Aston Villa v Man City Match Thread

[Monty]

Juve sadly now beating Parma 3-1 after it was 1-1 at half time. Scab 12 making their way back. Still, Sassuolo beat Milan earlier which was funny, and we're still in this.

[enigma]

I fully expect them to dominate even with ten men. We're not very good in possession at all.

[Rory]

Great to have good old football back.

Yep, oh for the days when all you had to do was spend £2b on players and pay them £10m a week in wages and you'd become decent. The Super League killed the romanticism of football 😥

[TonyD]

Come on Dean man - make the subs. 

[devilla]

I'd love to see Davis come on, probably for Traore but we all know it won't happen. He'll probably make a change when we're 4 1 down after 75 minutes.

[andyh]

If luiz commits to a tackle, they don’t score that second goal

?

The corner is knocked away, it drops between luiz and a Man City player...luiz with a half arsed challenge, ball played wide, cross, goal.

[baddowvillans]

If luiz commits to a tackle, they don’t score that second goal

I'm with you.  It was a half hearted challenge for a ball that he was favourite for.  We still have too many players bottling it or being wasteful with the ball.

[Nev]

So Dean contests a decision that results in a rule change and is sent off, that bald ****** wanks on at the ref for a legitimate red card but stays where he is.
Fuck off, just fuck off.

[brontebilly]

You'd have to be mental to take Traore off when we're playing against ten men.

Leaving him on and we are effectively playing with 10....maybe with more space he might get into the game but it's a fair old risk. Our midfield set up is tactically naive. Luiz left of Nakamba and too far ahead of the ball. We simply have to play with two 6s. Nakamba is nowhere near good enough to be taking the ball from the back. A complete mess of Smiths own making.

The gulf in quality between both teams is huge. But that red gives us a sniff of a chance. Would like to see us have a proper go. Nakamba is totally lost and didn't track Fodens run for the first. Terrible decision for Martinez for the second.

Great goal from McGinn. Let's get Davis on, shift Watkins left and take their defence on second half.

[SoccerHQ]

I fully expect them to dominate even with ten men. We're not very good in possession at all.

I agree, that pass Doug did just before the second summed it up.

He gets the ball on the edge of the box, looks up to see Cash and makes it obvious he's going to pass towards him. Cash just stands and waits for the ball to come to him and Zinchenko just nips in and wins the free kick on edge of the box.

Man. City just levels above, instant first time passing and players moving into the space where they know where the ball is going. Not just 100ms worth of talent but relentlessly drilled on the training pitch.

[CT]

Sounds like Davis is getting on!

[nick harper]

I fucking hate Man City and always have.

But what I hate more is how starstruck we are when we play them. It's like those celebrity pro-am games where the pros take it easy with the celebs and let them do their thing, that's how we seem when we play them.

I wish we'd press them more, and get more physical. It's well established that Kloppball beats Pepball, we should try at least and swamp their defenders with the press now and again.

Davis on at HT for the physicality.

I totally agree.

Drives me mad as well. They have so much space around the area - we just don’t close down well enough for all Smith talks about it. Leeds made it much harder for them last week, even with 10 men.

[Des Little]

Let’s try mixing it up a bit, put them under pressure. Even with ten men they’ll pass us to death.

[Mister E]

Davis on

[Chris_Jephcott]

For some reason, I want to put £5 on Keinan to score the winner tonight.

Blind optimism... just have a feeling in my waters