Ratings and Reactions: Villa 0-2 Man City

[smetrov]

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?

 

 

Couldn't agree more - it doesn't look like it going anywhere - theres no building go on. Lambo has come up with a formula to get us 37/8 points a season - if if he's rewarded with a 4 year deal, why would he change it.-The bar has been set to low.

[Harry]

Thought we were doing OK until Lambert's disastrous double substitution. Takes off two very experienced players and puts on Bacuna and Grealish.

 

Bacuna is a squad player and looked out of his depth. Grealish is just far too green for that sort of game. With Grealish he will be a good player in time but this w@nkfest over him is just ridiculous. Lambert expected him to outperform a combination of Milner and Zabaleta (spelling?), like that was going to happen. He, for me at least, just looks completely out of his depth particularly compared to Richardson. He really needs a season long loan to a good championship side but I suspect this game time is all about contract negotiations. We were defending way too deep before that anyway and that just invites pressure and results in goals. Yet again Lamberts tactical nativity was cruelly exposed.

 

Man City represent everything that is wrong in football. A club backed by sovereign oil wealth that can have tens of millions of £££ of players getting splinters in their arses hoping for 20 minutes of game time. Better still with the introduction of FFP their position along with the likes of Chelsea and PSG has been assured because no side can now spunk hundreds of millions of £££ on players unless they have the corresponding income to get into the top four and you seriously wonder why Randy can't find a buyer.

 

As for their fans they woke up when that clown Toure scored. Lets just hope they remember his birthday next year!

Edited October 4, 2014 by Harry

[Harry]

 

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?

 

 

Couldn't agree more - it doesn't look like it going anywhere - theres no building go on. Lambo has come up with a formula to get us 37/8 points a season - if if he's rewarded with a 4 year deal, why would he change it.-The bar has been set to low.

 

Lambert makes MON look like a tactical genius on occasion. He is a very average manager who outperformed with Norwich.

[TRO]

We were resilient and dogged, but many of our players are untidy on the ball....only Delph and CNZ could take the ball to them but couldn't find the final pass.

 

It is very difficult to be critical when playing against teams whose players are far superior to ours....but we have to aim to improve.

 

However in the forthcoming season when games against lesser opposition will come up, it will be interesting to see how our possession figures should/need to improve.

 

It is a natural part of the defensive & offensive side of the game and unless it is embraced and worked upon, I can't see any overall progression ( to be talked about) improving.... we ran out of steam today, because we was chasing the ball during the game for too long....that side of our game has to be addressed in time.

[Brumstopdogs]

We were resilient and dogged, but many of our players are untidy on the ball....only Delph and CNZ could take the ball to them but couldn't find the final pass.

 

It is very difficult to be critical when playing against teams whose players are far superior to ours....but we have to aim to improve.

 

However in the forthcoming season when games against lesser opposition will come up, it will be interesting to see how our possession figures should/need to improve.

 

It is a natural part of the defensive & offensive side of the game and unless it is embraced and worked upon, I can't see any overall progression ( to be talked about) improving.... we ran out of steam today, because we was chasing the ball during the game for too long....that side of our game has to be addressed in time.

Good points TRO - definitely agree re Delph and N'Zog.

[TRO]

Conceding possession any time is not great but in the earlier part of a game you have the legs to cover.....at the end you don't.

 

Its a part of our game we seriously have to address.

[The Fun Factory]

Gave it a  good go and tried hard. Kept the shape most of the game but in reality City on another day could have been 2 up by half time. They just have much better players than us sadly. Good to see Benteke playing as well. But overall it's only 1 win in 5 already at home this season, reflected by less than 33,000 tonight versus the champions. Thats about level with West Ham and Leicester.  We have to start wining games or the thousands that don't bother going to Villa Park will never come back. 14 wins in 57.

[TRO]

There are teams that have spent less money than us but can keep the ball better.

 

During this run of games is not the best time to be talking about this, but never the less it has to be addressed....our possession levels particularly at home are abysmal.

 

who wants to watch "smash& grab " football at home?

Edited October 4, 2014 by TRO

[adw95]

Not disheartened, pleased with the performance overall. Baker is currently extracting as much ability as he can from the power of the beard, he has been fantastic.

[Bottle Maker]

Thought Lambert made some bad decisions. Good to see Benteke on the pitch but we lost ground when Andi came off. Can except that but the double substitution was stupid. We were barely containing them and he took of an experienced defender and the Zog who was playing brilliantly. Given Baker mom but thought Goose and Alli both played brilliantly. Ref was poor made three wrong and potentially disastrous decisions. Very good game though thought all of villa team played well only out played. Sold Milner for more than we spent this season.

[JoshVilla]

Hopefully by the next game we'll have a full strength squad. Despite the result, Benteke is back, which is a massive boost for us. It's good that he's had this game, so hopefully he'll be a little more up to speed by the time the more 'winnable' games come around. Obviously, we can't expect too much from him, but having him in the squad again is huge for us. 

 

We did well to hold on for as long as we did, but with teams of City's quality it's hard to soak up that much pressure and come out with a result. They have the players, they'll find a way through eventually. As another poster has said, they're everything that is wrong with football nowadays, and I'm just glad to tick this one off the calendar and move on. This dreadful run is nearly over, hoorah!

[rjw63]

Not disheartened, pleased with the performance overall. Baker is currently extracting as much ability as he can from the power of the beard, he has been fantastic.

But how many beers have you had?

[Vive_La_Villa]

I counted the passes today to see how long we could hold the ball before losing possesion. It was rarely even 5 passes. Pathetic.

[TRO]

Its only when we are back on track picking up points against the lesser opposition, as we did before this cruel run, that we can look back and say that this run of results against the top four was inevitable and we accept it as par for the course.

[TRO]

I counted the passes today to see how long we could hold the ball before losing possesion. It was rarely even 5 passes. Pathetic.

 now is not the time....but we clearly have to address it if we want to move forward.

[Vive_La_Villa]

I don't care about the results. I just expect Premier League players to be able to keep the ball for long longer than 1 minute.

[TRO]

I don't care about the results. I just expect Premier League players to be able to keep the ball for long longer than 1 minute.

 

I do care about the results.....but I have always had the notion that the more good performances you have the more likely you are to get good results....good results & performances breeds confidence which subsequently leads to better reputation as a consequence of winning.

 

Possession is a critical ingredient of progression.

 

All "smash & Grab" football does is possibly keep you in the Division by your finger nails......keep the manager in his job by his finger nails.....and keep a proportion of the natives quiet. 

[Neil]

 

I knew we should have put a bid in for Toure and Aguero!

God I hate anyone elses fans.

Fixed

Nope.

I hate their fans because I didn't hear them until they scored. They're champions and they didn't sing a word.

They're plastic fans supporting a plastic club. Problem? Throw money at it.

 

 

I agree with this, their fans *used* to be a noisy rabble....I was saying to my mate in todays game that I hadn't heard a peep out of them and we don't sit all that far away from the away section.

 

Once they scored, it was a different light...poor away support, which generally follows the mould of all teams a wash with money and success.  Seems the real fans get butted out, or that's how it seemed today.

I also hate this kind of fan.

[Vive_La_Villa]

All I heard in the first half was their fans.

[Neil]

As for the game, in the first half I thought we played well and that they looked beatable quite easily...I didn't think they were playing well.  I thought we could win if we just stopped making stupid mistakes, stopped being so easily dispossessed and pressed on and followed through on our chances.  Despite this little improvements that could of helped us to go on and win I thought we were resolute.

 

The 2nd half was a different story, we seemed to give them the play of the field even more..allowed them to play their game and they turned the screw on us.  Then they were just running us ragged towards the end, every footballing attribute a class above our team and finally as expected they won.

 

No shame in that, they're a better team....but their first team squad could buy you our entire squad + stadium et all.  I'm only gutted by the fact I think we had a good opportunity to make a big dent in them in the first half, which could have changed how the 2nd half panned out.