Manchester City vs Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[LeeB]

I can't stand Citeh but for me Rodri is the best player in the world right now.

[Demitri_C]

I can't stand Citeh but for me Rodri is the best player in the world right now.

Agree and fodens got potential to be another.

As much as i dislike citeh with foden they bought him as a youngster. Thats one player they didnt cheat on

[Somniloquism]

I can't stand Citeh but for me Rodri is the best player in the world right now.

He is he is Luiz and Kamara rolled into one. Strong in the tackle but a sublime passer as well, and can run for 90 mins.

[caster troy]

I'm comfortable with the team selection, I don't think Iroegbunam for Tielemans is that controversial given their styles and Bailey looked tired against Wolves I thought. The questionable one was Pau being out, but given his absences lately it does make sense to protect him for the next couple of games where we will hopefully have more of the ball.

It was disappointing to lose but I don't think the goal difference aspect is really a factor, Spurs have three very easy games left where you'd expect them to improve theirs quite a lot.

[chrisw1]

Diaby has started more league games this season than Bailey has, he was hardly chucking in an untried youth player. Maybe there has been illness issues, maybe Emery just though they were the better options for the team we had available/were facing. Talk of him chucking the game is absolute bonkers and based on nothing but frustration.

Absolutely. He will have put out the strongest team he was able to against that state funded sham of a football club. There's absolutely no way he would be thinking about surrendering a game when we're within touching distance of a top four finish with Spuds breathing right down our necks. Managing at this level sometimes means making difficult choices but a coach of Emery's standing will always be thinking about taking whatever is possible from every game. To suggest otherwise is ludicrous.

Do you honestly believe that?

Argue all you want about the merits of the decision and how it may have been for the best etc, but suggesting that was not a weakened team is what is ludicrous.

[The Edge]

I don’t know. Dropping our two best (fit) players was odd.  He made that call knowing Martinez was out and obviously Watkins and McGinn.  So it does feel like he kind of threw the game.  The team didn’t play too badly, at least the first half and we do always, always lose there, so it’ll only be a decision that will be remembered if we don’t beat Brentford. 

He’s got plenty in the bank of course, but I did find it a weird thing to do. 

Martinez pulled out after the team was announced.

And he didn't "drop" our two best players. He may have decided they needed rest but they may have caught the same bug as Emi. Who knows? Emery does and he makes the necessary calls. Calls which have us in our best league position in donkeys years and we're in the QF of a European competition. All these inferences and snide comments that Emery intentionally threw the game are really starting to irritate me.

Snide?  That’s unfair and I’d ask you to wind your neck in a bit.  Emery is a genius and I love the guy.  But it *felt* to me like he threw it a bit.  If that irritates you so be it.

Wind my neck in? Lol. This is a comment's section where we agree and disagree on all things villa. And don't take it personal. When I said snide comment's read back on this thread. There's plenty of people saying he "threw the game" which is total bullshit. In my humble opinion.

[Brazilian Villain]

I can't stand Citeh but for me Rodri is the best player in the world right now.

He was certainly a better use of £63 million than buying 3/4 of Antony.

[Chris Smith]

Zaniolo can fuck right off. gutless cowardly bellend frightened of a fucking football 

He didn't jump out of its way, he was moving before it was stuck. I would need to check with other walls but I'm guessing our end players jump out to try to protect against the whip around the wall, and Foden knew they did and gambled on it.

It wasn’t the jump it was the turning away from the ball as he did it that left the gap. Unforgivable for a professional footballer.

We have a lot of important games coming up and the squad is already looking stretched with injuries and suspensions so to me it makes sense for the manager to ‘manage’ resources at his disposal.

[LeeB]

edit

[pauliewalnuts]

In the interview on the OS, Unai refers twice to needing to use more players to cope with the run of matches in the next few weeks. I think that’s pretty much why we saw what we did last night in terms of line up.

We all say we understand the need to use the squad but then when it comes to actually doing it, it seems a different story.

[Somniloquism]

Zaniolo can fuck right off. gutless cowardly bellend frightened of a fucking football 

He didn't jump out of its way, he was moving before it was stuck. I would need to check with other walls but I'm guessing our end players jump out to try to protect against the whip around the wall, and Foden knew they did and gambled on it.

It wasn’t the jump it was the turning away from the ball as he did it that left the gap. Unforgivable for a professional footballer.

We have a lot of important games coming up and the squad is already looking stretched with injuries and suspensions so to me it makes sense for the manager to ‘manage’ resources at his disposal.

His jump seemed to be outwards, not upwards, and the turn might be because of the shit handball rules nowadays so he had to tuck them in against the body, hence spinning. Others in the wall also turned in a similar way with their jumps and that was just going up.

[The Edge]

Diaby has started more league games this season than Bailey has, he was hardly chucking in an untried youth player. Maybe there has been illness issues, maybe Emery just though they were the better options for the team we had available/were facing. Talk of him chucking the game is absolute bonkers and based on nothing but frustration.

Absolutely. He will have put out the strongest team he was able to against that state funded sham of a football club. There's absolutely no way he would be thinking about surrendering a game when we're within touching distance of a top four finish with Spuds breathing right down our necks. Managing at this level sometimes means making difficult choices but a coach of Emery's standing will always be thinking about taking whatever is possible from every game. To suggest otherwise is ludicrous.

Do you honestly believe that?

Argue all you want about the merits of the decision and how it may have been for the best etc, but suggesting that was not a weakened team is what is ludicrous.

It's not ludicrous and I did not say it wasn't a weakened team. I'm saying he makes the calls depending on the circumstances. He decided to rest player's in the long term interests of the squad not to throw a game as plenty on here have suggested.

[olaftab]

I can't stand Citeh but for me Rodri is the best player in the world right now.

Yes, there is only Bellingham to compare with him in the world. However both are not quite Denis Mortimer level but adequate deputies😊

[chrisw1]

Diaby has started more league games this season than Bailey has, he was hardly chucking in an untried youth player. Maybe there has been illness issues, maybe Emery just though they were the better options for the team we had available/were facing. Talk of him chucking the game is absolute bonkers and based on nothing but frustration.

Absolutely. He will have put out the strongest team he was able to against that state funded sham of a football club. There's absolutely no way he would be thinking about surrendering a game when we're within touching distance of a top four finish with Spuds breathing right down our necks. Managing at this level sometimes means making difficult choices but a coach of Emery's standing will always be thinking about taking whatever is possible from every game. To suggest otherwise is ludicrous.

Do you honestly believe that?

Argue all you want about the merits of the decision and how it may have been for the best etc, but suggesting that was not a weakened team is what is ludicrous.

It's not ludicrous and I did not say it wasn't a weakened team. I'm saying he makes the calls depending on the circumstances. He decided to rest player's in the long term interests of the squad not to throw a game as plenty on here have suggested.

I'm sorry but that's not what you said at all.  I highlighted what you said and to me, that is ludicrous.

[olaftab]

Zaniolo can fuck right off. gutless cowardly bellend frightened of a fucking football 

Wow….I bet you were itching to insert word Italian in there?