Aston Villa vs. Man City Post-Match Thread

[mrfuse]

I didn't see Delph getting close to scoring, I don't think I would have been able to handle that.

I was waiting for the sickener when that shot he had in extra time went just wide of the post. I was right in line with it and thought it was going in - fortunately it slithered wide

very nicely put 

On the match thread I did post "Delph to come on and get the Winner"?

Something we were all nervously thinking.

[Duncan Shaw]

there's very little a new manager can do in 3 days, all this better organized stuff is probably not done on the training field in such a short time

what Garde did was pick the best line up, if Sherwood or even Mcdonald had picked that line up they would have got a better performance out of the team it was that simple really

why any manager in their right mind would pick Richardson over Amavi, Gabby over Gill, Lescott over Clark or Westwood over well anyone of the 3 midfielders yesterday and expect that team to perform well is the reason they aint here or picking any more

the only mistake he made yesterday was choosing Nzogbia over Grealish, i accept the physical thing but the footballing thing is that Grealish is a million times better footballer than Zog, the same as Amavi is better than Richardson
and on any given day Grealish is the one to do more damage and make things happen, not one decent cross per game Nzog

I hope we don't have to go through another 3 months of 'I think there's a player in there somewhere' before he realises there isn't and is best gone from the club
and for those who will say 'I thought nzog played well when he came on' Grealish would probably have done better and maybe won us the game

The performance I'm sure would have been better than the one from the team they selected, but I doubt the organisation would have been as good as what Garde delivered or that the substitutions would have been as effective as Garde's, given what we have seen previously particularly by Sherwood.

I agree.  MOTD2 (who were suprisingly upbeat and complimentary about us) had a bit of analysis focussing on the 1-2 passing and it looked good.  If I recall there was a spell in the first half about half way through where we pinged it about for what felt like 5 mins 1-2 passing and keeping posession ticking over and moving forward.  That has to have been coached this week, there is no way Sherwood would have got them playing like that.

[MoetVillan]

I agree.  I thought the first half we noticed a number of midfielders happy to take the ball under pressure and turn, pass or play and then running for space delivering options for our team and pressure on theirs.  This started to ebb away in the second half which was to be expected, fitness levels and playing a different game must take its toll, certainly against such opposition.  I though De Bruyne was very very impressive and while Sterlings final balls were questionable right through, his running into space was excellent, so to stop them (of a fashion) was impressive.  I don't think we were battered 0-0 unlike some of the news outlets, and certainly not for 70 mins of the 90

[not3bad]

I don't think we were battered 0-0 unlike some of the news outlets, and certainly not for 70 mins of the 90

They probably need to put it like that to maintain their "Garde is a terrible appointment" narrative.

[bruisedshins]

Sitting in L7,was sad to see people getting chucked out after 4 mins for ,I believe persistent standing.It seems the stewards have been over zealous with the Brigada lot.Im not a member and sit about 12 rows back,but would love to know the score.

1 member was ejected after just 4 minutes for standing, despite the fact they actually sat down when requested, another 12 people were thrown out during the first half, also for standing. They were all issued with letters informing them they're banned for the next 3 home games.  I don't think this happened anywhere apart from the L7/L9 area of the ground and the fact that there were about a dozen stewards and the same number of police waiting for us on arrival and the letters had been pre-printed suggests this was always going to happen regardless. I think everyone who was ejected also had their details taken under section 50 and were filmed by police.

[chrisw1]

I've got mixed feelings about Brigada.  But banning vociferous fans for the next 3 home games, perhaps some of our most important home games for may years, is nothing short of moronic.

The club clearly have an agenda to make you sit down and do whatever it takes to enforce it.  I think the wise choice would be to accept this for the time being and just get behind the team as best as you can - keeping your standing to intermittent periods for the odd song etc.  There's no point fighting a battle you can't win.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Sitting in L7,was sad to see people getting chucked out after 4 mins for ,I believe persistent standing.It seems the stewards have been over zealous with the Brigada lot.Im not a member and sit about 12 rows back,but would love to know the score.

1 member was ejected after just 4 minutes for standing, despite the fact they actually sat down when requested, another 12 people were thrown out during the first half, also for standing. They were all issued with letters informing them they're banned for the next 3 home games.  I don't think this happened anywhere apart from the L7/L9 area of the ground and the fact that there were about a dozen stewards and the same number of police waiting for us on arrival and the letters had been pre-printed suggests this was always going to happen regardless. I think everyone who was ejected also had their details taken under section 50 and were filmed by police.

Are you able to put a copy of the letter up on here?

[PeterWithe]

Sitting in L7,was sad to see people getting chucked out after 4 mins for ,I believe persistent standing.It seems the stewards have been over zealous with the Brigada lot.Im not a member and sit about 12 rows back,but would love to know the score.

1 member was ejected after just 4 minutes for standing, despite the fact they actually sat down when requested, another 12 people were thrown out during the first half, also for standing. They were all issued with letters informing them they're banned for the next 3 home games.  I don't think this happened anywhere apart from the L7/L9 area of the ground and the fact that there were about a dozen stewards and the same number of police waiting for us on arrival and the letters had been pre-printed suggests this was always going to happen regardless. I think everyone who was ejected also had their details taken under section 50 and were filmed by police.

There was a large fella in a light coloured, short sleeve buttoned shirt. I couldn't quite work out if was trying to get you all to sit down or was having a go at the steward for asking you to sit down. The stewards did seem to have decided that yesterday was the day you would either sit down or get out.

[TimTheVillain]

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

True, let's use it - even if it's a decent loanee.

[Percy McCarthy]

I don't think we were battered 0-0 unlike some of the news outlets, and certainly not for 70 mins of the 90

They probably need to put it like that to maintain their "Garde is a terrible appointment" narrative.

After the game Vincent Kompany said we were the better team in the first half, but they were more dangerous.

[walsall villain]

I agree.  I thought the first half we noticed a number of midfielders happy to take the ball under pressure and turn, pass or play and then running for space delivering options for our team and pressure on theirs.  This started to ebb away in the second half which was to be expected, fitness levels and playing a different game must take its toll, certainly against such opposition.  I though De Bruyne was very very impressive and while Sterlings final balls were questionable right through, his running into space was excellent, so to stop them (of a fashion) was impressive.  I don't think we were battered 0-0 unlike some of the news outlets, and certainly not for 70 mins of the 90

These would be the game people who, in the main, predicted Chelsea would win the premier league and who now want to tell us why it's going wrong.

[LeeB]

One specific I did notice was when the City defenders had the ball Ayew specifically did not press them, he dropped off onto the holding midfielder.
It meant they either played it wide, or across the defence, which we were happy with, but they couldn't play through the middle. If they tried, because it was the less skillful centre half playing it we were more likely to intercept and break.
It looked to me the kind of simple instruction that can pay huge dividends, the kind of attention to detail that we haven't had, well ever.

[cheltenhamlion]

I could wax lyrical about all sorts of tactics from yesterday but I liked seeing two in particular.

Whilst we intend to press the ball, we won't be doing it in your half was the first. There was a clear plan to let them do as they wished in their own half. The minute they touched the halfway libe though, we pressed every ball.

The second thing was some game management. I don't know how many times in recent years I have been left tearing my hair out as we throw away points because we don't try the fine line of cheating/time wasting.

It is the only the start but what I expected of Garde. Organised. Streetwise. A thought out formation. A defensive pattern where each player knew their job. The obvious, balanced midfield 3 we have been crying out for. And that in less than a week.

By God I have been waiting a long time to see a tactically astute man (with proper subs at proper times no less) drag us kicking and screaming into a modern football club.

By way of sharing a cheerful exchange I had post match, I had a minor ding dong after the Stoke game with a good friend of mine who posts on here. They were still hoping Sherwood could turn it around, I wanted him hung from the faux gas lamp outside The Bartons!

They still feel disappointed that Tim couldn't get over himself enough to make the changes we saw yesterday. I was delighted to see the back of him. We both agreed though that the starting line up and subs worked, were very sensible and Tim likely would not have done the same.

Onwards and Upwards. I reckon we will give Everton a game.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Sitting in L7,was sad to see people getting chucked out after 4 mins for ,I believe persistent standing.It seems the stewards have been over zealous with the Brigada lot.Im not a member and sit about 12 rows back,but would love to know the score.

1 member was ejected after just 4 minutes for standing, despite the fact they actually sat down when requested, another 12 people were thrown out during the first half, also for standing. They were all issued with letters informing them they're banned for the next 3 home games.  I don't think this happened anywhere apart from the L7/L9 area of the ground and the fact that there were about a dozen stewards and the same number of police waiting for us on arrival and the letters had been pre-printed suggests this was always going to happen regardless. I think everyone who was ejected also had their details taken under section 50 and were filmed by police.

This just seems crazy and massively over the top to me. Whatever anyone may think of The Brigada lot they have nothing but the full and vocal support of our team at heart. I believe that they've moved this season so that they obstruct fewer fans' view of the pitch, so are clearly making some kind of effort to respond to complaints. The persistent standers at Palace seem to do so with the blessing of their club. Why can't we embrace it in the same way? We all know about the legal stuff yet see it flouted at every ground, every week.

[Legion]