MagicMarlon Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I'd have taken a point before the game and on the balance of play a draw was a fair result. However I can't help but feel we missed opportunities to further increase our lead, at times in the first half and early in the 2nd they were there for the taking. Then they started to get into the game a bit more and create a few chances and their goal became inevitable. Richard Dunne was superb at the back. Laursen esque performance. Warnock played well and looks like a very good signing. I think people are being a bit harsh on Ash, he skinned their full back a few times and whipped in some tasty balls, we have seen him play a lot better, we have also seen him play a lot worse. I thought Barry was very average today, struggled to get involved and control the midfield as he would have liked, Petrov was the best midfielder on the pitch today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Dogg Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Carew needs to get the ball at his feet or to his head in the box, running at players outside the box or on the wing is not what he does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewiek2 Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I thought Bellamy was their best player by a country mile. Us? Dunne was simply immense, Collins just does what he does don't he? An absolute bargian. Warnock had his best game for us. For me, Carew started great then looked so off the pace. He doesn't look fit imo!? Ashley Young hasn't been the same player since Capello wrote them that letter, his crossing is poor, and he constantly cuts back onto his right foot. I think the kid needs a rest. Play Delph there for a bit, give Ash a rest, get Delph's game up to Prem pace/standard, and that'll give him a bit of pressure to perform. I think a draw is a fair result, but we certainly had the chances to win it. After Citehh scored both teams looked happy for the draw, I expect more from Villa at home to try and win it. But hey, if Citehh are seen as top four contenders then we certainly are. They look a tidy team cos they don't lump it forward as much as we do. I wish we'd play more balls on the ground, we are better than MON has us playing at times. Still, decent result, especially considering the tonkings we've taken off them in past seasons! (apart from last season at home, generally we are shit against them!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC-Prideofbrum Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Oh by the way, is it me or has Gabby got quicker? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sled Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Friedel made one quite superb save - a shot he turned over the bar in the 1st half, Dunne outstanding, Collins very good too, Petrov's best match for ages, both defensively and going forward, Gabby very lively and Ashley worked his socks off. Good match, decent ref, MOTM for Citeh Bellamy by some way. The only downside Heskey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regular_john Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Oh by the way, is it me or has Gabby got quicker? I was thinking this myself. Surely it's illegal to be that fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivaashleyyoung Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Carew needs to get the ball at his feet or to his head in the box, running at players outside the box or on the wing is not what he does. Then he isnt good enough. You cant accomodate a striker who cant play outside the box or run on the wings. I know what your sayin about havin him in the box and i agree thats where he is most dangerous, but villa arent in a position to accomodate that kind of player just yet. Pleased with the performance tonight again. Get luke young back and we have a solid back 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villamann Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Carew never looked interested in scoring goals tonight, he couldn't even keep the ball , normally his strength. Still he worked hard in the first half so I think he deserves some credit. Very impressed by our defence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC-Prideofbrum Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Oh by the way, is it me or has Gabby got quicker? I was thinking this myself. Surely it's illegal to be that fast. And that strong. He's actually probably our most valuable asset at the moment. I mean the long ball just before there goal, he was a full 6/7 yards behind Lescott and he nearly got a goal from it, or the one where he ran 20 yards and muscled Toure. If he can keep this form up, and work on his bringing people into play, we have a world beater on our hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunRickyRun Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Ashley Young hasn't been the same player since Capello wrote them that letter, his crossing is poor, and he constantly cuts back onto his right foot. I think the kid needs a rest. Play Delph there for a bit, give Ash a rest, Park gets a huge amount of plaudits for his workrate. I'd say Ash put in twice as many tackles in 70 minutes tonight as Park has ever managed. Yes his crossing has not been up to his excellent standards but he worked his bloody socks off today and was a key part in stifling Man City's advances Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malachite Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Oh by the way, is it me or has Gabby got quicker? I watched him in the 59th when he ran down Troure, and Troure must have had 25-30yds head start----------Gabby just flew past him and Troure is rated to be a fast player, don't know if Gabby has got faster, but one things for sure, i have never seen a football player move so quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 i am really pleased with our defence this season, looking very solid overall and i cant fault the effort tonight, we grafted. but i still dont like that we dont keep the ball enough and can only play direct. we are very poor in possesion and that is what is stopping us taking the next step up. yet again we seemed to sit back in the second half with a 1-0 lead, city started to control the game more and got the goal. if we showed a bit more quality on the ball to go with the immense workrate and fight we displayed tonight we would have won. maybe it sounds a bit harsh and i realise man city are a good side, but this is MONs 4th season, he has spent a lot and we all want to get top 4, so is it too much to expect that we can string a few passes together? for all their supposed talent we had man city really rattled tonight and i actually feel a bit disapointed we only got a point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 a draw was probably the most deserved result but i'm still disappointed - we played 4-4-2 and still bossed the game upto the 60th minute where we ran out of ideas for 10 minutes and conceded. However, we showed great resolve and didn't 'hang on' for the draw but created chances of our own, The defence (inc Friedel) were all equally brilliant and committed - Dunne deserves the plaudits for a belter of a header (beating £areth Barry to the ball made it sweeter!) and a commanding DC performance. The midfielder all rallied hard and attacked/defended with gusto but it was Gabby who stood out for me - he was tremendous and surely will feature over the next two Internationals. His pace and direct running were great to see and he never lacked in defensive duties either. He does get better and better! Considering the media (esp the commentary tonight) we all panting for a Citeh win, I think we've come off the better looking of the two sides. Citeh undoubtedly will win more than they'll lose but i'd put us in the same bracket and reckon we can anyone a game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozyFresh Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 What a good match. Shame we couldn't finish it off in the second half, but everyone worked hard and put in a good performance. Fantastic for Richard Dunne, what a way to score his first Villa goal. It's also pleasing to see that our defence looks more solid than theirs does, though Wayne Bridge was bloody good tonight. If Dunne would have scored his second header, it would have been amazing. Milner popped up in all positions and caused them problems, creatively he's deffinatly our key player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Dogg Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Carew needs to get the ball at his feet or to his head in the box, running at players outside the box or on the wing is not what he does. Then he isnt good enough. You cant accomodate a striker who cant play outside the box or run on the wings. I know what your sayin about havin him in the box and i agree thats where he is most dangerous, but villa arent in a position to accomodate that kind of player just yet. Pleased with the performance tonight again. Get luke young back and we have a solid back 4 I know what you're saying but a player needs to play to their strengths and a team needs to play to a players strengths. He can only hold the ball up for so long but if there's no players coming to pass it to he's going to lose it. And yes he is out of form somewhat so he's going to seem worse again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vojskovoda Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Did anyone else notice how much of a spoilt drawer (if there's such a thing?) Mark Hughes was in his post-match interview? He should take a lesson or two from MON in how to be gracious in defeat, draw and victory when doing an interview. He's gone up in my estimation of nearly being more of a rocket polisher than Redknapp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malachite Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Voj: If you had just spent hundred's of millions and been matched man for man by a team you really she be putting to bed, wouldn't you be narked, he has a couple of players there that cost more than MON has spent in 2 seasons, kind of makes a mockery really, see you point though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I find it a bit frustrating with the reactions to the Carew/Heskey discussions. Carew lost the ball nearly every time he was passed it tonight, it was so frustrating because he was getting about the pitch and looking for the ball but he could not make them stick and gave it away even when not under a great deal of pressure time and time again. Heskey came on and was a lot more composed, held it up and found a player, won loads of flick ons to team mates yet he just gets slated on here. I know he is not going to be a goal threat but you can see why he is in the england side when he is so much calmer and stronger on the ball than Carew was tonight. Dunne was a monster though, what a top game all over the pitch. My only fault I could find was that I thought he could have come out to close Ireland when they scored their goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GNeeUs Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Thought it was a great game tonight (Ref deserves a lot of credit...10/10). Unlucky we didn't win if I'm honest, thought we gave it a real good try against a real strong city side. Friedel - 7 Cuellar - 7 Dunne - 8 Collins - 9 MOTM Warnock - 8 Milner - 7 Young - 7 Petrov - 8 Sidwell - 5 Carew - 5 Gabby - 8 Heskey - 6 NRC - 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Did anyone else notice how much of a spoilt drawer (if there's such a thing?) Mark Hughes was in his post-match interview? He should take a lesson or two from MON in how to be gracious in defeat, draw and victory when doing an interview. He's gone up in my estimation of nearly being more of a rocket polisher than Redknapp.I always used to rate Hughes but I guess all that money is bound to go to anyone's head. He has been making arsey statements for some time now. On the match in general, I'm a bit disappointed to be frank. Thought we should have put the game to bed in the first 60 minutes. Milner could and should have scored. Still, the joy of seeing Dunne outfox Barry for the first goal will have to keep me happy for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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