Manchester City vs Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[SaddVillan]

 Concede in minutes 1-5 and you've plenty of time to recover.

Concede after 80 mins and you've screwed yourselves

Villa 1-1 B'mouth 90+6  2 points lost
Forest 2-1 Villa 87, 90+3  3 points
Villa 2-2 Brighton 12, 81 2 points
City 2-1 Villa 90+4 1 point

8 points dropped to goals conceded after 80 mins.

Criminally incompetent.
We need to learn how to close out games.

[Percy McCarthy]

Concede in minutes 1-5 and you've plenty of time to recover.

Concede after 80 mins and you've screwed yourselves


Forest 2-1 Villa 87, 90+3  3 points

The biggest kick in the teeth of the lot.

-3 for us, +3 for Forest.

[Des Little]

Only just home and not read the thread but I’ll just ask why we put a RB on the bench if we’re going to overlook him for a CB with no pace? Especially one that was rinsed by a winger only couple of weeks ago in Paris too. Very strange.

[Matt C]

Obviously a massive blow to lose it in that manner as has been covered, but I’d maintain the race is far from over; our fight is with Forest, Newcastle & Chelsea and it seems unlikely they’ll be perfect for all the remaining games, so there’s a chance, albeit a slim one.

Wasn’t the easiest on the eye at times but thought we were quite impressive in keeping them at arms length for long periods. Once the clock reached 80 minutes it did start to look like the mental fatigue had started to catch up with us though. Our substitutions have been perfectly timed and judged in recent weeks but it didn’t work out this time whereas theirs did. It happens.

We’ve been on a great run and have an opportunity to take another massive step this weekend. Plenty to look forward to.

[London Villan]

I don’t think i’ve been as pissed off with a goal as that one tonight, for a very long time.

I have a horrible feeling it will not only be pivotal for a 5th placed finish, but also the implications of no champions league football next season.

And I can’t sleep.

[ROBBO]

We had the superior players on the pitch but allowed them too much of the ball, we sort of closed shop when we really needed all the points, totally different from the Newcastle game where we played open attacking football. Rogers has no reason to complain he has been poor, we know he's a talent but maybe too much football at his age is taking a toll.

[Rudy65]

Saw their starting line up and ageing midfield duo and thought we can win this
Far too respectful and defensive to me from the start. Not really sure where Onana fits in?
Rogers well off it tonight
Gutted by the result but also the overall performance against a mediocre, by their high standards, City.
So many empty seats and their adding another 6k apparently 😆

[Small Rodent]

I don’t think i’ve been as pissed off with a goal as that one tonight, for a very long time.

I have a horrible feeling it will not only be pivotal for a 5th placed finish, but also the implications of no champions league football next season.

And I can’t sleep.

My thoughts too. No CL, no keeping Rashford or Asensio, and goodbye someone else or two to pay for PSR. Back to square one squad building-wise.

However, this is football.

[Rudy65]

Have we genuinely seen enough from those 2 to warrant the speculated £600k pw wages?
I though Asensio started well for us generally with his goals etc but faded whilst Rashford has gone the other way. The latter ain’t a CF but is a winger to supply Watkins imo

[django]

It’s football for us but not for them it seems. When we lose to them it’s the worst burning rage..,at one time due to the players they took from us when we were a better team than them that helped get them on their way…then because they felt light years away from us and we couldn’t compete…but since the era when we’re actually pretty decent but having to sell some of our best players to keep on the right side of PSR while they have outstanding charges rolling over from season to season it really really boils my piss.

[django]

Asensio seems to have had his minutes managed over cautiously and it seems to have eroded his form a bit. But he’s quality and offers something different. Rashford was decent tonight and he has had a positive impact in a lot of his appearances but for what he costs in wages I’m not sure id sign him. His pace offers us a lot but there must be other pacy players who cost a lot less.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

I don’t think i’ve been as pissed off with a goal as that one tonight, for a very long time.

I have a horrible feeling it will not only be pivotal for a 5th placed finish, but also the implications of no champions league football next season.

And I can’t sleep.

This.
Came back on an almost silent coach and after 30 minutes people sleeping, snoozing etc
I just wanted to shout and scream and hit things....the club....owners, coach, players...US....we need CL football to keep moving in the right direction and to enhance our financial stability...
and we set up to nick a draw, showed them far too much respect, sat back, played long balls straight back to them, made substitutions too late and conceded two absolutely shite goals, their winner in added time - AGAIN!!!
I thought we'd left all that behind.
Play like that on Saturday and Palace will lap it up.
And as someone else said...FFS! We're so much better than that!

[brontebilly]

Have we genuinely seen enough from those 2 to warrant the speculated £600k pw wages?
I though Asensio started well for us generally with his goals etc but faded whilst Rashford has gone the other way. The latter ain’t a CF but is a winger to supply Watkins imo

Both have been better than I expected but it's the same tactical problem. Watkins is a better 9 than Rashford. Rogers is a better 10 than Asensio. Rashford in Ramsey's position hasn't really worked and I'm not sure we have even tried Asensio where Bailey usually plays. Fudging it and moving Rogers there is far from ideal.

I guess playing in the CL and deep in FA Cup, we have loads of games to keep players relatively happy, sorry Ollie. But that's a tough balancing act for a full season. Hard decisions required in the summer.

[Bosco81]

Like others I thought we were a bit too passive in the 2nd half, the reason we were on this good run is because of good squad rotation, so when it doesn’t work it’s easy to pick holes in the concept.

Taking off JJ seemed to be the catalyst to just sit in, he gets us up the pitch so well, and when McGinn came on I expected it to be on the right, to help the full back out as their left was where the danger was coming from.

[rob_bridge]

Have we genuinely seen enough from those 2 to warrant the speculated £600k pw wages?
I though Asensio started well for us generally with his goals etc but faded whilst Rashford has gone the other way. The latter ain’t a CF but is a winger to supply Watkins imo

We haven't seen enough of them to warrant signing them permanently. These are quick sugar rush type of signings - not long term options. Rashford needs to go abroad and see if he still wants it enough.

For PSR we need more Youri, Kamara, Rogers, Ramsey and Garcia types.