Ratings and Reactions: Villa 0-2 Man City

[The_Rev]

There was one moment where CNZ had made a nice cut in run, and all he had to do was lay it off to his right were Weimann was totally unmarked, but he couldn't/wouldn't make the play of course. He's not the smartest player is he? He doesn't make smart runs off the ball, and when he has the ball, he almost always makes the wrong decision.

I thought that too in real time but it did look like a much more difficult pass to make when I saw the replay. Richardson wasn't a terrible option to take and he was only denied by a superb tackle.

[OutByEaster?]

I thought we played pretty well, Cleverly was really good in the first half, Hutton was excellent throughout and whilst both centre halves played well I thought Baker was outstanding. In the end I think we ran out of legs, once Delph and Cleverly tired, we were no longer able to create anything through the middle and the ball just kept coming back at us. City are relentless in that situation, patient, organised and precise.

 

Good the see Benteke back, and he looked ridiculously excited when he first came on - great to see. 

 

There was an incident quite late on when Milner caught Hutton after the ball had gone on the corner of our box - from my seat (which is about as far away as you can get from the incident) it looked high, late and nasty - a red card offence - I presume I've not seen it well - can anyone enlighten me?

 

As for City, they'll win things, they're a very good side with very good players - but I'm always a little bit disappointed - if I had all of the money in the world, I'd make a football team that played like Brazil in 82, flair, magic, goals, insanity - City seem more like Germany 1990, there's just something very industrial about the way they methodically go about beating you. Ho hum - not my problem I suppose.

 

Anyways, I thought we were good and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

[turnbull]

Piss flaps

[VillanousOne]

Our main problem today was giving the ball away when we were pressing forward. All our midfielders did it apart from Delph and Hutton did it nearly every time. When you keep giving it away like that you are going to concede a large number of goal scoring opportunities against a team like that and when you do that you simply increase the probability that the opposition will score sooner or later.

 

It was even more frustrating when Benteke came on and we stopped playing the ball on the deck and started hoofing.

 

Small mercies: Lampard didn't score against us.

we've lacked composure and a killer pass up front every game so far, which is odd because we have players who can deliver that side to our game, no idea why. The passes toward weren't just wayward they were almost comedy at times.

[AndyM3000]

There was one moment where CNZ had made a nice cut in run, and all he had to do was lay it off to his right were Weimann was totally unmarked, but he couldn't/wouldn't make the play of course. He's not the smartest player is he? He doesn't make smart runs off the ball, and when he has the ball, he almost always makes the wrong decision.

Passing to Weimann is always the wrong decision. Not to mention the fact he was miles offside.

[rjw63]

How can highly paid professional athletes supposedly be tired seven games into a season?

Anyway from that I saw on.my dads telly we looked ok for 25 minutes then let the opposition take over. We simply aren't ggood enough to compete with the top four or five and its very boring and predictable. That's why I didn't bother renewing after twenty odd years.

Defensively we are much improved but they are always under pressure because of our powder puff midfield and non existent strikeforce. Money well saved.

[sheepyvillian]

Great velocity shown by Fabian in closing Toure down. I mean , come on , this guy is suppose to be super- fit .

[heid3ster]

A not unexpected loss. However...

I thought we played well for the first 60-70 minutes. In the first half we pressed well, had some sustained periods of possession and played out of the back pretty nicely. The second half was off to a lively start too. We rode our luck for the majority of the game, they had so many shots straight down Guzan's throat or just wide or off the post.

But we just couldn't make that luck count for anything. Our counter-attacks constantly broke down, and to my recollection we didn't have one set piece in an attacking area. We are just too blunt in attack. Weimann can't hold up the ball, and to be honest I don't actually blame him for that, he is not that sort of player and probably wouldn't have been asked to if Gabby hadn't been ill. I'd like to think that Gabby's pace would have caused their defense more problems. We will never know.

Then we made good attacking subs, I thought, but dropped deeper and deeper. The longer the second half went on, the more we invited on the pressure, and that was only going to end one way.

Guzan: 6.5.  Made some excellent saves, really kept us in it and he is so important to this team. But damn it, his distribution is so poor, especially his long kicks which seem to either go out for a throw or land precisely on the head of an opponent. It's been a problem with him for three years now and he needs to improve it. I think he also wasted a few good opportunities to release the ball early for a counter-attack, choosing to smother the ball and waste time instead. I love Brad, he's one of my favorite players, but he needs to improve this side of his game. It's not good enough.

Hutton: 7  Made some good attacking runs down the flank, solid in defense. Needs a better final ball. But I'm so pleased with him this season, I really am.

Senderos: 6.5  Solid, but allowed Toure way too much space for that first goal.

Baker: 8  MotM. Really good play from him today. Keep proving me wrong, Nathan.

Cissokho: 5  Made several errors, although I don't recall any of them leading directly to goals. Lucky not to get booked for his ridiculously unnecessary foul on Silva.

Westwood: 7  Solid. A few wayward passes but he is more positive in his play overall this season.

 

Delph: 7  Great tracking back, his work rate is second to none.

 

Cleverley: 7  I'm impressed with him and I think he will continue to improve.

 

N'Zogbia: 6  He makes great runs but never knows when to pass off the ball. This has been the case for as long as he's been a Villa player. He doesn't track back. As soon as Kolorov got the yellow card he should have spent the rest of the game running at him. Didn't happen. I expect more from him.

 

Richardson: 5  Not good today. Should have buried that chance. He does put in a shift defensively, I'll say that much for him.

 

Weimann:  6  Scuffed that chance in the first half, but to be fair to him he was closed down quickly by two defenders and had zero support. Where were the other forwards? He wasn't great today but I don't think he's a good choice for a lone striker. He plays well through the middle but needs a partner. In hindsight, might have been good to shift him over to the right and take N'Zogbia off for Benteke.

 

Benteke: 6  What a delight to see him play again. He didn't have much of a chance, the ball barely got to him.

 

Grealish: 6  Not his best game but he's young and I'm glad he's getting minutes.

 

Bacuna: 6  I think he was brought on to offer a little more defensive cover on that right side, but it didn't help. And we did lose what little attacking impetus we had when N'Zogbia went off.

 

Referee:  Foy made a lot of mistakes today, including giving City that corner late in the first half and not awarding us a corner in the second. I don't think any of his mistakes cost us, though. Poor performance but not a deciding factor.

 

Looking forward to Everton and QPR, though. Glad this little nightmare run is over.

[dAVe80]

That's what £300m gets you. Worked hard again, but lacking in an attacking outlet. Get Benteke fully fit, get the last game of this horrendous run of fixtures out the way, and we'll see where we're at

[snowychap]

There was an incident quite late on when Milner caught Hutton after the ball had gone on the corner of our box - from my seat (which is about as far away as you can get from the incident) it looked high, late and nasty - a red card offence - I presume I've not seen it well - can anyone enlighten me?

Didn't look like that to me, Scott. He was late and barged through Hutton a fair old bit but it seemed clumsy rather than nasty.

[PieFacE]

Thought we played well. The game was won by them taking Dzeko off and bringing on Fernando/Fernandinho (cant remember which one). Completely changed the game and we could barely touch the ball after that. 

 

Man City are a million miles away from us. We need to get something out of the Everton game. 

Edited October 4, 2014 by PieFacE

[smetrov]

thought we lost momentum after we took Richardson\Nzog off - whilst Nzog had a poor first half - he at last seemed to be getting into the game and was looking threatening - after the subs we just rarley threatened until we were 2 down.

 

Thinks theres more problems than people think - we don't look like scoring - and it can't all fall on the shoulders of Benteke

[Brumstopdogs]

Thought 2-0 flattered us and at times we were so lucky for that they didn't score more.  Not that i expected us to win!

 

Let's hope the style of play improves as the fixtures (on paper) get easier.

 

The stand out players IMO were N'Zogbia who looks the most likely to create a goal and Delph for his drive from midfield. Cleverley looked  very average.

 

On to the next one.

[OutByEaster?]

 

There was an incident quite late on when Milner caught Hutton after the ball had gone on the corner of our box - from my seat (which is about as far away as you can get from the incident) it looked high, late and nasty - a red card offence - I presume I've not seen it well - can anyone enlighten me?

Didn't look like that to me, Scott. He was late and barged through Hutton a fair old bit but it seemed clumsy rather than nasty.

 

Thank you - as I say, I was a fair way away and I guessed it looked worse from where I was than it had been judging by the lack of reaction around where it happened.

[heid3ster]

Thinks theres more problems than people think - we don't look like scoring - and it can't all fall on the shoulders of Benteke

 

I think it's largely the same problem we've had for the last several seasons -- the lack of a good creative attacking midfielder. Other than Benteke, none of our forwards are able to create chances for themselves. I think our midfield looks a lot more solid this season in general, but we still desperately lack creativity. Is Joe Cole ever going to get a game?

[smetrov]

We lost to a club funded by Arab billionaires?

 

Hardly shitting the bed right now.

 

But I didn't see an awful lot today to suggest it would be any different against lesser teams. If we thump Everton and QPR soundly - I will hold up my hand and say I was wrong - but we hardly ever have any shots - and thats a problem.

[grobs]

We played really well just too unfit to close down Yaya at the end. Also that City fan who celebrated in the lower north...... what a tool. 

[benireduk]

Whilst losing today wasn't completely unexpected I'm just so frustrated by the way we play. It's so dull and predictable.

1 effort on target again and only 4 goals all season is pitiful. Yes we've had some awful fixtures but lets not forget, we got wins v Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea last year. It's the lesser teams we struggle against.

There's been no development in style of play and certainly no improvement in goals scored. Benteke coming back will obviously improve things but he can't do it on his own.

In all honesty, can anyone say we've been good to watch so far this season?

[westholmevillan]

Good effort....3 expected defeats. Baker MOTM for. I think he has improved quite alot this season when teamed up with an experienced CB. I have got to say although I was not at first impressed by the signing of Senderos he has done vey well so far.

[AVTuco]

Two very well executed shots, and there it was. Exciting game though since we were able to hang on for so long. I'd already thought I'd give Guzan MotM if it ends 0-0. Well, maybe next time.

Edited October 4, 2014 by AVTuco