> **Dave Woodhall sees Villa lose at Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League.**
**Becoming seasoned European travellers, as we are, can make you a bit blase about certain things. For example, there are matches that take on the atmosphere of an early rounds League Cup tie – the chance to visit somewhere new, where a smaller team can pit themselves against the big lads and their supporters get the chance to watch the big names they usually only see on TV. For the star-spangled visitors it’s the opportunity to rest a few players and let some fringe selections show what they can do. That’s the theory.**
Because where Villa are concerned, while the stuff off the pitch might be pleasant enough, what happens from kick-off onwards invariably follows the same routine. Players were, indeed, rested against Go Ahead Eagles, with Lamare Bogarde reintroduced and Victor Lindelof at right-back.
The line-up and the routine feeling seemed justified when Villa went ahead after four minutes, as Jordan Sancho’s cross was pushed out to Evann Guessand, who mis-hit a shot that beat the Dutch keeper. Everything seemed on track; a straightforward win, a few goals scored and three more points towards qualification into the knockout stages. And perhaps that was the problem – from then on Villa had more of the possession, virtually all the chances and none of the goals. But never mind, they were bound to come. You can’t be so dominant and not win.
Again, that was the theory. In practice this is the Villa and the half-heartedness that had crept in when the team attacked spread to the defence three minutes before half-time. Ball-watching and slack marking meant that the teams were level at the interval.
You’d have thought Villa might have learned from that setback. You’d have thought they’d have realised they were far too complacent and the shock of letting in an equaliser would have got them motivated for the second half. You’d be wrong.
If anything, they went backwards, and sidewards, and when they did go forward it as at the snail’s pace of the early part of the season rather than the manner of the much-improved recent team. There were still chances, and they were spread around most of the forward players, but a long ball caught Villa’s defence cold again and somehow they’d contrived to go behind. They did improve a bit after that and a plethora of substitutions provided more opportunities to turn the match around but not even a penalty taken by the on-form Emiliano Buendia could save them.
It really was just like all those other games. From Doncaster to Deventer, it’s the same story. The supporters have a good day out and the players ruin it. We should have learned by now but somehow they always manage to outdo themselves. With the usual caveat that Unai’s good far outweighs his bad, there seems to be a problem in some matches, not so much because they’re big occasions but because they’re matches Villa expect to win. Against better opposition we’ve raised our game time and again, yet failed in the semi-finals of competitions it was easier to win than to lose. It’s annoying. It’s Aston Villa.
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