Eye on England: Villa are a top-tier club hindered by beer league errors
Every Monday, theScore's Daniel Rouse breaks down the week that was in English football. Welcome to the "Eye on England."
How can you credit a defeated underdog without sounding condescending? They did themselves proud. They can hold their heads up high with that performance. They're cliches which suggest Aston Villa were fortunate to share the Wembley stage with Manchester City in the first place.
And although many Villa supporters traveled to London on Sunday anticipating defeat in the League Cup final, such lazy analysis would be especially difficult for them to digest given the team's meager rewards for strong showings this season. Aston Villa did play well in the 2-1 loss to City, but it's yet another match this season - like both meetings with Tottenham, the league visit from Liverpool, and trips to Arsenal and Manchester United - that lacked the desired end result.
They were all impressive outings that yielded no victories.
Aston Villa can't kill teams off and have withered under pressure. Dean Smith's side is two points deep in the Premier League's relegation zone, and the reasons for that are more to do with mistakes and lapses in concentration rather than lacking quality.
Those string of unfortunate losses against the "big six" included moments such as Jack Grealish carelessly forfeiting possession to Spurs and a series of late collapses often induced by defensive gaffes. The chances to take three points weren't taken, and Villa often had themselves to blame.
Other factors can be cited for Villa's struggles. There's been bad luck, like when United's goal in December went in via bounces off the post and Tom Heaton's back. They've fallen victim to a series of contentious decisions by both on-pitch referees and officials in the VAR booth. John McGinn has been sidelined for over 10 weeks, denying Villa of a positive and energetic presence in midfield. Injuries to Tyrone Mings, Heaton, and record-signing Wesley Moraes were also detrimental to the Villans' bid for survival.
Smith tried to mend his team's problems by deploying a back-three to atone for the shortcomings of players like Kortney Hause and Ezri Konsa. He signed Mbwana Samatta in January to add scoring punch up front. But tactics and lineup tinkering can only go so far. He can't do anything from the touchline to account for individual errors on the pitch.
Then, Smith snapped.
"I said to them before the game 'we've got 13 cup finals.' We got deservedly beat and players have played themselves out of another cup final next week," he said after his team was deservedly brushed aside 2-0 at Southampton the week before Sunday's League Cup final.
"My feelings are embarrassment with the performance; it was a dreadful performance."
He pondered whether he had "too many training-ground players" in his squad, and it was a reasonable assessment. Players were leaning too heavily on Grealish's gifts and had consequently become pedestrian. The mistakes weren't unfortunate against Southampton; they were instead the product of players shirking their responsibilities. Those issues were becoming a common feature in matches against their relegation rivals. That's why Smith fumed on the south coast.
Now, after a slender defeat to Manchester City at Wembley, Smith appears to have drawn a response. City restricted Grealish to just one dribble throughout the 90 minutes, but his colleagues didn't cower. It was a proud team performance, and Villa were denied extra time by a matter of inches when Claudio Bravo tipped Bjorn Engels' header onto the post in the 88th minute.
The match may turn out to be the perfect preparation for the club's remaining 11 games of the Premier League season.
"Our next game against Leicester, that will go some way to us retaining our Premier League status," Smith declared.
Further thoughts
Liverpool lost, but Watford won
The fact that Watford took three points on Saturday was buried by the hysteria which greeted Liverpool's loss.
The Hornets started positively against the runaway leaders, but when their most promising attacking outlet, Gerard Deulofeu, went down with what appeared to be a serious knee injury, they looked doomed. The fairy dust from the early days of Nigel Pearson's reign had rubbed off over five winless top-flight games, and Jurgen Klopp's side was chasing history, looking to capture a 19th straight Premier League win.
It seemed a formality from there on out.
But Watford kept it simple. They pressed, they harried. Two-goal hero Ismaila Sarr excellently exploited space down the right flank and ruffled Liverpool's rusty center-back Dejan Lovren on several occasions. Will Hughes and Abdoulaye Doucoure annexed the midfield. It ended 3-0, and it was a fair reflection of Watford's superiority as they hauled themselves out of the bottom three.
Tone-deaf fans
If one of Germany's leading clubs failed to sell out its seating allocation at a final, you suspect the response would be one of collective defiance. The empty seats would be a symptom of the governing bodies taking supporters for granted and pricing them out of games. Fans throughout the nation would be appalled at the big wigs, not the club.
By comparison, the response to Manchester City not selling all of their tickets for Sunday's League Cup final was to blame both the club and its "plastic" fans. City were mocked.
Supporters of English football have nil sense of their combined power and no unity whatsoever. For example, Bundesliga followers across the country protested Monday evening matches due to the demands it put on their personal schedules, and the authorities have vowed to scrap that time slot when the next television contract commences. Together, they made a statement. Fans can make a difference.
But as long as England's football devotees deride other fans rather than the relevant authorities, they will be slighted by the suits. The EFL will continue to price League Cup tickets at around £150 and the Premier League will absentmindedly move kickoff times with no consideration for supporters' diaries.
We're duping ourselves.