Aston Villa v Manchester City Pre-Match Thread

[Toronto Villa]

Fuck it. We're going to win. We've beaten them at our place and we've battered them at theirs in between taking a few kickings ourselves. We can win this and will put in a top performance to knock them off their perch. 2-1 Villa, Gabby and Kozak.

[eamonn]

Who should we go for in midfield? Sylla, Delph and...? Al Achmady? We need as much brute force as possible to stop that lanky streak from the Cote d'Ivoire. If Ireland was still here, it might be the one game where he'd bust a gut.

2-4, Gabby with a sexy brace in vain.

[eastie]

Who should we go for in midfield? Sylla, Delph and...? Al Achmady? We need as much brute force as possible to stop that lanky streak from the Cote d'Ivoire. If Ireland was still here, it might be the one game where he'd bust a gut.

2-4, Gabby with a sexy brace in vain.

I'm not convinced he will play sylla although i certainly would , my fear is he will go with Delph , kea and bacuna .

[silhillvilla]

Would anyone take 0-2 at this stage ?

[Ads]

No.

[Clampy]

I think he'll go Sylla, Delph and KEA.

[JD]

Fuck it. We're going to win. We've beaten them at our place and we've battered them at theirs in between taking a few kickings ourselves. We can win this and will put in a top performance to knock them off their perch. 2-1 Villa, Gabby and Kozak.

Totally agree. Got a mate who has put money on Man City as part of a accumulator and he never wins a thing so he's going to lose again.   

[dekko]

I think he'll go Sylla, Delph and KEA.

Thats probably what I'd do tbh.

At this stage, Delph is pretty much a given.  Sylla we'll need to add a bit of strength (especially against the likes of Toure).  I know KEA has his detractors, but if nothing else you can rely on him to press and hassle the opposition when we dont have the ball, and at the moment he's better on the ball than Bacuna (who'll probably play at RB).

[eastie]

I'd be temped to play 4-4-2 and have bacuna wide midfield to help out Lowton- city are powerful in midfield and worry me. If we get overrun in midfield they will tear us apart.

[Gregorys Boy]

1-3 City.

Can't really see any other result, they are starting to get in their stride and seem to enjoy playing at Villa Park, and we are still a little iffy in certain areas.

If we can get a draw having won at Norwich last week then that would be steady progress for me.

[MarkM]

1-3 or 1-4

[Hillbilly]

This one had me checking if the Ted Drake game was our worst home league defeat.

[Monty]

I'd be temped to play 4-4-2 and have bacuna wide midfield to help out Lowton- city are powerful in midfield and worry me. If we get overrun in midfield they will tear us apart.

If we play 4-4-2 we are absolutely guaranteed to get overrun in midfield. Our best chance is to crowd the centre.

[eastie]

I'd be temped to play 4-4-2 and have bacuna wide midfield to help out Lowton- city are powerful in midfield and worry me. If we get overrun in midfield they will tear us apart.

If we play 4-4-2 we are absolutely guaranteed to get overrun in midfield. Our best chance is to crowd the centre.

I was thinking of bacuna, Delph kea and sylla as a midfield 4 with gabby and Kozak up front.

I don't think we can go with Weimann, gabby and Kozak against city .

[Monty]

I'd be temped to play 4-4-2 and have bacuna wide midfield to help out Lowton- city are powerful in midfield and worry me. If we get overrun in midfield they will tear us apart.

If we play 4-4-2 we are absolutely guaranteed to get overrun in midfield. Our best chance is to crowd the centre.

I was thinking of bacuna, Delph kea and sylla as a midfield 4 with gabby and Kozak up front.

I don't think we can go with Weimann, gabby and Kozak against city .

So a diamond? Well, it'd help out the centre, but they'd just go wide with Navas and Nasri and their overlapping fullbacks and drag us all over VP. No, conservative, solid, 4-5-1/4-3-3 has to be the only way, and that front three have to work their bollocks off as well - particularly the wide two in getting back.