Ratings & Reactions: Man City v Villa

[wict01]

Nothing much to add from yesterday's game save for how cringeworthy and sycophantic the commentary was. I usually like McCoist but he was grating me severely yesterday and Darren Fletcher...well the less said about him the better. An absolute nause with his tongue so far up City's arsehole he was tickling their tonsils. 

About time "the other 14" tried to do something about it because I'm sick of paying subscriptions to listen to what is little more than Fan TV. Same goes for Carragher commentating on Liverpool and Neville on United. More irritating than the result yesterday. 

[Marka Ragnos]

15 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

Do they really play that nasily whiny song at the end of their games?

That place is a shithole. They are bunch of cheating spunk-trumpets and I can't wait until all of their trophies are stripped.

 

What was it?

[sheepyvillian]

41 minutes ago, fightoffyour said:

I think I'd go with the best players over which feet. Mings give some much more in aerial ability and leadership, as well as other defensive attributes, I don't see how he doesn't start if he's back to 90% of his best.

Not for me, as good as he's been, I honestly think we may have seen the best of him. No way does Konsa not get in that defence, one on one, there's  not many better. 

 

[TheAuthority]

49 minutes ago, Marka Ragnos said:

What was it?

Oasis Wonderwall

[Pinebro]

1 hour ago, VillanousOne said:

MON's strategy was to rest players in Europe and go after the Champion's League place, so a reverse Unai in this case. What is more important now? The league or the Euro Conf League competition? No idea. Those 3 points dropped could haunt us if we don't qualify.

and you're welcome.
 

I would rather Unai rested Doug who has played too many games, looks burnt out and walking a disciplinary tight rope.

It's horrible to lose to those plastic cheats, particularly since we beat them before and their defence are rubbish this season, a draw was possible in my opinion. But I trust Unai, but until we know this strategy pays off i'm not going to pretend it's fine as we won't know till later.

He played the same players during the Christmas period which is why we always collapsed at the business end 

[VillanousOne]

5 minutes ago, Made In Aston said:

Yes three points dropped against the same man city which has only lost one at home in 67 games

That's the spirit. They looked vulnerable every time we ran at them - i doubt we would have beaten them but we could have got a point considering that was nowhere near their first choice defence 

 

Edited April 4 by VillanousOne

[Marka Ragnos]

57 minutes ago, TheAuthority said:

Oasis Wonderwall

Ugh. Not a fan of them, but ironic given Zaniolo's un-wonder wall performance.

Edited April 4 by Marka Ragnos

[NoelVilla]

Can we keep the music snobbery to one of the thousand music threads in off-topic.

[Risso]

6 hours ago, Pinebro said:

Was very sensible to do what he did last night.

People won't like to hear it but we were very likely to lose regardless if Bailey and Pau started.

It was a free hit and an ideal game to rest some players.

Have to prioritize Brentford.

Brentford are absolutely shocking away from home, 9 defeats in their last ten games. We should easily be capable of stuffing them. Torres and Bailey had played one game after a two week break.

[villan95]

6 hours ago, Pinebro said:

Was very sensible to do what he did last night.

People won't like to hear it but we were very likely to lose regardless if Bailey and Pau started.

It was a free hit and an ideal game to rest some players.

Have to prioritize Brentford.

Yep, even though the team looked a lot weaker than usual only 3 players were actually rested and 2 of those have had injury issues this season.

[omariqy]

The only one that would have made a difference yesterday was Bailey imo. Pau great on the ball but against City I think we wouldn’t have seen him at his best. Defensively, Lenglet and Pau are similar quality. 

[fightoffyour]

2 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

Not for me, as good as he's been, I honestly think we may have seen the best of him. No way does Konsa not get in that defence, one on one, there's  not many better. 

 

Oh, I wouldn't put Mings in instead of Konsa.

[VillanousOne]

18 minutes ago, omariqy said:

The only one that would have made a difference yesterday was Bailey imo. Pau great on the ball but against City I think we wouldn’t have seen him at his best. Defensively, Lenglet and Pau are similar quality. 

we could have put a beard and glasses on McGinn and sent him out as our new youth prospect McBeard and won easily

[Leeroy]

5 hours ago, TRO said:

I see that as an Honest post.

While I accept, the deleted squad for what it is.....if we look deeper, its clear we need some better quality in players who can wrestle the ball off opponents in a duel......I see a squad, laden with attack minded players, and few with defensive bias.

Our press, seems more like a semi press, with marginal conviction......considering Man City, chose to rest their big hitters, I thought we could do better, in terms of nuisance value......Foden was lauded, but who picked him up, he had the freedom of the park.

When we have to keep resorting to playing  Douglas as a 6, when he is clearly an 8.....we will keep conceding free kicks around the box, his challenges are not commensurate with a top no 6....his challenges are often clumsy and desperate, as opposed to dominating and conclusive.

To be honest....with the squad balance as it is, quite apart from the injuries, I think Unai has a huge task.

You only have to look at how Arsenal "went after" Man City in their recent game, to our passive affair, to know we have much work to do...Having said that, to improve, we have to buy the right players, we cannot keep buying wingers, and lighweights, we need some substance.

Only when we was gifted by swathes of space, did we show an ability to threat..... ironically, some young players, showed promise.....but their ( man city) quick feet, quick brains and an insatiable appetite to run without the ball was simply too much for us.

No one really felt we would win that game....but if we don't see, elements of that game where we can improve.....then I don't see the future, we are hoping for.

The sad thing for me is.....some of the shortfalls we have, I see it in the teams, with the regulars in, so I am not blaming the second tier players, with the exception of the inexcusable absence of duty by Zaniolo in the wall.

The first bit in bold in a nutshell, we clearly miss Kamara, I felt for Dougie last night because of course he had a cr*p game but he's not a defensive midfielder, we've know this for nearly 2 years now. He needs to be playing further forward.

 

The second bit on bold, again I totally agree. This summer it is all about improving the defence, just look at the goals against. We need a holding midfielder as priority, Kamara might not fully recover until the 2nd half of next season. I would also argue we need TWO new starting defenders. A right footed version of Mings, maybe a bit better with the ball at his feet, but someone who is good from set pieces, aggressive (without being dirty) and basically a very good defender. We have Pau (and Konsa to an extent) who can do the fancy stuff back there but no one who can really defend. Then I'd buy a left back because I'm sure we will offload Digne because of his wages and I'm not sure Moreno will get back to the levels he showed last season and he's also getting quite old.

 

We need to become a more resilient team next season. When we lose we crumble badly this season and we have to try to change that moving forward or we won't get anywhere. 

[Teale's 'tache]

Where Bailey and Torres are concerned, we don't know what kind of injuries they are carrying or how close to the 'red line' they may have been, in Torres case certainly we seem to be managing him since his last spell out, so I don't think whatever that injury was has fully cleared, and it probably won't until it can be properly rested over the summer. So we are going to have to manage him carefully.

I think Unai probably thought a draw was possible if not overly likely with the team he picked and the subs he intended to make in the second half, he believes in the players he put out there, unfortunately, losing Martinez was a big blow to our plans (though Olsen did great, it's the presence and organisation we missed), and we conceded at bad times (just before half-time, just before making the subs), all of that took the wind out of our sails and the machine that is Man City smelt blood, it happens.

The scoreline was not ideal, and he won't be happy with the goals conceded, but getting minutes to some that needed it is good, good showings from Iroegbunam, Duran, Rogers and Zaniolo are encouraging, and Olsen too.

At some point, we really need to rest Dougie, but Kamara's injury and McGinn's suspension have made it very difficult to do so. It will be interesting to see how Emery approaches that going forward.

Nobody likes to lose, Unai especially, but he's realistic enough to know it can happen against very good teams when we aren't anywhere near full strength.

[tommytenjobs]

Thought I'd let the dust settle as usual before posting thoughts on yesterday and others reactions. 

Firstly, yes Arsenal showed how to nullify City....with nearly 200 million pounds worth of central midfield three. I think its an unfair comparison to make of DL and TI. Whether we should have gone with a third in there is another thing.....but with chambers as your only real option there yesterday, I suspect UE went for more attacking threat on the break in the middle. Tbf this nearly worked with one break away goal, several other possibles and a very nearly from Luiz. I'm not too sure any of us would realistically have gone with the Chambers option, so what is UE supposed to do. Not sure I can see a third option. They did try to crowd the middle and force city out wide when not in possession, but city picked doku and JG, learning from previous game where neither started and both were a significant upgrade on what they put out against Arsenal. 

Secondly, I'm a bit fed up with the Foden love in. One shot at the middle of the wall and one falling over. Both would not normally result in goals, just mirth. Second goal, good finish, but again was due to Rodri winning a duel and playing the right pass at the right time. (A luxury not afforded to us. Lets remember, his equivalent was making his first start of the season and second ever in the Premier league....we don't quite yet have the tools to compete with a guy on a 64 game unbeaten streak despite what some posters seem to think.

Thirdly, the team we had out taht we could not pick from, would have given city a game, we've shown that before.... and still would be expected to lose. The team we played with....surely no-one thought we would get a point even, so the best possible outcome was a point at best. We finished 1pt less that the best possible outcome, surely this needs to be considered in the reaction. 

Fourthly, some of the posters thinking UE, EM or NZ bottled it, threw it, gave up etc etc need to really have a think next time before posting. 4.1 everyone is disappointed but seriously, to start some of these claims is just sad. We are fourth and in euro 1/4 final. Those of us who remember Barnsley away, qpr at home or any other number of days where we were looking at liquidation 4 years ago need to pipe up and defend the status quo on these ideas. 

Fifth, front three made an interesting comparison. Doku, JG and PF verses JD, MR and Diaby.....anyone still think we should be winning that or were we against anything other than financial cheating? 

Finally, loved the mins given to TI, MR,JD,OK. This is the future of a sustainable squad and they competed with city, threatened and looked good at times. Positives, positives, positives. 

Really psyched for sat, can't wait to be walking up trinity Rd with the boy and thinking about how great the club is at the moment and in what safe hands it is with UE. I'd rather be fourth and thinking about a few games that got away from us, what's to come and the excitement of the final 8 games plus Europe, than worrying about Gerrard, Bruce, scot hogan, Richards,McCormak or some delusional and spoilt nonsense about how we failed to try against the best club in the world with 8 first teamers out and two vital games to play in the next 7 days. 

UTV

Edited April 4 by tommytenjobs

[Zatman]

5 hours ago, striker said:

They got the draw while Villa conceded 4. If you are happy with that then good luck.

We have taken 3 points from City this season, Arsenal have taken 4. Hardly incredible

We probably needed Kalvin Phillips though

[Zatman]

6 hours ago, TRO said:

I see that as an Honest post.

While I accept, the deleted squad for what it is.....if we look deeper, its clear we need some better quality in players who can wrestle the ball off opponents in a duel......I see a squad, laden with attack minded players, and few with defensive bias.

Our press, seems more like a semi press, with marginal conviction......considering Man City, chose to rest their big hitters, I thought we could do better, in terms of nuisance value......Foden was lauded, but who picked him up, he had the freedom of the park.

When we have to keep resorting to playing  Douglas as a 6, when he is clearly an 8.....we will keep conceding free kicks around the box, his challenges are not commensurate with a top no 6....his challenges are often clumsy and desperate, as opposed to dominating and conclusive.

To be honest....with the squad balance as it is, quite apart from the injuries, I think Unai has a huge task.

You only have to look at how Arsenal "went after" Man City in their recent game, to our passive affair, to know we have much work to do...Having said that, to improve, we have to buy the right players, we cannot keep buying wingers, and lighweights, we need some substance.

Only when we was gifted by swathes of space, did we show an ability to threat..... ironically, some young players, showed promise.....but their ( man city) quick feet, quick brains and an insatiable appetite to run without the ball was simply too much for us.

No one really felt we would win that game....but if we don't see, elements of that game where we can improve.....then I don't see the future, we are hoping for.

The sad thing for me is.....some of the shortfalls we have, I see it in the teams, with the regulars in, so I am not blaming the second tier players, with the exception of the inexcusable absence of duty by Zaniolo in the wall.

Ridiculous

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, VillanousOne said:

A City without a first choice defence who looked vulnerable, a draw would have been be a tough result also, but it was 'possible'.

a Villa without the FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year, the most productive player in the entire Premier League this season, our Club Captain, French, English and Argentinian internationals plus one of English football best young prospects

[Marka Ragnos]

6 hours ago, tinker said:

I don't think it's about protecting them from the emotional stress of defeat it's about minimising the chances of injuries being aggravated and physical exhaustion. City rested their best players and won, we haven't got that depth because we play by the rules. ...

Seems such a reasonable point, esp. when looking at the whole Villa context 360°.

Too, as I've said elsewhere, giving some of the younger players prime time in a big game probably increases their market value, too. My guess is that goal by Jhon last night will give him about £3m-£4m in increased market value, a factor we can't afford to ignore.