Aston Villa v Manchester City Match Thread

[Irish villain]

McLeish really doesn't do himself any favours. If today goes badly he will have mad such a target of himself. Just when we don't need this kind of crap.

[timeoutbigbar]

I don't mind Gardner starting, but in that lineup it will be a miracle if he can shine.  Horrible situation to be brought in to.

[ozzjim]

It is a horrible line up though. Our lack of central midfield options is mind boggling.

[Martyn Smith]

At least with Zog and Ireland on the bench we have a couple of potential game changers. Makes a nice change...

[pauliewalnuts]

Heskey is the least physical big man I've ever seen.

Honestly, if we feel the need to field a non-scoring striker in midfield, then we really are a bit of a mess.

[Irish villain]

At least with Zog and Ireland on the bench we have a couple of potential game changers. Makes a nice change...

I guess that's true.

[Merv]

Our two most creative players on the bench; a horrible, unbalanced back four and Heskey included where - left midfield? The kind of selection from McLeish that I've come to fear and which makes me question, again, his understanding of the game.

We've taken two big steps back today, in my opinion. Could be an 'interesting' afternoon.

[hawkeye]

The only way to counter the top teams is to close space and try to keep the ball, if we had another midfielder instead of Heskey it might work, madness

[Compass]

We deserve to lose by that lineup. It's anti-football. You don't start old man Heskey out of position over Ireland or N'Zogbia. Basically what McLeish is doing is he's putting his own personal problems before the club.

What a ridiculous post. Man City are a big, physical side and he's in there to try to counter that. We improved last week when he came on.

N'Zogbia has physical attributes and got an assist in the Newcastle game. Before that he got a goal against QPR. Are you saying Heskey is better option than N'Zogbia in midfield? 

[PaulWinch again]

Heskey is the least physical big man I've ever seen.

Honestly, if we feel the need to field a non-scoring striker in midfield, then we really are a bit of a mess.

Yep totally agree, also at Newcastle we were at our best in the first half with the creative players on the field.

[pauliewalnuts]

If we're talking about Heskey inproving us at Newcastle, we were best in the first half - he didn't come on till 25 odd minutes to go.

[PaulWinch again]

If we're talking about Heskey inproving us at Newcastle, we were best in the first half - he didn't come on till 25 odd minutes to go.

Ha great minds!

[GordonCowansisthegreatest]

I just am staggered he's picked Heskey, I genuinely can't fathom it.

The plain facts are; that Heskey does as he's told. Ireland and N'zog do not. They were both faulted by McLeish for not tackling back and shutting down the flanks to prevent crosses from coming into the box. Then told the manager to f@ck off.
Both were substituted so it's no surprise to me that they now find themselves on the bench.

[Irish villain]

Shay 'we're all in this together'

[Apyadg]

We deserve to lose by that lineup. It's anti-football. You don't start old man Heskey out of position over Ireland or N'Zogbia. Basically what McLeish is doing is he's putting his own personal problems before the club.

What a ridiculous post. Man City are a big, physical side and he's in there to try to counter that. We improved last week when he came on.

How exactly is Emile Bastard Heskey going to counter Man City's physical style of play? Is he going to aggressively fall over in their general direction?

When was the last time he contributed anything at all?