A selection of Aston Villa fans have been reacting on social media to a club post throwing back to 2007, when a goal from John Carew helped the Villans beat Manchester City 2-0.
Villa travelled to the City of Manchester Stadium on April 28, 2007, 11th in the Premier League standings, having won nine of their 35 games played and taking 16 draws – the most in the division by one to 15th placed Fulham.
The Sky Blues were just one-point behind Villa at that stage of the term, but were unable to prevent Martin O’Neill’s men from opening a four-point margin and keeping the pressure on Blackburn Rovers for a top-half finish, while ninth and higher were mathematically out of reach for the Birmingham-based outfit.
Carew opened the scoring against Man City in the 24th-minute, when Ashley Young worked the ball onto his right foot to deliver a teasing cross into the box.
Former Norway international Carew met Young’s delivery on the edge of the six-yard area, to nod the ball past a hapless Andreas Isaksson, who anticipated the ball landing at the far post rather than in the heart of the net.
Shaun Maloney later gave the visiting Villans a two-goal lead in the 75th-minute, when his free-kick from the edge of the area floated over the six-man wall and into the bottom corner of Isaksson’s net in front of the travelling fans.
The win was Villa’s first over City since 2002, having suffered eight defeats in ten encounters across all competitions in between (11v11), but would not have to wait as long for another, as the Claret and Blue side would beat the Sky Blues in August 2008 4-2.
Fans reacting to their club’s throwback post on the match from 2007 have shared a range of messages, with one noting that Carew was a ‘brilliant’ player.
The former Valencia, AS Roma and Besiktas forward joined Villa from Olympique Lyonnais in January of 2007 on the same day Milan Baros went the other direction (Standard), and went on to play 131 games for the Villa Park outfit (TransferMarkt).
Carew scored 48 times across all competitions before leaving Birmingham for Stoke in 2011, with three ten-goal plus seasons in the Premier League.
A player who was briiliant 1?
— Clive Avfc 29 (@29Avfc) October 24, 2019
Another Villa fan reacting to the Villans’ throwback post has focused on Young’s involvement in Carew’s opening goal against Man City, and noting how his career has fared since.
Young moved to Manchester United in 2011 for £17million (Independent), and featured in 25 Premier League games during his debut season at Old Trafford (TransferMarkt), and registered his most assists as a Red Devil with six.
The former England international established himself as a perennial fringe option for the following seasons, before playing 30 games in each of the 2017/18 and 18/19 campaigns.
Young, a 39-cap Three Lions man, has made seven outings this term for a total of 592 minutes.
The Villa fan who mentioned Young pointed to the 34-year-old’s crossing abilities, having made 21 accurate deliveries in the Premier League this season to 31 mishit balls (WhoScored). He also only managed to find a teammate with 42 of his 197 deliveries last season.
I bet the Man United fans love this – Ashley Young really could cross a ball. Then….
— D?? (@villanonabike) October 24, 2019
The most overriding topic mentioned by Villa fans in reply to their club’s post was focusing on Manchester City, and the Etihad Stadium natives’ progress made in the past decade.
Having ended the 2006/07 term 14th in the Premier League, City rose to ninth in 07/08 before dropping to tenth in 09/10, but have never finished outside the top-five since and have lifted four top-flight crowns, two FA Cups and four EFL Cups.
The Sky Blues have also spent vast sums to achieve their success, with TransferMarkt figures showing a net spend of minus-£1,245,690,000 since the start of the 2007/08 season.
Mad to think that since then they’ve spent the GDP of a small country on players ?
— Noel Gerard Loughrey (@NGLoughrey) October 24, 2019
Ah.. before Man City were “massive”… Correlation to that being..? #UTV
— Razor Sharpe ?? (@Razor_Sharper) October 24, 2019
Emptyhad
— AVFCUTV (@Danvilla84) October 24, 2019
before Arab oil money pic.twitter.com/8ivkqYk112
— Jason Watdrog (@ArmaanJanuzaj) October 24, 2019