Aston Villa vs Sheffield United: Five things we learned from the first Premier League game in three months

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

Find out moreClose

As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.

Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn't have the resources to challenge those in power.

Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election

Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

After three months of waiting – 100 days to be precise – football fans finally had their thirst for Premier League football quenched on Wednesday evening.

While some couldn’t help but note that Aston Villa versus Sheffield United is not the most explosive event on paper, what happens on paper is not what happens on the pitch, and the clash at Villa Park proved to be eventful for a variety of reasons.

Although the teams played out a 0-0 draw, the first game back in the English top flight provided plenty to discuss. Here are five things we learned:

Goal-line technology can (seemingly) fail

Firstly, the elephant on the pitch: Goal-line technology seemingly failed to work in a rather disarming moment at Villa Park.

While VAR has been subject of intense criticism over the last year, goal-line technology has appeared to function flawlessly every single time that it has been called upon since its inception. Trust in the system has now been shaken, however, after Oliver Norwood’s free-kick appeared to be carried over the line by a stumbling Orjan Nyland in the first half. There have been close calls before, but this did not seem to be one of them, with the ball visibly touching the very rear of the goal-post. Should VAR have been consulted? Could it have been?

There were suggestions that referee Michael Oliver’s watch buzzed to indicate a goal during half-time – minutes after the incident in question had occurred. If true, that would confirm that the technology failed, which is a rather alarming development, especially when one considers the significance of the goal that wasn’t; it could have played a pivotal role in Sheffield United’s pursuit of Champions League football, and in Aston Villa’s struggle for survival. And what if Villa stay up by a point as a result of this moment, condemning another team to relegation? The fallout could be seismic.

Sterile scenes not enough to ruin real feel of football

‘DO NOT USE’ signs on pitch-side seats, staff sporting protective masks in the tunnel, goal-posts being wiped down before kick-off, empty stands – the list of abnormal sights on Wednesday evening was extensive. But as soon as the teams strode onto the pitch, evidently eager to get back on the ball, it started to feel like a proper matchday.

The music pulsing through the stadium’s PA speakers, the players lining up, the Premier League-branded stand thing that they prop up on the half-way line – the list of familiar sights on Wednesday evening was extensive, too, with its items proving comforting in their familiarity.

Also worth noting is that players did not seem to be particularly rusty. The Bundesliga and La Liga fixtures that have taken place so far suggested that Premier League teams would also adapt quickly, and that proved to be the case at Villa Park.

Football does not exist in a bubble

As much as there was some comfort in the sense of normality that the return of the Premier League provided, the hope was always that the top flight would only come back when it was safe enough to do so. Is this week’s resumption of play premature? Perhaps it would even be premature to make a judgement on that, but a moment of silence before kick-off – in tribute to those who have lost their lives to coronavirus – was a reminder that the stakes are still much higher off the pitch than on it.

Villa coach Dean Smith recently lost his father, a former steward at Villa Park, to Covid-19, and the sight of a steward’s jacket laid upon an empty seat in honour of Smith Sr was another relevant reminder of what the world is battling during sport’s return.

Taking a knee means taking a step forward

Football has been too slow and reactive when it comes to tackling the issue of racism. With the recent growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, the hope among so many people has been that significant, long-lasting change is finally upon us, and when every single player on the pitch at Villa Park physically took a knee after the opening whistle went, football seemed to symbolically take a step forward – no matter how small. Even more powerful was the image of referee Oliver joining the players in kneeling as soon as he had blown his whistle.

With players sporting shirts with ‘Black Lives Matter’ on the back, the act of kneeling seemed like a possibility ahead of the Premier League’s return. But seeing it actually happen still took many of us aback, judging from the tone of social media timelines and commentators’ voices. Some more cynical observers might question the effectiveness of such a moment, but the potential impact of Premier League players using such a vast and visible platform to raise awareness around an important issue should not be overlooked.

Viewing experience was hit and miss

Fake crowd noise seemed to be receive more criticism than praise from those watching the game, and that’s understandable. That factor felt insincere and, at times, distracting. Following along without the fake crowd noise actually allowed a deeper immersion in what was a unique situation; there was something more intriguing in hearing calls of “In it goes,” “Release,” and “Watch him, watch him!”

Elsewhere, there was a more effective element to the broadcast: Replays of key moments in the match were at times accompanied by footage of a collection of fans reacting from their own homes. While nothing can match the sight of tens of thousands of supporters experiencing one moment in emotional symbiosis, seeing these fans from various households presented as one group went some way to capturing what football has always been about: its ability to bring a large number of people together.