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

[brontebilly]

For the first goal Ashley Young's positioning is not right at the corner and for the second one he is ball-watching again instead of marking Gundogan.

I thought Young was more Old today. Grealish gave him the run-around at times and should have done so a lot more. There was a close-up of both players' reaction after Young fouled Grealish at one point. Young, angry and pissed-off as ever at a decision going against him. Jack with a wry smile, seemed to show respect to his former (briefly) teammate. It made me sad for a moment as here were two former Villa heroes - Young in his original incarnation and Grealish until he got his big move.

I thought Grealish eased up on him in the second half to be honest, was definitely a couple of occasions he could have gone after him but didn't bother. I'd bring Cash back in against Arsenal to see how he goes.

[Pete3206]

Interesting that Grealish had a 'reputation' for diving when he was at Villa, now he's 'clever'.

Fuck off Sky and fuck off Man City. Every pot City have won was bought and therefore, worthless.

[pauliewalnuts]

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.

To be fair, you could argue that even a foot-off-gas Man City are better than the majority of teams in this league when they're trying their hardest.

[LeeB]

Interesting that Grealish had a 'reputation' for diving when he was at Villa, now he's 'clever'.

Fuck off Sky and fuck off Man City. Every pot City have won was bought and therefore, worthless.

Not only does it devalue the competitions now, I also think it's trampled over their own history and renders their previous achievements insignificant. They've haven't just sold their soul, they've sold their past too.

[SoccerHQ]

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.

And Young.....oh wait.

I tend to avoid the Grealish debates due to the hunch I have that he'll play for us again at some point in the next 5 years.

[Lescottstweets]

Fucking little rat faced diving bastard. Yes I admit I’m bitter. Will throw my toys out the pram even further and say whilst Mancheater Citeh are under investigation, they should be suspended from playing.

[Brend'Watkins]

Interesting that Grealish had a 'reputation' for diving when he was at Villa, now he's 'clever'.

Fuck off Sky and fuck off Man City. Every pot City have won was bought and therefore, worthless.

Not only does it devalue the competitions now, I also think it's trampled over their own history and renders their previous achievements insignificant. They've haven't just sold their soul, they've sold their past too.

I very much doubt that the new generation of MCity fans give a fuck about that.  These are their glory years now. 

[AV82EC]

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.

I’m as furious and frustrated as the next supporter but it’s quite often sensible to take a breath not comment and let reasoned thought win over the beee to lash out. That’s said it’s often cathartic to spleen vent.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Fucking little rat faced diving bastard. Yes I admit I’m bitter.

Me too, the diving fucking show pony.

Our Darren Woolley was speaking to Kevin Grealish before the game yesterday. Wonder how he feels about it all?

[boozey182]

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.

That's fair - and considering how great I though Coutinho was, it's quite telling that I am not suggesting that he starts next week. What we need, though, is to have players on form all through the squad. For too long, any subs that we have made have reduced the quality on the pitch, but that's not the case any more. We have players on the bench that could really make a difference, and if Phil only plays 20-30 minutes every week, yesterday gave me some hope that he could make a difference. Emery loves making subs, so we need to have 16 first team players for every match.

[john e]

For the first goal Ashley Young's positioning is not right at the corner and for the second one he is ball-watching again instead of marking Gundogan.

I thought Young was more Old today. Grealish gave him the run-around at times and should have done so a lot more. There was a close-up of both players' reaction after Young fouled Grealish at one point. Young, angry and pissed-off as ever at a decision going against him. Jack with a wry smile, seemed to show respect to his former (briefly) teammate. It made me sad for a moment as here were two former Villa heroes - Young in his original incarnation and Grealish until he got his big move.

I thought Grealish eased up on him in the second half to be honest, was definitely a couple of occasions he could have gone after him but didn't bother. I'd bring Cash back in against Arsenal to see how he goes.

For me our 2 best full backs started on the bench

[Risso]

Cash should definitely start against Arsenal. They've got lots of pace and movement in the team, and it's obvious that teams are now targetting Young.

[simon ward 50]

Saw the pen again.  Not a pen

The more you see it the worse it gets!

[Footy-Vill]

Dendoncker, I believe, could have been used to start the game.
My reasoning is to deal with Rhordi on set plays as he seems to enjoy being a nuisance and scoring against us, and I would have Dendoncker and McGinn in that lineup yesterday. Dendoncker would have been ideal for the corner, preventing a goal and providing physical presence.

If we had gone with that, Kamara could have stepped in as needed into the form of a back three to help build up play with Dendoncker and McGinn in the midfield and had Moreno in the line up ahead of Buendia.
Buendía is of little use without much team possession, and he gave the ball away, resulting in a goal. We've seen him do it before. When we aren't dominating the ball, I believe he can become anonymous, and thus Moreno and McGinn would have been better suited.

This is a more reflective piece as I wouldn't have been calling for Dendoncker as part of a midfield/defence and Moreno (with Digne ) instead of Buendía before the match.

[KevinGage]

Fucking little rat faced diving bastard. Yes I admit I’m bitter.

Me too, the diving fucking show pony.

Our Darren Woolley was speaking to Kevin Grealish before the game yesterday. Wonder how he feels about it all?

Grealish snr would be honoured to share a chat with our Darren, as any human should be.