Man Citeh 3 ‘Plucky’ Aston Villa 0 Post Match Thread.

[olaftab]

A 3-0 reverse against Man City is a relief. It's a bit like a visit to the dentists, you are glad its over without too much pain

Yes ok but never forget for even a moment it’s Aston Villa FC you support not West Ham, Southampton or Manu etc who’s fans will be quite pleased with a routine thrashing.

[Somniloquism]

Anyone else distinctly unimpressed by Heaton for the first 2 goals today?

Went down far too early for the first, making it easy to Sterling. Dived like his legs were stuck in treacle for the second. Poor footwork all round.

Obviously Mings was really poor for the first. Diabolical effort from at least two players to defend that cross for the second, Grealish with a half hearted effort to block it and was it Targett who made no effort whatsoever to block it with his right foot?

Surely if he went down too early, then it wouldn't have gone under him?

[BlackCountryVilla]

I'll throw my opinion in on the VAR decision.
Sterling was not offside when De Bruyne shoots so if no one else touches it, it is a goal.
When Silva gets a touch, Sterling is offside and obstructing the keeper's view so the goal should be chalked off.
Bear in mind that Silva claims the goal and all the team celebrate with him. Then comes the VAR check and all of a sudden it is De Bruyne's goal and all is well in the world.
An hour later the goal is awarded to Silva as we all knew it would be and therefore should not have stood.
Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt we would have lost but there is a world of difference between 1-0 and 2-0 with 25 minutes to go. Possibly a shift in momentum with a boost for us after a VAR decision going our way!

[Somniloquism]

I personally think the offside interfering with play rule has been quietly ignored by most referees now anyway. Even before VAR the bigger teams have had the "benefit of the doubt" on that one. Pretty sure we was on the end of the exact same call a few seasons ago when someone ran across the keeper which meant they couldn't go for the save as it looked like the attacker was going to touch it.

All VAR looked at today was did Sterling touch it. When he didn't, they were not fussed on calling anything else.

[Sexual Ealing]

I personally think the offside interfering with play rule has been quietly ignored by most referees now anyway. Even before VAR the bigger teams have had the "benefit of the doubt" on that one. Pretty sure we was on the end of the exact same call a few seasons ago when someone ran across the keeper which meant they couldn't go for the save as it looked like the attacker was going to touch it.

All VAR looked at today was did Sterling touch it. When he didn't, they were not fussed on calling anything else.

The bigger team didn't get the benefit of the doubt today.

[john e]

don't get the negs on Heaton

he's been a solid performer all season for me and defo a class above Steer

[Sexual Ealing]

don't get the negs on Heaton

he's been a solid performer all season for me and defo a class above Steer

Agree.

[itmustbe_it is!]

Didn’t expect to get anything from today. On the plus side, Citeh don’t lose ground to Liverpool in title race I guess?

Points of note...
- VAR is bollocks
- Love Mings, but (so far), he’s no McGrath
- Heaton needs to start showing what he offers over Steer
- Keinan HAS to start against the scousers

Our best player today - Freddie Guilbert imo

I thought Guilbert was our weakest player , defensively he got hugely exploited.

[Ads]

Completely disagree. He did very well up against Sterling.

[Scovilla]

He had a good game but wad not helped much by our midfield.

[itmustbe_it is!]

Completely disagree. He did very well up against Sterling.

Fair enough, I usually agree with most of your summaries so I'll rewatch. I just shat myself every time the ball came down to his corner, Sterling seemed to have acres of space to me.

As an aside, it always amazes me how if you read this thread you can  find posts with diametrically opposed views about literally every player. Trezeguet and Heaton seem to be today's polarised opinions. Wesley polarises every week.

[BT warrior]

Come on everybody, we have just played probably the best league team in Europe. We did not play badly at all in my opinion. To be fair some of our attacking moves looked very good.

Playing like that against most other teams in this league would definitely not end in defeat.

[Ads]

Completely disagree. He did very well up against Sterling.

Fair enough, I usually agree with most of your summaries so I'll rewatch. I just shat myself every time the ball came down to his corner, Sterling seemed to have acres of space to me.

As an aside, it always amazes me how if you read this thread you can  find posts with diametrically opposed views about literally every player. Trezeguet and Heaton seem to be today's polarised opinions. Wesley polarises every week.

Kind of you to say.

I was very impressed with Sterling. He's an exceptional player and I felt everything good went through him. The issue was how loose we were on the overlap with the fullback, but Guilbert did well to get close to Sterling as often as he did.

[RamboandBruno]

Over critical blaming Heaton for goals. Sterling rarely misses those chances these days. He was blindsided for the second. Steer did well last year but Heaton is totally solid and assured and a step up. Mings has a mistake in him but is still pretty classy, no McGrath, but that’s unfair as nobody is. Engels did ok, but made almost an identical mistake to Arsenal, trying to chip ball out of defence, that Mings ended clearing off line. Trez looks busy and is a threat but seems to struggle with decision making in final third, maybe a goal will do him world of good. Agree with comments that playing like that will give us results against many teams in this league this year.

[Legion]

Agreed.