Ratings and reactions: Man City 3-0 Villa

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

gave Bannan MOTM, little else to say.

Bradley, Petrov, Gabby, Heskey were poor.

Delfouneso barely touched it.

Herd looked ok.

Bannan, Delph, Clark, Dunne all had good games.

[VillaAndLoyal]

Moscow was bad, very bad in fact. But tonight was far, far worse. When is Aston Villa Football Club going to realise that we are NEVER going to win another piece of silverware until we stop disrespecting competitions as if we are still some sort of powerhouse in English football? Who the **** do we think we are? And what, if we don't take Cup competitions seriously, is our ambition as a football club? As much as I hate to say it, Blues showed us up last weekend and tonight rubbed salt into the wound so much more. We are NEVER going to win a Cup again with this mentality we have at present.

Some of the reasons why tonight was so bad:

- All week Houllier talked in the Press about how much of a massive game this was, even saying that Blues' Cup win had given us extra motivation. Nothing like a rallying speech to get more travelling fans to watch a vastly weakened team eh?

- He also said in the Press this week that the December away game up there was the lowest point of his career. Perhaps I was foolish by reading between the lines and thinking that meant he was going to really go for it tonight?

- Last night's result, with Reading getting through, upped our chances of getting to Wembley even further. After the result Villa's message boards were buzzing as were Man City's - that Reading result put even MORE importance on tonight's game. I'm presuming Houllier wasn't told about the Everton-Reading score line?

- We KNOW we can beat Man City. But we also know how good they are these days and that by beating them, we have to play at full capacity with a full-strength team for 90 minutes and get some luck along the way. That's exactly what happened at Villa Park and we won. IF you play anything other than at full capacity against this Man City side you will get tonked, hence the away PL result. Presumably Houllier has got so complacent in recent weeks that he thinks we can win against sides of this calibre with an untried midfield and backline?

- We have nothing else left to play for this season. We are playing too well to go down, but will more than likely end up in mid-table mediocrity. A position Villa fans know about all too well. Most fans have agreed that this season, in terms of the league, is a write off. Which then means that being in such an advanced stage in the FA Cup would take precedence. Obviously not?

- We have two, yes TWO league games in March. So there can be no excuses about fatigue. Man City played last Thursday AND on Sunday, yet still put out close to their strongest side. What was our excuse for dropping our best players? Yes, O'Neill burnt his first team out come March, but Houllier doing the opposite is just as bad if not worse. Play your best team and **** stick to it, please.

- Winning, no matter what competition it is in, breeds more winning and more confidence. When you beat someone 4-1 in your last game it's a good idea (one would have thought) to play the same team again and try and keep that run going thus lifting the confidence even further. Not throw lots of youngsters in at the deep end having never played together before.

- He brings on the big guns when we go 3-0 down. Sorry, but what was the point in this Mr Houllier? It's all or nothing I'm afraid. You either try and win with a full-strength team out or you make clear your intentions of not taking the competition seriously well in advance so the fans can make up their own minds about whether to go or not. You don't lie to them you word removed. If we had known about that line-up 2 days in advance, would 3,500 Villa have turned up? Would they hell.

- Ashley Young. As many might have seen, I have a love hate relationship with him and I wouldn't cry my eyes out if he left. BUT, he is still one of our best players and according to Houllier he wants to do anything he can to keep him here. So what does he do? Sit him on the bench to watch our weakened team gets smashed out of England's premier Cup competition. That's hardly going to persuade him to stay is it? Only this week several of our players have come out to say we should build our team around him, and then he gets dropped? Sorry, what is the logic behind that?

- Pride in our football club. After the absolute embarrassment of December, where Villa fans were mocked by their City counterparts for 90 minutes as we watched in disbelief as a team who didn't even want to be on the pitch got destroyed; you would have hoped we could have at least restored some pride tonight with a hard fought game against them. Instead, because of the vastly inferior side we put out, we have been laughed at all night again by City and we had to resort to nicking footballs at the end of the game. City's players didn't get out of third gear tonight, much like last time we played there.

Too many times this season has Gerard Houllier left me gutted coming away from a Villa match for the WRONG reasons. If we had lost 2-1 with our best team out and given it a good go, then I would have been gutted but for the RIGHT reasons. But, yet again under Houllier's tenure, I have left a Villa match gutted for the WRONG reasons; namely another football match we didn't even compete in. Man City, Liverpool, Man City - all games we have been laughed at in.

And all this while our so-called lowly neighbours win the first piece of Midlands’s silverware this century.

I've had enough of Houllier, I don't want him at our Club.

[sellyoakvilla]

Shit shit and more shit. I'm behind Houllier but that was just terrible. The completely wrong team selection. I'd rather have won 1-0 at Man City and lost 5-0 to Bolton. Hello!!! Reading at home in the quarter finals!! Clueless.

Oh and I voted for the fans because we were great. Although after that I'd give it to Herd. Bradley was shit which was a shame. Just the wrong team full stop.

And one more thing, what the **** was with all his pre match comments on how Man City away was the lowest of his career and how we will win silverware and can beat Man City - really, Gerard?

[maqroll]

We had a well rested, fit team to play, and he decided to lie down and lose.....it's almost suspicious.

If the idea was to rest key players and concentrate on the league, why bring them on at 71 mins when we're down 3-0?

Now the fear has to be the same thing that happened when MON threw the CSKA match, and the team went into a tailspin....

Bradley had no business starting that match, and WTF is Delph doing at RB?

You're one game away from the QF, you have a chance at avenging that 4-0 drubbing, and he puts out that team.....stunning.

Just when he was starting to get on the right track, he goes and does that.

Incredible.

This season has been a **** farce from day one, and I'm sick of it

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

By the way.....Delph was LB.

[b6bloke]

dont know why but i.m really not suprised that he fielded a weakened team and i expected him too but i had already come to terms with writing this season off.

Of course we would all still be angry but would we be as angry if blues hadnt won the cup and were so close in the fa cup too?

I feel i have wasted my hard earned season ticket money this season though i blame mon for that and as for GH well i.m still behind him.

randy has shown he will back him though thick or thin so as pissed off as we are i think we should to and see what he does in the summer

[rendelc]

Still **** gutted . Disgrace.

[TOTTI-THE-GOD]

dont know why but i.m really not suprised that he fielded a weakened team and i expected him too but i had already come to terms with writing this season off.

Of course we would all still be angry but would we be as angry if blues hadnt won the cup and were so close in the fa cup too?

I feel i have wasted my hard earned season ticket money this season though i blame mon for that and as for GH well i.m still behind him.

randy has shown he will back him though thick or thin so as pissed off as we are i think we should to and see what he does in the summer

I am sittin in this mans corner .

[jacketspuds]

Pretty non-plussed about this to be honest. I'm more concerned about the effect this has on morale. 1 step forward, 2 steps back this week and it will be interesting to see how GH can turn this around.

I still think that he is right to utilise his squad but 8 changes is too excessive and when some of the changes include Heskey, Petrov and Herd you know that things will not go well.

Petrov should never pull on a Villa shirt again as his woeful lack of drive is embarrassing. Heskey should be boiled down for glue and Herd is probably not even Championship standard.

Sinking back into the "I really couldn't give a shit if GH stays or goes" mentality now. I think we have 2 choices...

1) Sack GH and GMAC (who is just awful by the way) and give the job to KMAC until the end of the season.

2) Stick it out with GH until the summer and see if we ship out the likes of Heskey, Petrov, Salifou, Warnock, Beye, L. Young, Osbourne, Herd and any other player dragging down the quality of our squad.

[uncy_chris]

Apart from a 10 minute spell in the first half where we kept the ball well without doing anything, there was nothing particularly positive to say about last night's performance. The fans kept the ball better than Villa's players.

I was surprised about the selection, but to be honest - it was the more experienced midfield/attack who were poorest. The selection wasn't THAT bad, but it was poor in comparison to City who have immense strength in depth.

I was at the game and didn't even realise Petrov was playing until mid way through the second half! That shows how poor a game he had. Bradley was misplacing passes and not the ball winner some had built him up to be. Heskey did F All, Delfouneso and Gabby hardly made any impact.

I suppose GH thought this would be a chance for some of his squad players to make a point and force their way into the first 11. If we think back to the Blackpool home game, Holloway tried the same thing and swapped his whole team. It almost worked for him, but last night it backfired for GH big time.

[villa89]

I thought Bannan played well and tried his best. Everyone else was shite. Heskey, Petrov, Bradley stood out as having particularly shit games. If he was resting Young and downing why bring them on when we were 3-0 down. Talk about stupid...

[maloneyt]

Shocking performance and shocking team selection but great support from us! Had a conga going at the end. I got the ball in my hands, about to throw it up in the air and someone behind me knocked it out my hands! Felt like a right tool. Superb support from the fans again though, ill get the ball headers on youtube later.

[barry'sboots]

Agree with much of what is said by VillaAndLoyal and have picked out the main points.

We have two, yes TWO league games in March. So there can be no excuses about fatigue. Man City played last Thursday AND on Sunday, yet still put out close to their strongest side. What was our excuse for dropping our best players? Yes, O'Neill burnt his first team out come March, but Houllier doing the opposite is just as bad if not worse. Play your best team and **** stick to it, please.

This is spot on. He may think we are in a relegation battle (if we go down he will have done a seriously poor job IMO given our current position and the squad he now has) but Mancini has a far harder task as he has to get CL. Houllier bottled it last night.

He brings on the big guns when we go 3-0 down. Sorry, but what was the point in this Mr Houllier? It's all or nothing I'm afraid. You either try and win with a full-strength team out or you make clear your intentions of not taking the competition seriously well in advance so the fans can make up their own minds about whether to go or not. You don't lie to them you word removed. If we had known about that line-up 2 days in advance, would 3,500 Villa have turned up? Would they hell.

This too. Its a decent trek for a mid week game but it was really annoying to get up there and see that team selection compared to Citeh's. I haven't read the general's thread yet today but I hope someone has questioned him about this and why the fans weren't told in advance that we were prioritising!

For me, Ged's selection was poor not just because he played youth and inexperience but because his team had the wrong blend.

- I can understand Delph playing because we have few options with the two CB's out injured and Baker out BUT I can't believe we go into a game like this with a young CM'er at RB when Walker is on the bench. Don't get me wrong, I like Herd - bags of energy, committed and good in the air - but not out of position when there is another option.

- I like the three in CM (in a 4-5-1/4-3-3) but it needs balance. We did not have that last night as all three of them were sitting midfielders and no-one got close to the strikers. We do not really have an attacking CM'er at the minute. Gardner may become this but this is our major gap IMO. And Petrov was just awful - he added absolutely nothing and, if Galatasary are interested, then he surely has to go in the summer. Too early to judge Bradley properly.

- The three forwards were just wrong. Gabby has to play on the right if he is going to be out wide. His main asset is his pace so there is not much point in playing him on the wrong side against probably the quickest RB in the country IMO. I felt sorry for Heskey because no-one got close enough to him to feed of the scraps that he can create. Nathan doesn't have the game to play out wide from what I have seen to date. And too leave all of our wingers on the bench was just wrong.

For me the team should have been:

same back 5 as Blackburn

-------- Coker --- Bannan ----------

Albie --------- Ash ---------- Gabby

------------- Heskey ----------------

Gives DJ and Bent a rest, with the Fonz, DJ and Bradley ideally getting on at some point for some game time.

[RotaxMax125]

Houllier was overcautios, but I can understand his actions.

We can't at this stage consider ourselves safe in the league with West Ham, Wolves and blackpool winning games against the big teams that should of defeated them.

Can you imagine how awfull it would be for our club if we went down. Financially, but also the championship is such a difficult lead to get out of. If you don't get promoted straight away you often become stuck there and the club rapidly declines. It happened to Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United and now is happening to Middlesborough. Coming straight back up after relegation is too much pressure to excert on the players and a very difficult prospect.

Houllier is a good manager and knows what he is doing i.m.o. He was a bit too extreme but I believe he had the best intentions for the club in mind. Playing Delph in defence however made no sense.

I do feel very sorry for all you fans that made the trip to city last night and paid good money for what should of been an exciting event. I was excited about watching it on T.V ! Even more to hear of anyone affected by trouble from city fans after the game. For what its worth under the circumstances the support was great and put city fans to shame.

Keep your chin up guys !

[Rich_D]

Bannan was the only real bright spark.

Friedel, Dunne, Clark, Delph had very decent games. Didn't really put a foot wrong.

Bradley and Gabby had decent games.

Delfouneso hardly touched it.

Heskey won nothing in the air.

Petrov was missing and completely off the pace.

Herd looked very inexperienced at times

[Tomaszk]

Fried 6

Herd 7

Dunne 5

Clark 5

Delph 6

Delf 6

Bradley 2

Bannan 7

Petrov 4

Agbag 6

Heskey 3

[Hev]

Iam still upset by last night. Drove up there with a heavy cold and drove home with a heavy heart as well. Wasted half a day of my holiday for that,not to mention petrol money! I couldn't believe that we didn't have a proper go at this - we could have beaten Man City, then Reading at home and got to Wembley again (albeit that I don't agree with playing the semi finals at Wembley). Wondering whether to bother going to Bolton now (but I know I will). Quite honestly, I just can't wait for this season to end. I have always been one of the "Give Houllier time" brigade but after last night, I am starting to think twice. :cry:

[andymac12345]

Bannan was without doubt Villa's best player but surprise surprise GH will drop him on Sat for Petrov/Makoun no doubt. Terrible line-up, would have more respect for him if he had came out and explained his weakened team selection before-hand but he didn't - instead he made out that his side were going to go for it. GH looked like he was falling asleep on the bench most of the time and only Mcallister seemed to be interested.

Heads will roll if we lose against Bolton on Saturday.

[sellyoakvilla]

To be fair. He was bringing Young and Downing on at 2-0 down but then they scored.

[wedge]

GH has slapped himself in the face here, just starting to win the fans round then he goes and does that. I haven't called for him to be sacked since he arrived and I still think that but I whole-heartedly disagree with his choice to play a weakend team.