Aston Villa v Manchester City Post-Match Thread

[cdward]

Ready made cover for the next H&V

Daft Punk's new album cover.

Villa are out of this league

[olaftab]

Rubbish. They barely had to ease out of first gear to beat us. We're just far too easy to play against. I'll be amazed if we stay up. We are basically a shit football team at the moment and we're kidding ourselves if we think otherwise.

Is the right answer

Yes I saw the 11 deck chairs out there on the pitch that city players were lounging on....utter bollox spouted here my lord!

[Small Rodent]

Tevez scored the winner and denied a certain Villa goal, but Kolo Toure got Man of the Match, which probably shows that Villa did a bit more than fanny about.

Much as I like Benteke, playing to his head does become a percentage game.

What's the magic number of games when our players click and change from inexperienced to experienced?

[peter w]

After 28 league games should just about do it.

[Nev]

People need faith. The next two games remind me of the feeling after Christmas fans saying that the results that went before won't really matter as long as we beat X and Y. But we didn't beat them.

Once bitten, twice shy.

[eastie]

Too many players didn't deliver last night , delph was the best player but the likes of lowton and westwood look tired - gabby and nzogbia were poor -we need everyone pulling their weight from here - one real attempt last night on target and the lack of creativity coupled with another poor defensive mistake for the goal are cause for concern.

It is time for players and management to stand up and be counted - we cannot afford to carry passengers. Delph will be a major loss!

[bertlambshank]

Rubbish. They barely had to ease out of first gear to beat us. We're just far too easy to play against. I'll be amazed if we stay up. We are basically a shit football team at the moment and we're kidding ourselves if we think otherwise.

Is the right answer

Yes I saw the 11 deck chairs out there on the pitch that city players were lounging on....utter bollox spouted here my lord!

Your the one talking bollocks.Was it the 'highlights' you saw was it?
That didn't take you very long then.

[Mister E]

This season will not be decided on the basis of defeat to City - it will, in all probability, be decided over the next two weeks, and we'll have learned very little from facing City and Arsenal how we're likely to do against Reading and QPR.

I thought that we played rather well, in the main. City weren't particularly inspired but they were solid as a rock and better sides than us will fail to break through them with performances like that. It really felt like a 0-0 in which they were the better side, except for the fact that we gifted them a thoroughly needless goal, which was frustrating in the extreme - especially for Clark, who did an awful lot right and slipped at the worst possible moment.

As for the players? Well, Guzan is a top-class keeper, and keeps proving this. I thought Lowton played as well as he has for months, while Clark will, as I've mentioned, be ruing the mistake which ruined his performance. Baker looked impetuous though, I thought, and Bennett is as whispy and half-hearted as that tufty excuse for a beard on his chin. Westwood looked a touch off the pace but was generally competent, and Delph was terrific until the most stupid yellow card I've seen in a while - ruling him out for our crucial pair of upcoming games and showing once again that he just has to mature. Up front, it just wasn't working for Weimann and Zog, and they didn't seem to have much spark. Gabby was a threat, though, and Benteke was a handful - although I'm wondering exactly how many of Mike Dean's relatives he must have killed or maimed to have got so many decisions go against him.

Overall, no shame in this, and we looked more like a mid-table side than relegation fodder. The trouble is we're in a dogfight, and it's all very well losing respectably to the champions of England when nobody expects anything from them, but they need to perform under the intense pressure of the last two weeks. Tonight and last week have taught us next to nothing about whether or not they will.

Pretty much my thoughts.
I'd add that Lowton needed to improve his first half performance, and did in the second.
Clark did well for most of the game but his mistake, playing on his weaker right side, was foolish to say the least.
Baker's distribution is shocking: why do we keep playing it back to him?
Delph was excellent - and the booking very harsh.
I was angered by N'Zog; once again, he went missing in action. And on a night when Weimann was not firing properly, leaving us light i nour support of Benteke.

We travelled down with a Citeh fan who - on the way back - expressed real surprise at our plight: he was complimentary about the way we played whilst admitting that his team was off the pace on the night.

[sid1964]

Thought we played OK, but it seemed to me if we would have scored then City would have raised there game and scored again.

But I think we are improving, the next 2 games are vital...

[walsall villain]

Too many players didn't deliver last night , delph was the best player but the likes of lowton and westwood look tired - gabby and nzogbia were poor -we need everyone pulling their weight from here - one real attempt last night on target and the lack of creativity coupled with another poor defensive mistake for the goal are cause for concern.

It is time for players and management to stand up and be counted - we cannot afford to carry passengers. Delph will be a major loss!

Delph did play very well, it's a big concern and awful timing for us that he will miss the next two. I thought city defended very well, they always seemed to have more than enough players defending and read all our attempts to play through them. When we did get the ball out wide, the crosses were not good, mainly from the full backs. NZog didn't get going and Gabby tried but as is fatten the case at home, looked no threat. Need no less than 4 points from next two but I wouldn't bet on us getting them.

[JUAN PABLO]

Delph was very good last night , as was Guzan .There was just no quality from the rest of the team , we really needed Nzogbia and Gabby to step up but they were both awful last night .

If that had been a rocking St.marys at Soton or even a loftus road , those teams would have got a point .We seem to be breaking  new dreadful records every week .    No less than 6 points next two games or goodbye Villa.

[Mister E]

Oh, and whilst we continue to float in those corners and free kicks we will never score from them! Why can't the coaching staff get players to drive the ball in with a bit of pace?!

It is mad to give defences such an easy time on set pieces.

[Mortimer's Bear]

Oh, and whilst we continue to float in those corners and free kicks we will never score from them! Why can't the coaching staff get players to drive the ball in with a bit of pace?!

It is mad to give defences such an easy time on set pieces.

That wound me up too last night!

[Ads]

We looked quite dangerous from corners last night. Citeh made two very telling clearences.

Monbert, I said the exact same thing as you last night to a friend; we looked like a mid-table side. We competed well, made if difficult for Man CIty, restricted them to three chances, but despite having a fair bit of the ball, we didn't have the quality in the final third to move the game on and create more.

Its quite amazing though to think that we cannot earn a penalty when the linesman is staring at the most obvious handball you will ever see, yet a few short months ago a linesman in the same position somehow managed to see something that wasn't there. Its funny how these things never balance out for the clubs who aren't competing at the top.

[CJ]

Oh, and whilst we continue to float in those corners and free kicks we will never score from them! Why can't the coaching staff get players to drive the ball in with a bit of pace?!

It is mad to give defences such an easy time on set pieces.

That wound me up too last night!

Me too - and the one near the end that Lowton just floated onto the top of Hart's net just about finished me off

Just saw some brief highlights on da beeb = thought Benteke had tried to buy a penalty but just saw replay for first time and thought it was pretty stonewall