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

[Skerra]

VAR...Villa Again Robbed

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Breaking news its stopped raining.

Today was the first game in 3 years I didnt think we could win. I wanted to see us compete and try and lay a glove on them. First half we did.

Everything comes through Stirling who is an exceptional player. I felt Guilbert did very well to stop him as often as he did. I felt we were loose in our cover of the full backs, but Freddie did well for me.

City strangle you with possession but they were restless at half time. Then disaster. All 3 goals were dire, although having seen a replay for the 2nd, I have no idea how it's not been disallowed. Fuck off VAR.

Mings has to get off the deck and clear that ball
 It was route one. We then have two or three opportunities to.clear the 3rd and fail. Annoying that the goals were so preventable rather than being ripped open.

Unlucky with McGinn/Davis.

It's a big lesson though in just how good the likes of Stirling and De Bruyne are.

Not going to take the knock with losing. We didnt embarrass ourselves and that will do.

[steamer]

A standard Villa day.

Defensive error gifts a goal - check
VAR decision goes inexplicably/outrageously against us - check
Dean too late with his subs - check
Set-pieces absolutely wasted when Conor isn't on the pitch - check
Lack of belief when attacking a top team - check
Losing the plot, shape and energy second half - check

Plus:
Heaton is a bog standard 7 out of 10 keeper for me, saves the ones you'd expect, but no better than Steer.  7
Mings, for all his great attitude, is as bad as Elphick for hesitation and clangers.  I doubt Southgate will have been inpressed.  5
Jack did well first half only but was pushing his luck re a second yellow 6
McGinn was quiet by his standards, unliucky not to score 6
Trezeguet - what is he for exactly? Waste of a shirt.  3
Wesley - went off the radar again like an unarmed stealth bomber.  Must try harder. 3
Guilbert did well against Sterling on the whole  7
Targett didn't do much wrong either.  6
Engels - too fond of giving the ball away in dangerous positions otherwise ok. 6
Marvelous -ok  6
Luiz - just ok 6
AEG - ok 6
Davis - must surely be in line to start now,  did more in 10 minutes than Wesley did in the whole game and many other games.  7

A bit generous for Engels in my view

[AlexAlexCropley]

Felt Trez put a decent showing and up for best villa player.
Davis moved to channels and mobile , good enough appearance by him , and unlucky not to score , to have more minutes next time out.
Disappointing Gündoğan was allowed to run the show, needed shackling . It would have been great to show more in attacking sense both when in possession and that they didn't look so good in defence both form and problems

First goal with Mings he was far too casual trying to flick in back to Engels rather than head away
Anyway tough ask and didn't deserve win

First half ok and relative competitive but 2nd half didn't get near them at periods
Be a different match at villa park .
But good effort for a lot of players today shame on some defending and always disappointing to lose but it's how we go in other games that shape us

Who scored . com match player ratings
Trézéguet 6.8
Nakamba 6.7
Heaton 6.5
Guilbert 6.5
Douglas 6.5
Mings 6.4
McGinn 6.3
Targett 5.9
Grealish 5.9
Wesley 5.8
Engels 5.4

El Ghazi 6.0
Davis 6.0

Disagree. Trez was gash

[ktvillan]

A standard Villa day.

Defensive error gifts a goal - check
VAR decision goes inexplicably/outrageously against us - check
Dean too late with his subs - check
Set-pieces absolutely wasted when Conor isn't on the pitch - check
Lack of belief when attacking a top team - check
Losing the plot, shape and energy second half - check

Plus:
Heaton is a bog standard 7 out of 10 keeper for me, saves the ones you'd expect, but no better than Steer.  7
Mings, for all his great attitude, is as bad as Elphick for hesitation and clangers.  I doubt Southgate will have been inpressed.  5
Jack did well first half only but was pushing his luck re a second yellow 6
McGinn was quiet by his standards, unliucky not to score 6
Trezeguet - what is he for exactly? Waste of a shirt.  3
Wesley - went off the radar again like an unarmed stealth bomber.  Must try harder. 3
Guilbert did well against Sterling on the whole  7
Targett didn't do much wrong either.  6
Engels - too fond of giving the ball away in dangerous positions otherwise ok. 6
Marvelous -ok  6
Luiz - just ok 6
AEG - ok 6
Davis - must surely be in line to start now,  did more in 10 minutes than Wesley did in the whole game and many other games.  7

A bit generous for Engels in my view

Maybe - I wasn't sure if it was him that gave the ball away for the chance that Mings blocked on the line.  If so only a 5.  Some people seem to think Trezeguet did ok.  I'm frankly baffled at that, love to know what they saw that I didn't.

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To add, I hope if we're ever fortunate enough to be blessed with one of the best managers and sides in Europe, winning titles with record points we can still fill our ground.

Plastic, soulless, empty twats with a sense of entitlement having forgot who they are and where they're from. Now they're just a smaller imitation of everything that's loathsome about the other lot in this cotton village.

[olaftab]

We know this was tough for our team but we lacked ambition. This was very apparent in the first half. Whether it was corners or breakaway attacks or other opportunities we just did not have the belief. It’s obviously not easy going to this magnificent billionaires kingdom and get something but you are certainly not going to get anything with complete lack of conviction. Just effort is no good.

[villadelph]

To add, I hope if we're ever fortunate enough to be blessed with one of the best managers and sides in Europe, winning titles with record points we can still fill our ground.

Plastic, soulless, empty twats with a sense of entitlement having forgot who they are and where they're from. Now they're just a smaller imitation of everything that's loathsome about the other lot in this cotton village.

When I was a kid City was in the third division 

[SamTheMouse]

I've had enough of Wesley. Hopefully we can bring in some proper quality up front in January.

[Villa Lew]

Well at least we weren't thrashed, our best chance was at the end SJM hitting the post. Poor from Tyrone today, but he did make an incredible goal line clearance. No idea how VAR thought the 2nd goal should stand, Heaton was obstructed by Sterling, who was offside. Roll on Wednesday, gotta win that one.

[villadelph]

Well at least we weren't thrashed, our best chance was at the end SJM hitting the post. Poor from Tyrone today, but he did make an incredible goal line clearance. No idea how VAR thought the 2nd goal should stand, Heaton was obstructed by Sterling, who was offside. Roll on Wednesday, gotta win that one.

For how far Mings is in his career, ie. England cap and getting the armband at a premier league club today, he is still pretty raw. I feel like he can still improve and grow in his role.

[in exile]

When I was a kid City was in the third division 

When I was a kid Villa were.

I'm puzzled as to why we didn't close players down.
Disappointed in Wesley and I think Keenan should be considered for a starting place.
Trez is (not was) poor.
Grealish and Heaton didn't do any harm in front of Southgate but I feel Mings didn't exactly cover himself in glory.

So, onto Liverpool in the league next. Will be another tough test but we need to close players down for Christ sake. Give ourselves a chance by defending on the front foot, from front to back.

Onwards and hopefully upwards
 

[olaftab]

Well at least we weren't thrashed,

We WERE thrashed. Conceding 3 goals in one half of football is a thrashing however I accept that for large parts we competed.

[PaulWinch again]

I think Heaton is a bit of a worry. It seems like communication between him and Mings is pretty ropey.

[Jon Crofts]

Stones looking like he wants to catch Eddie Jones’s eye, great ball handling in difficult conditions.

VAR is fucking useless.