Manchester City v Aston Villa Match Thread

[TonyD]

Bannan and Delph have been great. The rest? Words fail me.

Bannan is a gem.   Messi/Sid player.

[Beijing Villan]

The worst than Moscow talk being trotted out is nonsense. Bent is cuptied and we have a number of players (Cuellar, Collins etc) injured. I'd much rather give a run out to players who will be here next season than Warnock or Beye who have been generally poor this season.

Bannan is playing well, as is Delph and Herd. Would like to see NRC come on for Petrov, and Young/Downing/Albrighton for Heskey

[Brazilian Villain]

Behave. We've been fairly good of late. He's picked the wrong team, which is a big fuck up and really fucking annoying, but for him to go would be pointless.

Golf clap for Ged! We've been fairly good with a squad that finished 6th three seasons running bolstered by a record signing forward and could still get dragged into the relgation mire if this capitulation saps our morale.
 
Sorry, no passion, a lack of regard for the Villa and although getting Bent was a coup I think there are managers out there that could do more with the resources at his disposal. If it has to wait till summer so be it but he just doesn't get it.

[ez]

I think I'd be more disgusted with GH if he completely changes the team at half-time rather than leave it as it is.

That's exactly what I said.  It'd be a bigger kick in the balls than it already is.  I could see Ash coming on at 4-0 and getting sent off or injured.  We have not come from behind to win in almost a year, and that was against relegated Portsmouth. 

I'm glad Ash aint on. Imagine the diving.

[Richard C]

This is all part of Ged's big plan to eventually win things.  The clueless twat couldn't win a raffle.

[Clark W Griswold]

GH talks about giving up.

He surrended this before it even kicked off.     

Utter disgrace.    This is worse than Moscow.

Not sure about that but it's definately VERY shit. On a positive note though Delph and Bannan continue to look like very good young footballers. Don't know what to make of Bradley, he can play a bit (apart from the comedy loose pass just before the end), but he's not the dynamic all action general i was hoping for. He's a bit like what we already have, i.e. Makoun and Petrov.

[Risso]

Evening all.

What an absolute pile of shite, that team selection is absolutely fucking disgraceful.  What little chance we had of winning was blown away when Houllier decided that we might as well chuck it all away.  I wish he'd fuck off.

[The Left Side]

If we were going to put out such a weakened team then fans should have been made aware of it- many will have travelled expecting to see the best team out there and houllier has let them down big time- ambition? I agree with earlier poster , ash will have no doubt about the clubs ambition after tonight, I wish him well and fully understand why he would want to join a club who aim to win trophies.

I'm sure a lot of fans bought tickets after the weekend thinking this would be our biggest game of the season, I feel very bad for the fans who made the trip, just like they did against Moscow. I hope we turn it around but it is a smack in the face for all of us and kind of sums up our season.

[PeterWithesShin]

Well at least we know we can pass it around nicely in our own half. I feel so let down by  the team selection and performance.

[Bad English]

So fuckin glad I had to work and couldn't fly over for this.  I'd have been back at the airport by now.  How fuckin predictable.  It was over at 1-0.  4 minutes!!!

You might have had an evening of better weather though...

[hawkeye]

Well this is squad rotation for you. An average side put out in our last chance of silverware. Since when has concentrating on one thing has to be at the detriment of the other. Houllier has let us, and more importantly the fAns there, with that team. Changes needed at half-time but it's too late now. Any momentum from Saturday should have been played into, not meekly surrunded.

Absoloutely, we come off a decent victory with a team shape playing football and a chance of A qtr final against Reading in the cup we have not won in most of our life times, so we make 8 changes to achieve what? supporting your team is about hopeing for glory and special days, i really am totally confused

[villa1]

Squad rotation isn't really a valid argument. It only works if you are not going to seriously weaken your side when you do it. That's not the case tonight. We've simply rested our best players and put weaker ones in. Fair play to Bannan and Delph, although they have a good shout for our strongest line up anyway.

And I can't agree with this 'they'd have beaten our strongest side anyway' argument. May as well give up on any game against a good side then, despite beating them at ours not so long back.

[paulcomben]

Even Adrian Chiles feels sorry for Villa fans at this peak time TV embarrassment. Jesus wept.

[Richard C]

I wonder if Hou knows about moscow.

[Brian Taylor]

Nil desperandum...oh dear its already 2 desperandum
come on ..give it a go ..please.