:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50892221/605720184.0.jpg)
Uh, wow. A bit of luck, how about that?
After 90 minutes chock full of boring, needless football, Ipswich nearly made full use of the eight minutes of added time, forcing two late headers off the line, one from Jonathan Kodjia and the other from Aly Cissokho, a couple nice Pierluigi Gollini saves and a big intervention from the post to keep things level, 0-0, at Portman Road.
The first 10 minutes were actually kinda enjoyable. Villa went close just 64 seconds in, when Jordan Amavi pushed a shot wide, and each side had at least half-chances on one or two occasions in that opening stanza.
The rest of the match though? Nearly brutal.
It wasn’t a good enough performance, no, but it also wouldn’t have been an issue had Villa taken care of business earlier this week at Villa Park. That’s the bigger issue: When Villa played well against Nottingham Forest, they should have seen out the match, and when presented with a great opportunity against Brentford, the Claret and Blues ballsed that up, too.
Midweek matches take their toll on teams, and we definitely saw that transpire today. Villa were brutally bad in attack — Jack Grealish and Jordan Ayew dribbling, then shooting straight at a defender was pretty much all the club tried to do — but at least looked fairly competent in defence.
Nathan Baker was forced off in the first half with a hip injury, with Cissokho for Jordan Amavi and Albert Adomah, making his Villa debut, on for Leandro Bacuna the other.
But hey, it’s a point. Right?
Next week against Newcastle United is hands-down a vital match for the Claret and Blues. Nothing less than three points will do.
Unfortunately, I’m not too confident in that.