Manchester City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[hawkeye]

Having to suffer that was bad, but seeing people on here actually supporting this act of cowardice is even more depressing. They must have a totally different view of what Aston Villa means as a football club.

[Lambert and Payne]

He clearly had Saturday on his mind with that selection. If the full team played 90 minutes (and most likely lost) then have them go to Bolton and lose and we get dragged back down and confidence starts ebbing away. However, go there and win we're suddenly looking up and thinking of the top 6.

Before any of the hysterics have a go at me let me make it clear that, as a fan, it's not what I want to see  but he's a manager and his priority HAS to be staying in the league. I said I would wait and see what happened before judging and the team just wasn't good enough but all that romantic guff about accepting relegation if we win the cup will be the opposite of what Randy expects of him.

On the pre match thread a few people reckoned we had absolutely no chance before they knew what the side was, given that surely you can have no objection to him resting a few of them.

That said, I don't think we were that bad (other than Petrov who had a nightmare), we were just out powered by a team of fucking giants and by conceding the type of goal we've been letting in all season after 4 minutes. We played some reasonable football but without ever looking like we might get back into it and Herd got punished for 2 mistakes.

This

[Mister E]

Bannan, Heard, Bailey don't look the job. Petrov has blown it as has Heskey and need shifting, Dunne, Friedel can't be far behind.

Bannan is unfortunately suffering from lack of stature, IMHO. Herd was out of position, and did okay in the circumstances (why wasn't Walker playing though?!). Bailey?  - don't think he was playing!
Dunne was superb tonight but I agree that Friedel, Petrov and Heskey are past the sell-by date.

Delph, Clarke, Walker looked superb

Tonight we hardly had a chance to assess Walker, but Clark was excellent and Delph (although he gave the ball away too much) is still a class act.

Oh nice to see the knives back out again from the Houllier out fan club, don't take much does it, typical H&V over reaction.

Your post is not exactly heart-warming for Hou.

[swiss1968]

GH is a popcorn fart !!!!

[spangley1812]

Having to suffer that was bad, but seeing people on here actually supporting this act of cowardice is even more depressing. They must have a totally different view of what Aston Villa means as a football club.

Spot on

[villa `cross the mersey]

He clearly had Saturday on his mind with that selection. If the full team played 90 minutes (and most likely lost) then have them go to Bolton and lose and we get dragged back down and confidence starts ebbing away. However, go there and win we're suddenly looking up and thinking of the top 6.

Before any of the hysterics have a go at me let me make it clear that, as a fan, it's not what I want to see  but he's a manager and his priority HAS to be staying in the league. I said I would wait and see what happened before judging and the team just wasn't good enough but all that romantic guff about accepting relegation if we win the cup will be the opposite of what Randy expects of him.

On the pre match thread a few people reckoned we had absolutely no chance before they knew what the side was, given that surely you can have no objection to him resting a few of them.

That said, I don't think we were that bad (other than Petrov who had a nightmare), we were just out powered by a team of fucking giants and by conceding the type of goal we've been letting in all season after 4 minutes. We played some reasonable football but without ever looking like we might get back into it and Herd got punished for 2 mistakes.

Sums up exactly how I feel.

Sums up just how shit football is these days.... 16th is the new 4th - FFS

[BBNCCW]

Evening gents, have just joined after feeling compelled to after watching that utter shower. Feel like I'm in a living nightmare, especially after those over the road winning on Sunday. I keep getting texts about lack of ambition, never thought I'd see the day that after spending 18-24 million on a player I'd be saying I feel like the Blose have more ambition than us, squad and manager.

Hubbie's a blues fan and I've been having to put up with the replays of every round so far. Particularly galling to watch Gardner and Ridgewell running round in there bloody winners medals. Really thought we could get through tonight with the incentive of Reading in the next round and City drawing at the weekend and with all due respect to the Royals we'd have had another trip to Wembley on our hands and a bloody good chance of silverware. Now I'm going to have to put up with him lording the bloody cup over me for another year, he wont stop singing 'While we're in Europe, the city is yours'. This is by far the shittest few days of this season. Thank you GH for making my home life close to unbearable.

Absolutely gutted tonight.

[5ft811st2 Durham]

He clearly had Saturday on his mind with that selection. If the full team played 90 minutes (and most likely lost) then have them go to Bolton and lose and we get dragged back down and confidence starts ebbing away. However, go there and win we're suddenly looking up and thinking of the top 6.

Before any of the hysterics have a go at me let me make it clear that, as a fan, it's not what I want to see  but he's a manager and his priority HAS to be staying in the league. I said I would wait and see what happened before judging and the team just wasn't good enough but all that romantic guff about accepting relegation if we win the cup will be the opposite of what Randy expects of him.

On the pre match thread a few people reckoned we had absolutely no chance before they knew what the side was, given that surely you can have no objection to him resting a few of them.

That said, I don't think we were that bad (other than Petrov who had a nightmare), we were just out powered by a team of fucking giants and by conceding the type of goal we've been letting in all season after 4 minutes. We played some reasonable football but without ever looking like we might get back into it and Herd got punished for 2 mistakes.

That's right.

I don't think it's right at all. With the squad that we've got if Houllier can't manage to keep us in the top flight as well as having a bit of a cup run then really he's in the wrong job, and I'm certain he is.

[hipkiss92]

Bannan, Heard, Bailey don't look the job. Petrov has blown it as has Heskey and need shifting, Dunne, Friedel can't be far behind.

I thought Bannan was, along with Clark, our best player tonight, unfortunately when he picked up the ball and looked for a pass the front three weren't moving to receive it and therefore his passing ability was wasted.

[Irreverent ad]

Disgraceful! yesterday Houllier said how dissapointed he was with how we gave up at City last time we played there then he goes and gives up before a balls even been kicked, just as he was starting to win a few fans over, im fuming, credit to Chris Herd, our best performer, Petrov and Bradley were fucking awful

I thought we were far more committed than the last time. Also thought Herd was awful.

Everyone is saying we will stay up and we should have gone for it. But it was only 1 game ago a lot of people were concerned.

I am prepared to write the FA Cup off this season. I will judge him from next season.

[nick harper]

I understand why he made the decision but the club seems to be no closer to understanding the mood of the fans and the years of pain for someone like me who is in their 40's and never seen us win this trophy.

It depresses me to see my club being scoffed at on the tv and radio and put in the same bracket as clubs like Wigan, Wolves and Blackburn who just bow out of this competition meekly because of money and fear.

The emotion, passion and thrill of supporting your club and those memorable moments are eroded by the game that has become a grubby business where the supporter is no longer even an afterthought.

[hipkiss92]

Evening gents, have just joined after feeling compelled to after watching that utter shower. Feel like I'm in a living nightmare, especially after those over the road winning on Sunday. I keep getting texts about lack of ambition, never thought I'd see the day that after spending 18-24 million on a player I'd be saying I feel like the Blose have more ambition than us, squad and manager.

Hubbie's a blues fan and I've been having to put up with the replays of every round so far. Particularly galling to watch Gardner and Ridgewell running round in there bloody winners medals. Really thought we could get through tonight with the incentive of Reading in the next round and City drawing at the weekend and with all due respect to the Royals we'd have had another trip to Wembley on our hands and a bloody good chance of silverware. Now I'm going to have to put up with him lording the bloody cup over me for another year, he wont stop singing 'While we're in Europe, the city is yours'. This is by far the shittest few days of this season. Thank you GH for making my home life close to unbearable.

Absolutely gutted tonight.

Divorce the bastard.

[ChrissyPrice]

Houllier has just ramped up the pressure on himself and made the Bolton game far more important than it ever needed to be.

[barrysleftfoot]

    Not sure i want to see Petrov or Heskey in a Villa shirt again.


     Being realistic about tonight, this season was always going to be a transitional season, and you could argue that even our 1st team woud have struggled to beat, qute frankly a very good, strong Citeeeh team.So instead he decided to have a look at how some of the kids handled themselves against top quality opposition.As i said earlie, it was'nt the players who were rafted in who let usdown, but the more senior pros.

   Tonights game could make Bannan/Clark/Fonz/Herd/Delph, how farthey have to go, and how hard they have to work, and tbh none of them were out of their depth tonight.


  I was disappointed with the chosen team, but unfortunately especially with a combination of Bloose winning, cub accounts , and the previous encounter at Citeeeeh, i think we were beaten before we had started.

[Jockey Randall]

This is a massive over reaction in my book. People are so quick to point the blame at Houllier when to me it's clearly the state of football itself that the competition has stooped as low as this. I think it needed a game like tonight for people in the game to sit up and take notice that they have a dying product on their hands in the FA cup. Football cannot go on the way it's going with the chumps league sides so dominant because at the deep roots of the game we as fans are the most important part and we will not stand for it and will ultimately vote with our feet. Going down would set this club back 5 years at least because of the way money dominates the game and Ged or whoever sees it as a risk not worth taking which to be honest I can't really argue with looking at the current state of the game.