Manchester City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[CJ]

a year to win it ?
FA Cup quarter-final draw:
Stoke v West Ham
Man City v Reading
Birmingham v Bolton
Man United v Arsenal

Nothing's certain but we may never get a better chance looking at that draw.  And the really, really scary thing is - and it pains me to say it - but Bloose could be looking at a cup double.

*washes mouth out with bleach*

[pauliewalnuts]

What if our 1st team had lost 4-0 again. Then lost the confidence they had gained and lost against Bolton.

How fucking defeatist is that? Do you really think the confidence of the players is that fragile? It's a cup-tie, a one-off. We were the underdogs anyway so we could have gone and had a bloody good go at it and if we lost, so be it. I fail to see how a defeat tonight would have shattered the players' confidence.

And what will surrendering like that this evening and getting soundly beaten, whilst making us the poster boys for disrespecting the FA Cup in acting like Blackpool or Wigan, do for our confidence?

[LeeB]

Those moaning about team selection= in view of the injuries would you really of preferred to see Beye and Warnock tonight instead of Herd and Delph Don't think he had a lot of choice with regard to the defence and at least they tried.

I just wanted to see a proper team put out, that was capable of giving City a game, and that certainly does mean that I would have preferred Warnock and Beye as full backs. Who wouldn't compared to a couple of kids who between them had never played one first class game in those positions?

The team we put out tonight would have been likely to have problems with most sides in the top 3 divisions.

Absolute disgrace.

I'd rather hold a raffle to play two fans at full-back than play either of those pricks again.

He may as well have done.

I thought the two lads who played did well, given that one had Gabby in front of him and the other had Nathan. Hardly the greatest protection.

[Jockey Randall]

We are a lame, toothless team - Bradley looks no better than the alleged "dead wood" we already have. Feeble.

Give the guy a chance, it was his first game in this country and it was hardly the easiest place to start.

Played at Blackpool... didn`t impress then either. As I keep stating - if he ain`t ready don`t feckin play him ...hardly rocket science.

15 minutes is hardly enough time to get to grips with football in another country. I'd have said the amount of foreign players that take a while to show their top form in England suggests the only way players will get better is by getting plenty of game time under their belt.

[Rico]

I'm in total shock after watching that load of shite! I really, really, really cannot get my head around what has happened tonight.

If the Bolton game is so important, then why not rest all of the first choice players? The team looked and played strangers.

Surely the aim at the start of every season is to win trophies?
I feel totally humiliated by that performance, and in the week that our near neighbours win a major trophy, then why not go hell for leather and try to rescue what has been a disaster of a season. Forgive me, I know Man City are realistically better than us, but they're not Barcelona for god's sake!

There's been too many disasters this season, and it can't just be coincidence that most of them have been since Houllier arrived.

How can us as fans have any faith in the management after this? Even an undefeated run to the end of the season wont hide the disgust that many of us feel after tonight.

The FA cup means a lot to me. I know we haven't won it since 57, but for me when I was a kid, the Cup was the thing of legends. I remember massive crowds in each round. I remember the feeling of disappointment when we lost to West Ham in the late 70s, when Ken McNaught punched the ball.

I think I speak for a lot of us when I say just go now!

[Irreverent ad]

i dont fuckin believe the neighbours are havvin a fuckin party  the bastard blues  they only stopped last night and the cheeky twats banging on the wall singing  there shitty keep right on ,,,,,,,,,,,, and to top it all i just answered the door he's sent his son round to ask me to go round for a fucking beer, i cant take no more of this sort it out lerner ye nob

Do you live in a rough area?

[SO Villa]

What if our 1st team had lost 4-0 again. Then lost the confidence they had gained and lost against Bolton.

How fucking defeatist is that? Do you really think the confidence of the players is that fragile? It's a cup-tie, a one-off. We were the underdogs anyway so we could have gone and had a bloody good go at it and if we lost, so be it. I fail to see how a defeat tonight would have shattered the players' confidence.

Thats not defeatist. It happened earlier in the season and tonight we played a makeshift defence. At the site of our worst performance of the season I think it could be very fragile and affected us for the rest of the season.

If confidence did not matter in football we would be comfortable top half by now.

But since that defeat we've beaten Man City, had a decent run and are (were) a completely different team to two months ago. I just don't see how a defeat in a cup match, whatever the result, could have such a catastrophic effect. They aren't Brazil '70, it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that we could have won tonight.

[TopDeck113]

Not long back in and it I had a cat it would have been the subject to a fucking good kicking.

On Sunday we see out local rivals play above themselves, get a massive slice of good luck, and beat a team that would stuff them nine times out of ten.  How do we respond?  We send out the stiffs against a team whose league form is wobbly and throw away the chance of facing for the second successive year mighty Reading for a place in the semi-final.  Unbelievable.

Then to compound any logic that it was a "the league's more important" selection, he sends on our better players the very moment we go 3-0 down.  I actually hope that Walker. Downing or Young's picked up a knock and is out on Saturday, just to highlight the ludicriousy of that decision.

FA Cup defeat I can take. After all I've experienced it every year I've followed the club.  But please don't ever lose without a fight.   Tonight we had capitulated from the very moment that the team sheet was handed in.  We threw away the competition. There are no positives to be taken, nothing whatsoever to redeem that decision.  It's a fucking disgrace.

[villa `cross the mersey]

We already have Collins, Cuellar, Baker, Makoun and Young unavailable for the weekend, a couple more injuries or suspensions tonight and we'd be in deep shit.

Like I said it isn't what I want to see but surely everyone can see why a manager worried about relegation, and we're still a long way from being safe, might take a more cautious approach. I'm not asking anyone to like it, I'm just saying that I can understand his thinking.

Perhaps a letter to Mr Clattenberg would have sufficed - "Dear Sir, my boys are feeling a little bit sensitive and don`t want to hurt them selves - perhaps they can be excused games today as they want to keep their gym kit nice and clean for sports day on Saturday" yours sincerely , Coco

Utter boll****- my love of the beautiful game took another knock tonight. 

[Irreverent ad]

What if our 1st team had lost 4-0 again. Then lost the confidence they had gained and lost against Bolton.

How fucking defeatist is that? Do you really think the confidence of the players is that fragile? It's a cup-tie, a one-off. We were the underdogs anyway so we could have gone and had a bloody good go at it and if we lost, so be it. I fail to see how a defeat tonight would have shattered the players' confidence.

And what will surrendering like that this evening and getting soundly beaten, whilst making us the poster boys for disrespecting the FA Cup in acting like Blackpool or Wigan, do for our confidence?

who cares what anyone eles thinks about us! Our confidence will be high as the last time we were at full strength we won 4-1. Did you forget?

[bvb]

i dont fuckin believe the neighbours are havvin a fuckin party  the bastard blues  they only stopped last night and the cheeky twats banging on the wall singing  there shitty keep right on ,,,,,,,,,,,, and to top it all i just answered the door he's sent his son round to ask me to go round for a fucking beer, i cant take no more of this sort it out lerner ye nob

now a fukin vans turned up and a load mores singin there avvin a party

[BBNCCW]

i dont fuckin believe the neighbours are havvin a fuckin party  the bastard blues  they only stopped last night and the cheeky twats banging on the wall singing  there shitty keep right on ,,,,,,,,,,,, and to top it all i just answered the door he's sent his son round to ask me to go round for a fucking beer, i cant take no more of this sort it out lerner ye nob

Try fucking living with it since Sunday! What sickens me the most is that it could have been us if it wasn't for Phil wanker Dowd. And I can't even use that as an excuse because they had the same kind of incident and didn't get a pen or a sending off. Watching them walking up those steps made me feel sick. How are they there and we're not? How when we've spent all that money?! And now we have a chance to shove it right back down their throats we play this weakened team?! Does GH know what Blues fans are like? They will never ever let us forget this and by not paying attention to the wants of 9 out of 10 of the fans he's condemned us to bugger all this season and probably some of our better players sodding off because we've got no ambition. This isn't the AVFC I grew up around.

[Lambert and Payne]

On another point, how the fuck wasnt Balotelli sent off?? Clattenburg seen it and booked him, he booked him for an elbow, thats awful refereeing. He shouldnt be anywhere near this league...

[TonyD]

Still bloody pissed off with tonight.   Season over for another year. 

"We will win things"   my ARSE.

[pauliewalnuts]

I like what he's trying to do on the pitch, the way he's going about making us play football, and there are signs it is starting to pay off.

What scares me to death is that this bloke is a walking PR disaster who seems hell bent on driving a wedge between the club and the fans. All that shit at Anfield, the 7th - 12th place comment, all that stuff was totally unnecessary, but we've just started to feel people getting behind him, and he goes and does this.

In terms of PR, he's like O'Leary. It's such a shame, as it is, by and large, totally unnecessary.