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Let's clear up one thing, first: Aston Villa are still probably safe. They played like junk today, but there is still so much that has to go wrong for them to drop. Fulham made things a bit more comfortable by blowing a 2-goal lead to draw Hull. Unless the Cottagers can beat Stoke next weekend, we will know one of the teams going down.
But, to Aston Villa and their match against Swansea. For most of the first half, Villa actually played some decent football. They conceded a breakaway goal to open things up, but it appears as if Wilfried Bony may have been offside. Not that I'm complaining, as it was close enough to go either way, and the defense shouldn't be letting that sort of thing happen. Here, take a look:
It was the first in a long string of mistakes by Aston Villa's defense today. Remember a couple of months ago when we actually thought that the defense was improved over last year? Yeah, that was neat.
But, Gabby Agbonlahor broke his goalless streak to give Villa fans some hope in the 22nd minute. On a great ball in from Marc Albrighton (who had another pretty good day) Gabby managed to score what seemed like the first Villa goal since any of us were born:
But, true to form, Villa only took four minutes to lose any momentum they gained. Brad Guzan decided that he would position himself nowhere near the goal as he sent the ball out halfway up the field. Jonjo Shelvey saw that and decided to take a speculative shot from afar. Thanks to Guzan's stupidity, this happened:
And after that, Villa just looked like junk. The defense was absolutely atrocious and put in perhaps the worst 90 minutes we've seen from them all season. Nathan Baker in particular had a terrible day. I think it's time that we put an end to that experiment and sat him for the rest of the season. Give Ciaran Clark the starts unless Jores Okore is ready to go.
Swansea added two more in the second half thanks to that shambolic defending and a penalty awarded in the 93rd minute. I didn't gif them, because no one cares. This team looks terrible.
Again: they're probably safe. But if they do fall, they sort of deserve it. This is a team who look terrible and do not look like breaking out of their funk any time soon. A point -- at the very least -- against Hull City next weekend is absolutely vital. Do that and we can all breathe easily. Don't, and suddenly we're praying for other results and/or something in trips to Manchester City and Tottenham.
It's going to be May soon, and Aston Villa are still worried. I am so tired of this.
