Manchester City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[ktvillan]

With regards the lino's performance and bribery/corruption, when was the last time a match offical was sentenced to championship duty for giving a bad decision in, say, a match between the likes of Fulham and Wigan?

If the decisions yesterday had gone against ManU rather than us, a) Fergie would be gobbing off for days about it b) SSN would wheel out any number of experts saying how bad the linesman's performance was c) It would be a while before the linesman officiated at the top level again.

It is no longer the  case that officials are worried about losing 'top matches'. The result of making officials highly paid is that it hits them in the pocket if they piss off the wrong people.

Witness last week when we went 2-0 up. Ferguson wanted the tempo of the game to remain high. He immediately got on the referee's case with the watch pointing act. The referee was then straight in the face of Guzan at the very next goal kick about time wasting. The commentators actually talked in affectionate terms about what was going on. Late in the game with ManU 3-2 up their goalkeeper seemed to be at liberty to read a few chapters of War and Peace before taking a free kick.

Geoff Winter openly said a few years ago that if he booked too many of the wrong players someone would have a word in his ear. It will be interesting to see how much comment/aitime is devoted to the linesman's performance on Saturday.

I cannot believe that clubs are bribing officials as such. It is far more subtle than that.

Whether this all constitutes corruption depends upon how you look at it. The fact remains that people have gone to prison in Italy in part for doing things that are seemingly accepted as the prerogative of certain managers in this country.

It was earlier in the match thread that we have become paying customers rather than supporters. That happened years ago. It feels as if we are fast becoming extras in a production that makes a lot of money for broadcasters and the Premier League alike.

As they are the de facto rulers of the game I don't see anything changing soon.

Interesting points Steve, and even "manipulation" such as a word in the ear is clear corruption, because it's undue influence.  And let's not forget the  FA have some vested interests - the bigger richer clubs are relied upon to provide the bulk of the England team and need to be kept sweet.  Sky also need to be kept sweet by making sure all the big name players are available as often as possible for super wankfest Sunday.  Too many yellow cards doesn't facilitate that.  The officials themselves may not be corrupt per se but it would be utterly naive to suppose that the system in which they operate doesn't have it's darker elements.  And that means they are under tremendous pressure to "cooperate" by "selling the product". 

[Percy McCarthy]

Indeed. It doesn't have to involve money changing hands to be corrupt.

[Risso]

Are we still banging on about that bad decision?  What are the excuses for all the other games we've failed to win?

[Rip Van We Go Again]

The standard default now seems to be
'We're not as bad as we were under McLeish.'

Whoopey-do!

[Irish villain]

Our prestige has taken such a hammering. That's the thing about the coming window, it's not like 06/07. Who can we attract into the squad?

[Risso]

The standard default now seems to be
'We're not as bad as we were under McLeish.'

Whoopey-do!

Even though we're clearly worse.  The football is maybe marginally better, but the results are far worse, so overall it's hard to argue that Lambert is cutting the mustard.

[Pat McMahon]

I saw a Southampton mate last night who was obviously ecstatic.

He reckons QPR are the worst team he has seen this season and that their fans are now baying for a new manager, doubtless just before we play them.

After them, we are by far the worst team he has seen this season. He honestly reckons they will finish above us,. Worryingly he reckons they will finish 18th.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

The standard default now seems to be
'We're not as bad as we were under McLeish.'

Whoopey-do!

Even though we're clearly worse.  The football is maybe marginally better, but the results are far worse, so overall it's hard to argue that Lambert is cutting the mustard.

Ah well, 'we go again next week.'

[Monty]

Are we still banging on about that bad decision?  What are the excuses for all the other games we've failed to win?

Wasn't aware this was the 'every other game' post-match thread.

[ROBBO]

What other club has sold all their best players within three years without adequate replacement? we are poor all over the park, defence inexperienced with a kid at left back that needs a lot longer in the reserves,midfield weak and lacking in creativity not up to prem standard and forwards there is just Benteke to offer a constant threat, this is not knocking the manager not even SAF could make this squad half decent.

[silhillvilla]

If we'd lost 1-0 and that penalty was the only goal then yes we could be furious we'd been robbed of a point.
But we lost 5-0, they had 70% possession, it was a non contest. Blaming the linesman is just stupid and lambert in his post match interview only talked about that one incident. I found that quite infuriating.

[Risso]

What other club has sold all their best players within three years without adequate replacement? we are poor all over the park, defence inexperienced with a kid at left back that needs a lot longer in the reserves,midfield weak and lacking in creativity not up to prem standard and forwards there is just Benteke to offer a constant threat, this is not knocking the manager not even SAF could make this squad half decent.

Lambert chose to spend the money available to him how he did.  To take a squad that even McLeish managed to keep up, spend £20m adding players to it, and then make it worse takes some doing.  All this "well at least he's trying to play football" just doesn't wash either.  Just about every other manager in the league would have a more positive approach than McLeish, but that doesn't mean they're good enough to keep us up.  Lambert is doing an absolutely rotten job so far.

[David_Nab]

Very depressing at moment once again I find myself looking at other clubs managers Houghton,Clark for instance and wonder how we ended up with a boss doing worse than them.

This time last season Lambert's Norwich only had  one more win that us so hopefully we will follow the same route.

[VillaAlways]

What other club has sold all their best players within three years without adequate replacement? we are poor all over the park, defence inexperienced with a kid at left back that needs a lot longer in the reserves,midfield weak and lacking in creativity not up to prem standard and forwards there is just Benteke to offer a constant threat, this is not knocking the manager not even SAF could make this squad half decent.

Problem is half the squad he has bought

[David_Nab]

Just looked at Norwich results from last season..not awe inspiring a draw with Arsenal and beating Spurs were best scalps.Beat 6-1 but Man City at home ,wins were against QPR ,Bolton ,Swansea Wolves...

Starting to worry now..