Aston Villa 2-1 Man City Post match chat

[exigo]

[PaulWinch again]

If you look at today Citeh’s porous midfield is the difference. Our midfield strength/shape is 100% what has undermined our play at times - look how good it can be when we have all of them available (and that’s without Ramsey).

[olaftab]

Just confirming I haven’t had a look in at blue moon and as things stand I’m unlikely to do so

Same here. Fuck em and all their stolen silver.

[jon collett]

Looks like Onana had a tasty exchange with Joe G at full time , hence then a few stepping in to calm things down. Joe was a classless clown today in fairness .

“You’re a fucking bitch” I think he said.

Harsh but fair.

What does that mean in UK English?

[Rory]

Looks like Onana had a tasty exchange with Joe G at full time , hence then a few stepping in to calm things down. Joe was a classless clown today in fairness .

“You’re a fucking bitch” I think he said.

Harsh but fair.

What does that mean in UK English?

"One might be forgiven for considering you a cad, sir."

[jon collett]

Looks like Onana had a tasty exchange with Joe G at full time , hence then a few stepping in to calm things down. Joe was a classless clown today in fairness .

“You’re a fucking bitch” I think he said.

Harsh but fair.

What does that mean in UK English?

"One might be forgiven for considering you a cad, sir."

 Cheers! Can definitely agree with that!

[TonyD]

Great to see Unai turns us back to our best again.
I must admit I was getting a bit worried. 

[Garyth]

….

Teams know what we're trying to do so it's not going to be easy unless they think they're better than us and can afford to risk giving us space. It's why we beat Bayern as well.

Yeah. Coaches and analysts in this league are amongst the best in the world. It’s no surprise that we’ve struggled except against the most ideologically dogged.

The lightning passes through the middle require both our midfielder to have time to turn, and the forward to have enough space in behind to run onto the pass. We spent the first half of last season engineering these situations, but when teams compress these spaces and refuse to press high we find it much tougher.

This season we’ve attempted the transition into a ‘high-possession in the final third’ gameplay style but it’s no surprise our most eye catching performances are still against teams that refuse to change (eg. Bayern)

I suspect the next few transfer windows will see more players coming in who allow us to me more effective higher up. 

[Villafirst]

Didn't see any of it but that midfield is what I've been looking forward to ever since Onana arrived.

Agree, had they both started together from the start of the season we'd be close to Liverpool at the top. They give great protection to the defence whilst allowing Tielemans more freedom that bit higher up the pitch.

[Towser]

https://www.football365.com/news/opinion-guardiola-sack-kindness-tielemans-rogers-embarrass-old-men-man-city

[remy]

On the morning of this match, I was still in a mild strop after the Forest debacle.
Remy Junior (now in his 16th Villa following year), you know all wide eyed, positive and optimistic, assured me that this Villa whilst inconsistent and defensively shambolic in some points-costing-games this season after a weeks rest and our first choice midfield now refreshed and available will best them.
Old, cynical me didn’t agree until he pointedly remarked that under SUE we are a different gravy now.
That was the equivalent of football porn.
We were unplayable. Passing, movement, goals, energy the incredible atmosphere- what a combination! What a team!
Thank you for the Christmas present lads, can’t wait for the next game.

[The Edge]

Looks like Onana had a tasty exchange with Joe G at full time , hence then a few stepping in to calm things down. Joe was a classless clown today in fairness .

“You’re a fucking bitch” I think he said.

Harsh but fair.

What does that mean in UK English?

"One might be forgiven for considering you a cad, sir."

 Cheers! Can definitely agree with that!

I might be being a bit dim here but who was calling who a bitch?

[Clampy]

I was concerned how much space cash was allowing wide as everything was going out to grealish.
I actually think it was tactical as each time Grealish got it thier move broke down.

He has been so deconstructed by Pep i actually feel sorry for him.

Pity we could not of kept a clean sheet.

Fantastic display

That's interesting because we were talking about exactly  that in the first half. One or two around us were commenting that Cash wasn't sticking to Grealish like glue but he didn't really need to, he had him covered every time apart from one or two wayward shots he managed to get in. Cash was excellent.

As for the game, great performance and not for the first time, it should have been more than two two. Shame about their goal, it would have been a faultless display otherwise.

[dorsetvillian]

At times yesterday City looked like an U15 team playing against adults. We were so physically dominate. Seeing Rogers rampage through the lines countless times with City players being swatted away was a real joy...

[Mister E]

I was concerned how much space cash was allowing wide as everything was going out to grealish.
I actually think it was tactical as each time Grealish got it thier move broke down.

He has been so deconstructed by Pep i actually feel sorry for him.

Pity we could not of kept a clean sheet.

Fantastic display

That's interesting because we were talking about exactly  that in the first half. One or two around us were commenting that Cash wasn't sticking to Grealish like glue but he didn't really need to, he had him covered every time apart from one or two wayward shots he managed to get in. Cash was excellent.
As for the game, great performance and not for the first time, it should have been more than two two. Shame about their goal, it would have been a faultless display otherwise.

We also discussed it and concluded that Citeh were trying to stretch our back 4 wide in order to create space through the channels for Gundovan and Gvardiol to drive through. Cash did not falter: he kept tight and then moved out when Grealish received the ball