, many would have expected so much more as Crystal Palace were the visitors to Villa Park.

Aston Villa paid tribute to the legends of 1982′ with a fantastic flag display and a guard of honour from the current crop of players.

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If we are honest, the draw was probably a fair result as both sides cancelled each other out on the day. There was a real lack of decent efforts on goal throughout the game.

Danny Ings had the chance to give the fans a chance to celebrate early on with two efforts on goal. The first, came when the striker got on the end of a Douglas Luiz cross but his effort missed the near post.

Then moments later, the ball sat up nicely after Joachim Anderson cut out John McGinn’s delivery but once again Ings could only send the ball over the bar on the volley.

Next up it was the turn of the visitors to test Emi Martinez. Conor Gallagher should have done better with an effort with his head having been left unmarked. Pantomime villain of the day, Wilfred Zaha forced his first save from Martinez with an effort from 25 yards out.

Villa had a lacklustre look about them. They were unable to string passes together while the shape of the side looked awkward but it was the home side who eventually took the lead after 69 minutes.

Lucas Digne whipped a cross from the left-wing, and Ollie Watkins and Marc Guehi were tangling at the far post as the ball arrive in the box. Although difficult to see, it appeared that Watkins got the final touch on the ball as the ball ended up in the back of the net.

The equaliser was frustrating given Villa had somehow got themselves ahead with nine minutes left on the clock. Tyrone Mings rose highest to clear a Gallagher free-kick but Villa failed to deal with the returning ball from Anderson, Guehi knocked the ball down for substitute Jeffery Schlupp who converted from close range.

Any hope of finishing in the top 10 now looks slim for Villa as they find themselves four points behind Leicester with two games remaining.

The Good

Lucas Digne finally seems to be the player we hoped we signed in January. He looks fit and comfortable in the Steven Gerrard system and could prove to be a big player for us next season.
The tribute by the club for the class of 1982 was fantastic. It’s just a shame we weren’t able to pick up all three points to top off the day.

The Bad

We looked leggy, lacklustre and out of shape at times. Simple five-yard passes seemed impossible and we would have been punished against a better side. Some Palace fans may feel unfortunate not to take all three points despite going behind.
Inconsistency. No one connected to the club would have been surprised by that performance. All season, a couple of good performances have been followed up by a couple of bad ones. I just hope we turn up and finish with a win on Thursday night against Burnley.