WakefieldVillan

His worst performance for a very long time last night, not sure if he is fully fit or if he has had his head turned but he hasn't performed to the incredibly high standards that he has set himself probably since Watford at home 6 matches ago.

If he is fit then 100% he plays, any people suggesting otherwise are crazy 

The scary thing for me is that he is comfortably our best defender by some distance which probably confirms why we have conceded the most goals in the league.

We're a much worse team when he doesn't play, but by heck does he need to up his game, stop thinking he is better than he is, stop dithering on the ball and start doing what defenders are there to do - F****** DEFEND!

Was never convinced when we signed him, his performances have confirmed the doubts.

Nyland should play till end of the season.

A few weeks ago I felt quite confident we could pick up something from this, not anymore.

Will either be a plucky 1-2 defeat or an embarrassing 0-4 loss. 

He was the pick of the midfield tonight but that doesn't say much.

We desperately needed to sign Kalvin Phillips though whatever the cost, we'd probably be safe in my view. A guy that can put a crunching tackle in. We lack so much fight its untrue.

Absolutely horrid performance that was with not a single positive to take from it and VAR giving that pen for that word removed to score just capped the night off.

Smith got it totally wrong tonight, I am interested to hear his post match analysis but I've had enough for tonight.

I think he was torn between two formations tonight and it showed. We played 4 at the back against these at VP and got torn to shreds, tonight was the same. The cup games we played 3 at the back and although we still gave chances away we weren't left quite as 'exposed' as tonight. But because the 3 hasn't been working I think he trusted us to carry on with 4 but then negated all our attacking threat by playing Elmo and Conor who were both passengers and both hooked. 

I always knew tonight would be tough, but that was shambolic, he's going to have to work miracles to lift the players after that. It's probably more likely that the fans will do it on Saturday than him to be honest. Boy do they need our support now.

I'm clinging on to the hope that he stumbles on a winning team/formula and we gain some confidence from somewhere but it's looking gloomy to say the least.

No-one out there deserved any consideration for MOTM really, they were ALL poor, but special mention to Reina, Guilbert, Mings, Luiz and Conor who were the worst of the lot! 

Just now, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Lol, he's done more in 10 minutes than most of the team.

Correct.  I wonder what some fans see tbh.

3 minutes ago, Farlz said:

Davis is horse shit 

Ridiculous comment

Absolutely massive team talk required, we have been utter dreadful from 5 minutes in. 

No fight, no desire, no belief, no leadership, no confidence.

We are so weak all over the pitch it's laughable.

I'd bring Davis on put him up top with Samatta playing off him. El El Ghazi for Elmo.

I'd like to take Conor off to but probably best to keep 1 sub till later, but they all need to pull their **** fingers out.

I don't mind losing, but I hate losing in this manner. Disgraceful performance.

Oh n Reina has been very average from day 1. We've signed him 10 years too late. Stick with Nyland after tonight till end of season.

Unfortunately it's going to be Leeds and West Brom promoted which always looked the likeliest outcome for me, can see the former winning the title now they've well and truly overcome their annual blip! 

I think Fulhams experience will see them win the play-offs but I hope it's someone else. A Brentford vs Fulham final would be a good spectacle! 

3 hours ago, avfcDJ said:

Because, like the games before that, we fall apart and hand easy goals to teams. Even if we had fallen apart half as much we'd probably be on another 6 points.

I sometimes question if Grealish is the right captain.

Making Jack captain was an absolutely brilliant move and for me had a huge part in us gaining promotion, the long winning streak and the player he has developed into - no idea at all why you would question that decision.

Great results for us today, I was fearing a lot worse prior kick off. Lots of twists and turns still to come but today pretty much confirms 3 from 6 to go down.

Monday will be tough and I would take a point if offered now but not for any of our home games, we should (and will) be aiming for 3 each game! 

Got a horrible feeling West Ham will win today (already hit the post) 

Might put a tenner on them to stop it from happening

Noticed a couple of other threads with some (good) team suggestions so thought I would bump this one now the cup final is out of the way and we have 11 more cup finals to play.

For the run-in I think we need to stick to four at the back and try to keep this as settled as possible. The defensive unit did well overall against City and hopefully that breeds confidence going into these crucial matches.

To be honest I wouldn't be bothered whether it was Reina or Nyland in goal, but I think for the extra experience I would just about pick Pepe. Then the same back four that played Sunday.

I think that we will keep the same team (as the final) next up at Leicester, which I wouldn't disagree with, however McGinn must be very close to the managers thoughts now and moving forward (after Leicester) I would like to see the following;

This has been suggested on another thread and is my favourite -

                           Back 5

                          Nakamba

                 Luiz                   McGinn

                          Grealish

                    Samatta    Davis

I think this has got a lot of potential and lots of energy to press high (like we did in spells in the second half against City), we may get caught now and again, but we're conceding chances anyway and I just think Davis can add that bit of strength, bring others in to play and get the games played in the oppositions half. It will allow us to be more direct at times which I don't think would be a bad thing. I think that formation is the best way of including Davis (and a front two) whilst playing four at the back and not leaving ourselves too exposed (like maybe a standard 4-4-2 would/could). 

Failing that I would just look at replacing Davis with El Ghazi and put him and Grealish either side of Samatta with a narrow three in behind.

I would perhaps look more to our home games for the diamond formation where teams are more likely to "sit back" a little and go 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 in the away games.

I'm anti VAR and have only just seen the Everton disallowed goal but this one was the right call for me.

When I had heard about it I thought the Everton player was on the other side of the pitch or something, not sat right in De Gea's eye-line when the original shot was aimed.

Harsh on Everton in the fact that De Gea wouldn't have saved it but the correct decision IMO.

38 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Not enough teams in our fixture list will be at the beach when playing them is my worry. Newcastle and Palace potentially being the only ones.

Palace will be, they are already 9 points clear of the bottom 3 (with a much better GD) and have 6 more matches before they visit VP, that win at Brighton was a real blessing for us and hopefully Messrs Ayew and Benteke will blaze a few into the Holte (well Benteke will anyway!)

Newcastle will still need points I should imagine and it will be interesting to see if they progress past the Baggies tomorrow because I think the Quarter Finals are scheduled for the 21st March which is when we visit St James Park. If they progress it could work against them and work in our favour.

A couple of weeks ago I did the predictor and the results have gone pretty much what I expected so far, except for the obvious one - my final prediction ended up with the following points;

Norwich 33

Villa 37

Brighton 38

West Ham 38

Watford 39

Bournemouth 39

I had us down for several draws in that including on the last day of the season at the Olympic Stadium, that game could be absolute torture. 

By hook or crook we need to get around 13 more points to have a chance IMO.

If Vardy plays 3-1 Leicester, if not I think we might nick a point (1-1) think they will be up for it given our cup victory against them.

27 minutes ago, TRO said:

I thought Engels was out of position, with Mings for their second goal, not dominant enough for me.

but unlucky at the other end, sure.

I think Samatta, with the right support, could be a fine player, for us, eel like and elusive, has a brain, for being in the right place and a fine header of the ball....really like him....but I think playing on his own, is too much and will blunt his edge.

Guilbert and Targett was caught out many times with crossfield balls and one which foden created they scored from.....I would replace both in time.

I think that was always going to be the case when we switched to 4 at the back though. Our game plan was to nullify the space in central areas which to a degree worked but City switched the play so well that it became extremely hard for both our full backs.

They were obviously both told to "tuck in" to help stop the threat of Aguero getting into the channels between Engels and Mings but then this left Sterling and Foden with lots of space on the flanks. To be fair I think Guilbert (2nd goal aside) had a decent game and I don't think Sterling made much of an impact on the game at all - I also enjoyed when Fred shoved the ball into Raheem's chest, it's not often our lads show that bit of "devilishness" and we need more of that. Targett on the other hand struggled to handle Foden, he got caught out on the goal and due to the nature of the game couldn't really get forward - In hindsight would Taylor have been a better option?! (Have I just said that out loud?! ) I don't know, I think he might have "left one on Foden" which might have stemmed the flow of his attacking.

I think a lot depends on which division we are in next season as to whether they are regular starters or not - I think both are very capable at a promotion chasing Championship standard but ideally squad players in the top flight.

We can definitely hold our heads high tonight. The best team did win, but we made them work right to the very end and but for a bad call from the linesman and the late header who knows what may have happened. 

Can't fault a single player, Trez possibly he just didn't settle into it and Targett struggled to cope with Foden (who was the standout player on the pitch) but no real negatives for me tonight. We fought hard, we worked our socks off, we defended for long periods against a class outfit, we tried to press in the second half to change the impetus of the game, we even left our foot in a couple of times - very unlike us, we literally gave 110% and that's all I asked for and so did many others. 

Thought Nakamba was our MOTM, really grew into the game second half and I thought Luiz wasn't too shabby either. Samatta took his goal really well and looks a player. 

Hopefully we can gain confidence from our performance and take it into the league matches because if we do we will have no worries staying up.

Final word. The fans.

Absolutely class all game, even at the end it was all claret n blue noise. I think our club and fans deserved this and it would have meant a lot more to us, but our time will come again!

I just want us to go out there and fight till the end, not be overawed, play to our optimum best and not humiliate ourselves - then what will be will be.

It's ridiculous that Ci£y could play with a front 3 of Mahrez, Jesus and Silva B or Sterling, Aguero and David Silva, and have arguably the third best player in the world pulling the strings from behind - no wonder we have been written off.

Looking at that front 3 got me thinking what's the best CITY team we could face as our opposition 1 to 11 on Sunday to give us a minute chance of victory?  (Not including their U21'S or their women's team ).

I'd go - Bravo, Cancelo, Mendy, Stones, Otamendi, Foden, Rodrigo, Gundogan, Sane, Jesus, Zinchenko...

Unfortunately that won't happen, but it's killed 5 minutes at work  

On a side note, I would have to choose survival over silverware and hope to kick on next season with a better squad capable of another cup run.

Gutted I can't get a ticket, but can't wait to hear our support drown out the City fans - Do us proud!

UTV!

Nyland should start for me and I would be surprised if he didn't

As others have alluded to, much like last summer we will have two lists drawn up for both upcoming scenarios - List A we survive and List B (God forbid) we are relegated.

Should we stay in the "promised land" - First job is to convince Grealish to sign, the only way we are going to do this is with a couple of BIG name signings, I hate the fact that every other day we read about Man Utd looking to sign Jack or John McGinn and I would love the tables to be turned (at least once) in my lifetime - Let's see a couple of cheeky bids for Rashford and Lingard. Or let's try grab Tammy back from Chelsea or Kane from Spurs... OK, maybe a bit far fetched  but we will need to show some real intent to show Jack we mean business.

I actually don't think we would need wholesale changes, just some quality additions to strengthen the first eleven. Noticeably some fast skillful wide men and some strength in the middle of the park.

I'd love to see the likes of Tuanzebe, Ben White, Max Aarons, Billing, Calvin Phillips, Eze, David Brooks, Cantwell, Benrahma just to name a few, all these would improve our first eleven, let alone our squad.

If we drop then it is inevitable that Jack and Tyrone leave, then other possible departures (that we can claim some decent funds from) are McGinn, Luiz, and Targett.

We would definitely be shopping in a different market if this happens, however I still feel we will have the edge on 95% of the division in terms of who we are, the facilities we have, the wages we can offer, the attendances we can pull ETC and this will give us a great chance still to build a promotion winning team.

I will just reiterate what I said in both our league fixtures against this lot and that is to make things as difficult as possible for them, not gift them stupid goals, keep the ball when we have it, try to do ourselves proud and what will be, will be.

At the Etihad we did this for 45 minutes then conceded a silly goal and that was that, but by no means was it the worst performance we have seen this season, however the game at VP we let ourselves down with some really sloppy defending which if we do at Wembley on Sunday it could be carnage!

Regardless what side / formation we put out this is going to be extremely difficult, I just hope we can go out there and not embarrass our great club's great name and hopefully the players have more belief than we, the fans have.

Let's face it, they have class players all over the park regardless which eleven start the game, however if there is a chink in their armour then you would probably say it is defensively therefore I think we have to take the game to them (when we can) because we just haven't got the personnel or manager to "park the bus".

I personally would switch back to a back four (as we played in the away league game) and try to compact the midfield as much as possible to solidify areas in front of our defence. Grealish is obviously our main man and their main concern and I would get him playing centrally and just say to him go out there, try get on the ball, get stuck in, run at them, draw fouls and show them why you could easily play in the light blue of City in the next season or two. I would play Nyland over Reina, we can't forget his heroics in the semi final(s) are the reason we are looking forward to this Cup final. I would be tempted to start with Elmo over Guilbert because I feel is experience could be invaluable for this one, slowing the game down and has more big game experience. Hourihane in for his set plays and my other main selection choice would be to start with Davis (subject to fitness), it is essential that the ball "sticks" up top and he is the best man we have for that role. He did well at the Etihad when he came (basically got Fernandinho sent off and went close to netting a consolation in his brief cameo).

With the ball I would like us to look like this;

                                  Nyland 

  Elmo         Engels               Mings          Targett

                   Luiz    Nakamba   Hourihane 

                         El Ghazi Grealish 

                                   Davis

But when City are in possession (which no doubt will be an awful lot);

                                Same back 5

El Ghazi         Luiz       Grealish         Nakamba        Hourihane

                                       Davis

Subs; Reina, Guilbert, Hause, Konsa, Lansbury, Trezeguet, Samatta.

7 hours ago, villaluke said:

i dont understand why you havent even put luiz on the bench?! 

Well I think it was either him or Taylor so it was a no brainer.....

12 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

I just did a predictor thingy. God, it’s tight. We need to pick up 3 points from Arsenal, United and Chelsea combined at home I think. Beat one of them or just get 3 draws, that will really help. 

 

Did you not bother putting the Norwich results in? 

Cos I think it is highly unlikely with home games against Southampton, Everton, Brighton, West Ham and Burnley that they will yield just a single point more!

I'll take the Villa position though all day long!

First time in a very long time that everyone is agreeing on the front 3 (El Ghazi/Samatta/Grealish) which shows that there were positives from the Spurs game and hopefully it is a good sign for the rest of the season.

The only reason the players should have Wembley on their minds is in a positive way, "IE you're playing for your cup final shirt, go do the business" - I think (hope), that puts us in good stead come 3 0'clock Saturday.