Aston Villa vs. Man City Post-Match Thread

[peter w]

I was particularly impressed with Veretout's quick feet. Still a lack if movement up front though but I think that'll come with more coaching.

[PaulWinch again]

A few more performances with that sort of heart and desire and spirit and some of these pundits will be having to eat there words.

We took yet another kicking on Sunday Supplement this morning.  "Gardes a terrible appointment", "they've got no chance of staying up'"; "The signings they made were terrible".

It staggers me how ill informed and dense a lot of the football writers are. They're going to look very stupid and even after one game that's apparent.

[PeterWithe]

It was pretty refreshing to see that the team had an obvious game plan and the subs were made to replace players in the same system rather than abandoning it for something totally different half way through, and then again toward the end. Some very good performances from individual players and a fantastic point.

Doesn't seem fair to speak of negatives but.....the fitness coach has a lot of work to do, a lot of players dropped off physically after the hour, Sterling was given far too much room when he drifted in off the wings. CNZ stretched them and offered fresh legs but he didnt do nearly enough to help the tiring Amarvi in the last 20 mins when Navas was murdering him.

Nice to get a bit of good luck for a change.

I think Pellegrini made a mistake bringing on Delph, it fired the crowd back up and he offered nothing anyway.

[OzVilla]

I can understand to a degree lazy punditry from ex-pros but not from national football writers - Phil McNulty and Darren Lewis aside you're two of the greatest imbeciles ever to pick up a pen fro a national newspaper.

Game wise, rode our luck for sure but hugely encouraging and amazing what can happen when you pick your best team and work a bit on the training ground, Rocket science it ain't.

[simboy]

I think that what was refreshing from my view point about yesterday was that there was a clear tactical approach within the game and when we needed to we changed our tactics. It was also clear that Gil was tiring and Garde made the right substitution. I was rather bemused at the time of Baccuna for Sinclair but clearly he was supporting Hutton rather than trying to win the game.

One swallow and all that ... and i know we rode our luck a little. The proof, in my view, will be in the next few games which represent a difficult away fixture in Everton and a "should win" home game against Watford.

[darren woolley]

I didn't think we would get anything against City but I'm happy with a point.

[joe_c]

I was particularly impressed with Veretout's quick feet. Still a lack if movement up front though but I think that'll come with more coaching.

Me too. It wasn't something I'd noticed from him in previous appearances but there were a number of occasions yesterday that he retained possession under pressure from the opposition. Sanchez was more effective too with the workload more evenly distributed.

[rob_bridge]

A few more performances with that sort of heart and desire and spirit and some of these pundits will be having to eat there words.

We took yet another kicking on Sunday Supplement this morning.  "Gardes a terrible appointment", "they've got no chance of staying up'"; "The signings they made were terrible".

The signings thing is because Sherwood started to use "they weren't my players" as an excuse. However you do have to look at Lescott and Gestade as definitely his and if it wasn't for Adebayour playing silly nuggets, we would have had him as well.

Last week the lazy Sherwood supporter said something amongst the lines of Villa let Benteke, Vlaar, Delph and Cleverley go. One was a free agent who is no where near fit, one on loan who decided to go elsewhere, one very good player where another team panic bought if or 32 mil and one who slithered out. Benteke was also a player that they were all moaning about a few seasons ago when he was in the team ahead of Bent.

We miss Benteke. Not the others.

Cleverley had a whole 4 good games - coinciding with near the end of the season.

Delph was good on his day but those days tending to be one in four or five. Nothing to suggest (Sherwood aside) the midfield that manifests itself this season will not be the equal of Cleverly/Delph/Westwood. Jeeps 2 internationals and one many suggest should be, no wonder England are bloody average.

Vlaar - remind me who he is playing for and how much better they are than Villa. He played on average half a season and was good in half those games.

[TimTheVillain]

Good result, good shape, better all round...

Still a striker short for a relegation fight I reckon.

[Dr Butler]

Good result, good shape, better all round...

Still a striker short for a relegation fight I reckon.

but we do have a January transfer window coming up 

UTV
The Doc

[Vegas]

A few more performances with that sort of heart and desire and spirit and some of these pundits will be having to eat there words.

We took yet another kicking on Sunday Supplement this morning.  "Gardes a terrible appointment", "they've got no chance of staying up'"; "The signings they made were terrible".

The signings thing is because Sherwood started to use "they weren't my players" as an excuse. However you do have to look at Lescott and Gestade as definitely his and if it wasn't for Adebayour playing silly nuggets, we would have had him as well.

Last week the lazy Sherwood supporter said something amongst the lines of Villa let Benteke, Vlaar, Delph and Cleverley go. One was a free agent who is no where near fit, one on loan who decided to go elsewhere, one very good player where another team panic bought if or 32 mil and one who slithered out. Benteke was also a player that they were all moaning about a few seasons ago when he was in the team ahead of Bent.

We miss Benteke. Not the others.

Cleverley had a whole 4 good games - coinciding with near the end of the season.

Delph was good on his day but those days tending to be one in four or five. Nothing to suggest (Sherwood aside) the midfield that manifests itself this season will not be the equal of Cleverly/Delph/Westwood. Jeeps 2 internationals and one many suggest should be, no wonder England are bloody average.

Vlaar - remind me who he is playing for and how much better they are than Villa. He played on average half a season and was good in half those games.

Let's not confuse the manner of Delph's departure with the player he was for us. He's a slippery backstabbing snake, who prior to that grew into being the best midfielder we've had in years.

[Monty]

Delph was very good, but I think both Gana and Veretout can be better. They seem a lot less haphazard and chaotic, and much smoother on the ball.

[PeterWithesShin]

Delph did become a good player for us, but best midfielder we've had for years is like being the tallest man in Lilliput as his competition was the likes of Westwood, KEA etc.

[Vegas]

Delph was very good, but I think both Gana and Veretout can be better. They seem a lot less haphazard and chaotic, and much smoother on the ball.

I don't particularly feel the desire to get all pro-Delph, but I think he was somewhat better than merely a moderately-sized man in Lilliput!

I do think we miss him to be honest.

Could Gana / Veretout become better? Possibly (although Gana is older than Delph). Are they better today? Not by a long way, in my view at least.

[YamYamVilla]

Both sets of Manc fans appear to have the same twat gene. Just that the blue one has been hidden for much longer...

They're effectively supporting global franchises that have the wealth to regularly hoover up the best players in the world. The fact that they carry the name of Manchester, play in the city and wear the colours of the previous authentic versions on their respective clubs, matters for little in the great scheme of things. The two clubs might as well tour the world and play their 19 "home" games in 19 foreign capitals. The owners need the loyal domestic fanbase to populate the stadiums but their eyes scan much further afield, forever looking for different and more lucrative revenue streams. They grow ever more rootless and character-less, drifting remorselessly away from the communities that gave them birth.

In this sense, I have some sympathy for the long-standing United and City fans who must wince at what their clubs have become. Hollow shells of their former selves, the two clubs gorge themselves on perma-success and ludicrous wealth, their essential character and identity melting away before the eyes of their fans.

If you supported footballing monstrosities like these then its very easy to lose all sense of proportion and self-awareness.

To be fair, I spoke to a City fan on the way into the ground & he was ok, he sympathised with where we were & obviously its not been that long ago that they were in the 3rd division, didn't they still get 30'000 attendances too, even at that level?

We would love to have the $ city have got, but our time will come again.

As for yesterday, we rode our luck a few times, but no one would deny us a point, the lads did us proud, good to see structure, organisation & fight amongst the players, Navas getting "Clarked" was great to see too.