Aston Villa v Manchester City post match thread

[silhillvilla]

City played Hull and Villa away and won both games by a 2 goal margin. The difference being Hull after being 2 down gave it a go and equalised. Villa hardly threatened the goal throughout the 90 minutes and Hart did not have to make a save of note.  Which fans went home the happier - Hull or Villa?

Is this the Trivial Pursuit thread

[Clampy]

I thought we played ok overall even if we did ride our luck at times. I'm not sure taking off two forward players at home was a good idea though because we caught them on the break a few times so in that respect, we really missed Gabby. 

I know it's only his 3rd or 4th game but I can't see what Cleverley's role is supposed to be. I presume he's in there to give us some energy in the middle of the park but i've not been overly impressed so far.

[onje_villa]

Thought Guzan, Baker and Westwood all played very well though yesterday and Delph was his usual dynamic self, just frustratingly lacking the final ball or shot.

[Ads]

The academy director at Crewe must have felt pretty proud yesterday; from League One to captain of Aston Villa in just over two seasons.

[Ron Manager]

I thought we played ok overall even if we did ride our luck at times. I'm not sure taking off two forward players at home was a good idea though because we caught them on the break a few times so in that respect, we really missed Gabby. 

I know it's only his 3rd or 4th game but I can't see what Cleverley's role is supposed to be. I presume he's in there to give us some energy in the middle of the park but i've not been overly impressed so far.

I agree. I think Cleverley does not have a high level of skill but an excellent work rate. You need more than that if we are to pay 8mil in Jan.

[russon]

weimann is out of his depth

Seconded. His selection for a premiership football club is the 8th wonder of the world. His control is woeful, he couldn't trap a bag of cement. His goal scoring record is pathetic and the only apparent asset is he runs around a lot but 20,000 season ticket holders could offer that free of charge. Still, he'll doubtless prove me wrong by ending another goal famine with one that bounces off his arse just before Christmas and run to the Holte cupping his ears at me. In two years time he'll be coming on as a sub for Charlton Athletic mark my words.

[Pete3206]

Finally the horrible run of games are over.

Yes, thank God we've got Everton and Spurs next. Piece of piss.

[Rudy65]

Getting annoyed with posters saying we should have had a go and attacked them because if thats the way we play against the top sides look forward to a fair bit of humiliation.
We are much improved in defence and the midfield is a little improved but Lamberts insistance in playing narrow pisses me off no end, if anyone wouid benefit from a couple of pacey wingers it would br Benteke.

One of which went on a free to Leicester. f in Leicester.

[Ads]

I would never accuse Albrighton of being pacy. How is he getting on at Leicester anyway? I haven't heard much of him.

[Rudy65]

Well I'm just glad we have got these teams out of the way.

Sometimes I think Lambert's reign here is cursed. He loves it here, he seems to appreciate the size of the club, the fans etc. he comes across as such a decent and willing chap. You get the impression he is popular with the players. But since he's been here the task in hand has been thwarted with massive long term injuries, ill health, ridiculous wage cutting, which seems to have been managed somewhere very wrong, having his long term allies or friends even take the piss behind the scenes, It's been mental. He obviously agreed to the task of keeping us in the top flight on a budget, which he did, just. Then suddenly the premier league throws us a set of fixtures at the start of a new season which is just bloody crazy. I know we beat Liverpool but even there it was a team created by a spend of over 200 million pounds. We held out thank god and got the points, but to then face Arsenal, Chelsea and City has been a pain in the arse and just messed with all the optimism in the air.

Well hopefully now, we can start to get key players fit and ready to go. We can maybe play some games with a more fair standing. There has been enough glimpses of improvement this season for me to remain confident. Hopefully our attacking play will improve as we build confidence and be not just a solid and organised team.

A good post but I think you are being too kind to PL.

Its the type of turgid football that fans really hate. Its defensive and boring and the possession stats against the teams outside the top 4 is still bad.

Before yesterdays game we had the worst, or the worst but one of possession, completed passes, shots on goal and shots on target. It would be interesting too see those stats over PL's two full seasons. I suspect we would be in the bottom quarter every time. Its not good enough and whilst this is a results business it would be nice to be entertained occasionally.

[saunders_heroes]

I would never accuse Albrighton of being pacy. How is he getting on at Leicester anyway? I haven't heard much of him.

Albrighton was average and out of his depth. He was no loss. That doesn't mean we shouldn't have any width in the team though. This is the most narrow Villa team I've ever seen. One striker up front feeding off long diagonal balls. No wonder we struggle to find the back of the net.

[Ian.]

Well I'm just glad we have got these teams out of the way.

Sometimes I think Lambert's reign here is cursed. He loves it here, he seems to appreciate the size of the club, the fans etc. he comes across as such a decent and willing chap. You get the impression he is popular with the players. But since he's been here the task in hand has been thwarted with massive long term injuries, ill health, ridiculous wage cutting, which seems to have been managed somewhere very wrong, having his long term allies or friends even take the piss behind the scenes, It's been mental. He obviously agreed to the task of keeping us in the top flight on a budget, which he did, just. Then suddenly the premier league throws us a set of fixtures at the start of a new season which is just bloody crazy. I know we beat Liverpool but even there it was a team created by a spend of over 200 million pounds. We held out thank god and got the points, but to then face Arsenal, Chelsea and City has been a pain in the arse and just messed with all the optimism in the air.

Well hopefully now, we can start to get key players fit and ready to go. We can maybe play some games with a more fair standing. There has been enough glimpses of improvement this season for me to remain confident. Hopefully our attacking play will improve as we build confidence and be not just a solid and organised team.

A good post but I think you are being too kind to PL.

Its the type of turgid football that fans really hate. Its defensive and boring and the possession stats against the teams outside the top 4 is still bad.

Before yesterdays game we had the worst, or the worst but one of possession, completed passes, shots on goal and shots on target. It would be interesting too see those stats over PL's two full seasons. I suspect we would be in the bottom quarter every time. Its not good enough and whilst this is a results business it would be nice to be entertained occasionally.

But you could argue in his first season when we found some confidence we played some of most attacking football we have witnessed for a long while. Since then though I agree we are not a threat going forward. I still put this down to us last season basically being out of our depth. This due to the team being made up of too many players from lower leagues and players not ready to step up to the mark. This has made a massive impact on the way we have been set out to play.

I might yet be wrong, but with a fit Benteke we might be more of a threat. A lot of our problem is confidence going forward and with Benteke coming back that might just give us that boost and extra edge. These last four games have certainly taken its toll on on us and also with the current obsession with statistics you can view these last four games and think too much into it.

[AV82EC]

Chris J, I agree regarding Cleverley. I think he played well too. He moves the ball on quickly and doesn't mind getting his shorts dirty. Once Benteke is back fully fit, I think he will benefit from having Cleverley playing behind him.

N'Zogbia is a frustrating as anything, best typified by him cutting City apart, beating four of them and then not producing anything at the end. I would have kept him on and I would play him more regularly still though, inspite of the indifferent delivery as I think he will work well with Benteke and is probably our most creative midfielder.

Regarding the comments about Lambert being inept because Man City had more chances, I am sorry but I find those comments bizarre. Man City are the champions of England and have bagged 80 odd points for the the past four seasons. That means they're winning 20-25 games a season, with the likes of Ya Ya Toure, Ageuro, Silva, I heart James Milner and Dzeko, who was crap, so they have the option of bringing on a midfielder that has scored 200 goals. They have more chances than just about everybody, with the exception of say Chelsea, who we had the misfortune of playing last. Chelsea incidentally played William, Hazard and Oscar, so £90 million worth of talent, who they added Fabregas too and a world class centre forward who was the difference in his side pipping Messi, Ronaldo and Bale to the title. They had more chances than us too.

We defended pretty well in both games, played some nice stuff up in midfield at times and had one or two chances and worked very hard, but ultimately succumbed, as will 85-90% of sides, to Russian and Gulf hydrocarbon fuelled fantasy football. I think anybody seriously criticising Lambert for the set up and the past two games lacks any sense of perspective. We are not playing the same sport as Chelsea and Man City. Or Arsenal as it happens, whose first goal scorer cost £44 million, 6.3 times our total summer spend. Nobody is suggesting you can't get a result or that you surrender. In the case of the former, that is possible, but as they're end of season points total indicates, it doesn't happen too often. In the case of the latter, anybody who watched the game will have seen how hard we worked. Chuck a fit Benteke, Vlaar and Gabby in and you increase your chances.

Against those lacking world class players, we look defensively very solid and more than capable of getting a result, as the statistic of 10 points from 12 shows.

Couldn't have summed it up better Ads, cracking post.

[Pete3206]

Ads, agree with every word.

[Breezeblock]

Before the Liverpool game i'd have taken one point from the next four games. We got 3. If it had been three draws there would be a lot less negativity on here today.  We played well for large parts yesterday and a nil-nil would have been a fair result but hey ho - nobody accused life of being fair.  I wont say i'm pleased but I certainly am not as down as I was last season.