Aston Villa v Manchester City Post-Match Thread

[pauliewalnuts]

Am I alone in thinking the Wigan match is now even more important than it was before today?

We absolutely must take the spirit, confidence and boost from a totally unexpected result today and harness it to beat Wigan, and thus create a real platform for the end of the season.

We had that chance after Chelsea and spectacularly blew it. We absolutely must not do that again. If we beat Wigan, we can go 12th. We have got to take the opportunity this time.

[D.boy]

Citeh fans are not happy and believe their title chance has been blown now (page 77 onwards).
Bluemoan

[john e]

so much for Houllier puting out negative teams and formations, as we were told from liverpool fans and others when he first came,

 cant remember a more attacking line up,
and he who dares, wins and all that ....

[achilles]

On that note ... Gabby is completely wasted on the wing.  He'll make a decent sprint for a couple of yards, and then have no clue about what to do with it.   I just don't get it ... it's like putting Friedel at striker or something.  It's not for lack of effort ... he just doesn't belong there.

Totally agree, he can't play on the wing and in the second half he just sulked... absolute waste of time playing him there!

[KevinGage]

Delighted with Bent scoring on debut. Gets that first goal out of the way and should help lessen the burden. Even more delighted with the clean sheet, we'll need a few more of those if we are to pull away from the arse end of the table.

We're still in the shit, but a win on Tuesday and the season takes on a different perspective. A few of the sides above us start dropping points (the reason they're in mid-table is their inconsistency) and suddenly we might be talking about a late and unlikely dash for Europe.

Lets get 35 points on the board ASAP before we start thinking about that, mind.

[madirishvillain]

when was the last time we signed a forward who scored on his debut?

just remembered Heskey did!!!

anybody rem who before Heskey?

was is Savo in a 3-1 win over utd on the first day of the season?

[KevinGage]

Carew had a goal ruled out v Newcastle on his debut.

Scored on his home debut v West Ham IIRC.

[Salsa Party Animal]

I thought it is very cat and mouse game between Man City V Aston Villa and Aston Villa didn't create much but they gave Bent one chance which is enough to score the only goal. I have been watching 2 Man City players like a hawk, I like the left back Alexander Kolarov as he is very good with the ball. Edin Dzeko look promising but he is a bit like Andriy Shevchenko.  Pleased with result.

[Somniloquism]

when was the last time we signed a forward who scored on his debut?

just remembered Heskey did!!!

anybody rem who before Heskey?

was is Savo in a 3-1 win over utd on the first day of the season?

Didn't Dubs score on his debut? And I didn't think Savo did. His first goal was against Blackburn away when he ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Villa fans and was in the LB position when they kicked off.

[madirishvillain]

when was the last time we signed a forward who scored on his debut?

just remembered Heskey did!!!

anybody rem who before Heskey?

was is Savo in a 3-1 win over utd on the first day of the season?

Didn't Dubs score on his debut? And I didn't think Savo did. His first goal was against Blackburn away when he ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Villa fans and was in the LB position when they kicked off.

i though he scored on the first day of the season v manure where we won 3-1?

or was that his 2nd season?

[Bad English]

Barosh scored against Blackburn on his debut. Against Friedel.

[Tony]

Great defensive performance, we defended as a unit, got our bodies in the way and worked our bloody socks off, Downing was excellent in that department, he never stopped running, Gabby at one stage was playing almost like a second left back and put in a decent shift, as they all did.

Now if only we could pass a bit better, we'd have been far more comfortable if we could pass better but the character and commitment tonight was extremely encouraging and although City had loads of possession and loads of corners, their keeper had to make more saves than ours.

Houllier's tactics were spot on.

[usav]

Am I alone in thinking the Wigan match is now even more important than it was before today?

We absolutely must take the spirit, confidence and boost from a totally unexpected result today and harness it to beat Wigan, and thus create a real platform for the end of the season.

We had that chance after Chelsea and spectacularly blew it. We absolutely must not do that again. If we beat Wigan, we can go 12th. We have got to take the opportunity this time.

Agree 100% with this.

[hawkeye]

incredible result, at one point in the second half they had 87% posession, you can not fault the comitment to win a game tonight as we hardly had the ball, absoloutely brilliant

[PeterWithesShin]

when was the last time we signed a forward who scored on his debut?

just remembered Heskey did!!!

anybody rem who before Heskey?

was is Savo in a 3-1 win over utd on the first day of the season?

Phillips v Bolton.

Savo didn't score at VP until the hat-trick v Cov IIRC.