Aston Villa v Manchester City Post-Match Thread

[gervilla]

One positive from the day, Warnock not setting foot on the pitch.
Carlos did a good job today .

Well Dunne is going to be out for a bit so Warnock will be back for Wigan. Can't believe McLeish talks up Ireland and CNZ and then benched them. Heskey Ffs! If he plays play him up front you clown. Albrighton is just too lightweight for me. Positives - the defence were ok and Gardner looked decent and hungry for the ball.
What I'd give for a Lambert or Brendan Rogers!

Thanks, you've just pissed in my chips.

[VillaAlways]

Ciaran Clark out for a few weeks with knee ligament injury GREAT!!:(

[gabbyisgod]

So if we had held on for point or nicked a 1-0 would you be happy with the performance?

[SoccerHQ]

The McLeish set up is one of high risk. High risk in that if you set up so negatively (particularly in home games) you have to get some sort of result out of it.

He was good at this at SHA as they did (somehow) go unbeaten at home for a year playing like this.

So far it's failed every single time we've done this. At Spurs. At home to Manure. Home to Liverpool. And today.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

So if we had held on for point or nicked a 1-0 would you be happy with the performance?

That's the thing, there's such a fine line between success and failure in the PL right now. Sunderland defended, backs to the wall for 93 minutes against Man City and snatch a late winner with the last kick of the game. I'm sure their fans weren't complaining.

[pauliewalnuts]

So if we had held on for point or nicked a 1-0 would you be happy with the performance?

What is the point of this? We didn't, did we?

But no, I would have been unhappy with the performance but happy with the least deserved point I have seen in years.

[FatSam]

Put that one in the Spurs,Utd,Liverpool file. When your plan A is so waffer thin,your never gonna have a chance. He ended up with the team he shouldve have started with.

This has happened too many times now,and its getting harder and harder to give McCleish a break,a lot of the time he does himself no favours at all.

Its interesting that we won away at Chelsea playing Agbonlahor, N'Zogbia, Ireland, and Albrighton from the start. Bent was coming back from injury I think, and came on later. In fact the three substitutes who came on were all attacking players; Bent, Bannan, and Gardner. Even if we had lost that game I don't think there would have been much criticism of the approach. Setting us up as AML did today, especially at home, is disappointing.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

So far it's failed every single time we've done this. At Spurs. At home to Manure. Home to Liverpool. And today.

Indeed. You do have to wonder what was going through his head, especially when the Villa fans appreciated the approach in the Arsenal game, despite losing.

[paul_e]

So if we had held on for point or nicked a 1-0 would you be happy with the performance?

Anyone who's a fan would've been happy if we'd won.  0-0 I'd have been annoyed but accepted that it was a decent result despite  a shit performance.

The reality is we played for 0-0 and didn't manage it, the game plan failed and we don't have anything positive to fall back on.

Yes we defended well for times but could anyone really see the game not becoming more and more about us retreating to the edge of the box and circling the wagons if they hadn't scored when they did?  When did we last attempt to do that and actually succeed?

Man city have proven recently that when they're away if you press them high up the pitch and make them work for their space they get a bit desperate, lump it forward and leave gaps, 2 managers who could do exactly that with our group of players have done exactly that to them with their respective teams in the last few weeks.  Sitting deep and letting them probe away was always a dangerous tactic, particularly when you defend set pieces as badly as we have for the last 18months.

[gabbyisgod]

You said its not about loosing its the performance.

IMO we are more likely to pull something out the hat setting up like that then attacking them.

[andyh]

You said its not about loosing its the performance.

IMO we are more likely to pull something out the hat setting up like that then attacking them.

but we didn't though did we.

[Vanilla]

It might have been discussed, but did anyone see the quote in the Sunday Mirror today from the manager, saying RL will allow him to make a grandstand signing in the summer, even if it means unbalancing the clubs wage structure!!!

Where did that come from, and what was the agenda?

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/transfer-news/Aston-Villa-Alex-McLeish-backed-by-Randy-Lerner-to-make-big-signing-article864128.html

[Apyadg]

The quotes from him don't say what the article does, so I wouldn't pay much attention to it. Bullshit from the Mirror.

[pauliewalnuts]

You said its not about loosing its the performance.

IMO we are more likely to pull something out the hat setting up like that then attacking them.

I mean people aren't moaning because we've lost, that's hardly a surprise. They're so unhappy because we were so unambitious about it.

What happened against Arsenal at home? We lost but had a right go at them, and then went and win at Chelsea. We also got the fans behind us.

Today was like Spurs, Liverpool and Man United, and we've got two whole weeks to mope about it.

It was horrible ambition free nonsense (again) of exactly the type he played last season, and the damage will go way beyond zero points.

[gabbyisgod]

You said its not about loosing its the performance.

IMO we are more likely to pull something out the hat setting up like that then attacking them.

but we didn't though did we.

We attacked arsenal who are a much worse team then city and lost.

If i had a choice between setting up that way or attacking them i know which i think would be more likely to get us 3 points.