Fucking cheats vs Aston Villa post match thread - we won the 2nd half 1-0

[The Edge]

Greasy initiated contact so how the fuck anyone can say that is a penalty is fucking ridiculous.
He plays for cheats and he cheated against his home his city his club..

Bang on.

[Nev]

I didn't watch the game so can't really comment but I did see some of the build up and it came across, at times, as if Sky were almost cheer leading for Stockport in relation to their financial issues. A fostering of the idea that this is already a huge injustice for the TV audience.

Also, they put up the stat about our record at the Emptihad. This means absolutely nothing without context, the same as the stats Legion posted earlier in this thread. It is a terrible record but entirely predictable given the investment (legal or otherwise) that Stockport City have put into the team in that time compared to ours. One would hope for something better of course but there is an overriding reason for their dominance and it should never be overlooked.

[Monty]

It's monopoly money, a scam presided over by a gay-repressing, woman-suppressing, racist-slave-state-ruling, dissident-jailing absolute dictatorship, propped up by planet-destroying fossil fuels.

Do you think City fans ever have that moment, as in the Mitchell and Webb sketch, where they wonder...are we the baddies?

[Zouch Villa]

I guess if you're going to lose 3-1, that's the way to do it. It was always going to be difficult without Mings. He has his faults, but without him we're never as organised at the back, and no one else wins headers from set pieces. We need Tyrone in the team.

We just didn't get at them enough in the first half. We didn't have the bite and fight that we needed to get ourselves into the game, but having gone a goal down in the first few minutes it was so hard to get back into it. The second goal looked worse than it was, I think. It should have been dealt with better by Chambers, but they made the most of half a chance. That's what the best teams do, I guess.

It was a dive for their penalty - no one will be able to convince me otherwise, there is no evidence that he was touched at all. The only time I remember him doing that for us was at home to Palace. VAR looked at it and overturned it. Imagine being a club that has cheated on a historic level, and still feeling the need to dive in the box.

Bailey and Ramsey are a big worry. Bailey looks shot of all confidence, which seems to happen far too regularly. There was one point where the ball bounced off his shin and he seemed to intentionally let it go out, expecting a throw in... It was odd. There's is something not right there. Ramsey is going through a dip in form, which happens at his age. I would be surprised to see him in the starting team next week, but he'll be back.

The real positive was the impact the subs made. Coutinho, Durán, McGinn, Moreno - they all made a difference. Coutinho and Durán in particular, and they both got within a whisker of scoring. Great to see Watkins get another goal as well, and his brutally honest interview afterwards where he seemed to take responsibility for their second - not something I had noticed at all to be honest.

I think there was enough to take from that game to be positive about. Durán has earned a start, I think, and I want to see McGinn back in the team - I don't think we've played as well since he got injured. Having Mings and Carlos at CB would make a huge difference to that team - but I think if any side was missing it's first choice paring they would struggle.

I want to see more fight next week. I think that's they way we can get at Arsenal.

Superb review, considered and balanced, thank you Boozey.

Yes, very sensible and rational assessment of the game, and agree on your comments on positives to take away.  Ashamed to say I could never have written such a well reasoned summary in my current fog of fury/frustration.

[john e]

I’m probably one of the Grealish’s his biggest fans on here and didn’t turn against him when he left

But I’m also not stupid and he dived yesterday to get that penalty
He’s gone down a lot in my estimation and has done himself no favours whatsoever

[darren woolley]

First half bad second half better.

[SamTheMouse]

It's monopoly money, a scam presided over by a gay-repressing, woman-suppressing, racist-slave-state-ruling, dissident-jailing absolute dictatorship, propped up by planet-destroying fossil fuels.

Perfectly articulated contempt. Someone should paint this all over their soulless stadium, 'Romanes eunt domus'-style.

[LeeB]

Honestly the gall of the idiot to applaud the fans after that. Starting to think it should be a VARable thing - you are, from a point of view, kicking someone else to trip yourself up. I'm not convinced that should be a foul, not at all.

The perfect encapsulation of a club that didn't need him but bought him anyway, using money they pretended to have, to destroy an old-fashioned football story and assimilate it into their joyless, frictionless, ersatz, uncanny-valley football-type virtual reality entertainment project - and still cheating to win when they didn't even need to. I hope they're forcibly liquidated.

Even at the end with the game in the bag, one of their arseholes cynically chopped down one of our players in our own half as he turned away from him and then another one blootered the ball away up the pitch. Ref did fuck all.

Even ignoring the obvious cheating off the pitch and the beefits that brings, the way they play is boring, stifling and massively cynical. The bellend has managed to synthesize unfettered corporatism into a tactical system.

He's susch a wanker, if he had any kind of bollocks he'd show what he could do with an unfancied team, but no he just loves dominating and not competition, the bdsm freak.

[aj2k77]

The penalty decision was pathetically bad. The only way you could look at a replay of that and give it is if you wanted it to be a penalty in the first place. Extremely poor from the Ref and Var again. The pundits agreeing with it and how ''clever'' it was are just perpetuating cheating.

[Chris Smith]

Against Man City it is obviously not a level playing field at the best of times so not having Mings available made a tough job even harder. The first half clearly highlighted this. It was pleasing to see our improvement in the second half and particularly following the substitutions, hopefully that has given Emery food for thought for next weekend.

[tomd2103]

The real positive was the impact the subs made. Coutinho, Durán, Mcgann, Moreno - they all made a difference. Coutinho and Durán in particular, and they both got within a whisker of scoring. Great to see Watkins get another goal as well, and his brutally honest interview afterwards where he seemed to take responsibility for their second - not something I had noticed at all to be honest.

Agree, but the problem is that a lot of our players look great when they come on and have a 20 minute cameo.  They don't seem to be able to do it though when they start games.

[Nunkin1965]

It's monopoly money, a scam presided over by a gay-repressing, woman-suppressing, racist-slave-state-ruling, dissident-jailing absolute dictatorship, propped up by planet-destroying fossil fuels.

Perfectly articulated contempt. Someone should paint this all over their soulless stadium, 'Romanes eunt domus'-style.

Great stuff
Perhaps we need to hire a plane and fly over the Etihad with that statement!

[The Edge]

The real positive was the impact the subs made. Coutinho, Durán, Mcgann, Moreno - they all made a difference. Coutinho and Durán in particular, and they both got within a whisker of scoring. Great to see Watkins get another goal as well, and his brutally honest interview afterwards where he seemed to take responsibility for their second - not something I had noticed at all to be honest.

Agree, but the problem is that a lot of our players look great when they come on and have a 20 minute cameo.  They don't seem to be able to do it though when they start games.

Absolutely. Credit where credits due to the players who came on in the second half but it has to be tempered by the fact that City were cruising in that second half and the spaces appeared where there was none in the first half. I get that and I'm pretty sure our multi trophy winning coach will too.

[The Edge]

It's monopoly money, a scam presided over by a gay-repressing, woman-suppressing, racist-slave-state-ruling, dissident-jailing absolute dictatorship, propped up by planet-destroying fossil fuels.

Perfectly articulated contempt. Someone should paint this all over their soulless stadium, 'Romanes eunt domus'-style.

Great stuff
Perhaps we need to hire a plane and fly over the Etihad with that statement!

You've given me an idea. I wonder how much it would cost to hire a small plane to fly over the home of the homophobic despots and simply drop thousands of rainbow coloured ribbons onto the pitch during a game?  It would be some spectacle.

[lovejoy]

I’m probably one of the Grealish’s his biggest fans on here and didn’t turn against him when he left

But I’m also not stupid and he dived yesterday to get that penalty
He’s gone down a lot in my estimation and has done himself no favours whatsoever

I agree, Yorke did the same once at OT.