Aston Villa (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

[GaudinoMotors]

I wonder if our coaching is at a poor level nowadays as well. You look back to when Arteta and Maresca were here and how well we were playing, and Pep's old mates he had at Bayern were highly thought of.
You look now at the level of our players in matches and nobody besides Erling looks to be improving

That's the major concern - the lack of improvement. Some on here are as bad as united for seeing corners turned. Doku a few weeks ago, Savinho after a half ok game. The underlying fact is we ain't improving anywhere (maybe in goal), including tactics and selection.

 

[Eaststander1]

I wonder if our coaching is at a poor level nowadays as well. You look back to when Arteta and Maresca were here and how well we were playing, and Pep's old mates he had at Bayern were highly thought of.
You look now at the level of our players in matches and nobody besides Erling looks to be improving

Yep, there might be a lot of truth in that ...... and why aren't they working on taking productive corner kicks too. They're an important 'set piece' and ours are usually a complete waste of time.

 

[Lavinda Past]

I wonder if our coaching is at a poor level nowadays as well. You look back to when Arteta and Maresca were here and how well we were playing, and Pep's old mates he had at Bayern were highly thought of.
You look now at the level of our players in matches and nobody besides Erling looks to be improving

Fair comment but I think our main problem is a basic lack of quality. We've got too many players now who would never have got near to playing in the first team 4 or 5 years ago.

For instance; I like Matt Nunes but he's not a top player by any measure. When someone of his standard is one of the better / more reliable players, you know we've got a problem.

Watching Bobb, Reijnders, and Savinho yesterday, I can't believe that anyone could even dream of them playing at PL level. They're awful.

 

[waspish]

Shots from distance are always as good an answer as anything .... it only takes one of them to hit someone and deflect past an unsighted goalkeeper , as Casemiro proved in their game against Brighton at OldTrafford!

Agree we should work on shooting more in training! It seems we don’t work on set pieces or if we do we have no player in our squad who can consistently deliver the ball where we want! Also on corners why are not 2/3 players running from out side the box to get a leap high seems we just stand around own area all marked then just jump! Surly when they know they’ll have a lot of possession against park buses they’ll by now come up with something!

 

[Eaststander1]

Agree we should work on shooting more in training! It seems we don’t work on set pieces or if we do we have no player in our squad who can consistently deliver the ball where we want! Also on corners why are not 2/3 players running from out side the box to get a leap high seems we just stand around own area all marked then just jump! Surly when they know they’ll have a lot of possession against park buses they’ll by now come up with something!

Yep,agreed ...... our 'plan B' always seems to be absent just when we need it most !

 

[pee dubya]

Saw the team and went into the game hoping to be surprised, which isn't great.

That being said I don't agree with singling out individuals for this performance, the entire team didn't function, even our best players were ineffectual.

The only positive thing I'd say, is that i think if this game was in the first few weeks of the season we lose by more.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

The Grealish thing irks me. I said before we bought him he had party boy written all over him - it was so so obvious how that would turn out.

We seemed to have dropped our standards on the players we are bringing in......there are a lot of very questionable signings at present..hopefully some of the new ones will come good but some of them are not looking great at the moment....Reijnders is struggling to affect games, Alt Nouri hasnt impressed (though with limited game time), Cherki looks like he will take time to adapt (Peps basically saying this), Reis, Echeverri both out on loan (heard Reis is doing well). Khusonov looks good but is having to fill in at left back

The there is the Sav dilema...should we have sold him?

Then there is the fact that we dont have a specialist right back and we only have one real left back (even with how well OReilly has done)

Then there is Marmoush as well - where exactly into our starting 11 does he fit in..he is a decent player but I just dont see a role for him with Haaland almost a guaranteed starter....

Lots of strange purchases.....we needed to add proven quality. Im really hoping Reijnders comes good...there is a great player in their BUT is the prem to much for him????? He seems lost physically and isnt affecting games at all.

Not sure where you heard Reis is doing well on loan ? Girona are bottom of the league and have the worst defence in Span.

Echeverri is rotting away on the Levekeusen bench not getting any minutes.

Pointless signings when we needed players ready to challenge the first team.

 

[Sky Blue]

Does anyone else think blocking shots with hands firmly tucked behind their backs severely diminishes our centre halves ability to defend properly? Once they’ve committed to a body shape they’re unable to adjust to the slightest ball movement or feint by the attacker. Reduced risk of conceding handball or stay mobile?

Dias did it for the goal and it fucks me right off. In fact he does it all the time.

 

[malkie]

It's 3 defeats! All against average sides that have been made to look terrible in other games!

Giving players game time to keep them happy is the problem!

Savinho is starting near enough every game since signing that contract!

He had done nothing to deserve a new enhanced contract and hasn't done nowt to warrant it since!

Correct, coupled with not having a decent enforcer in midfield. Rogers and Onana bossed midfield yesterday.

 

[mcfc315]

As soon as I saw the line-up yesterday I was worried. To go to Villa away and basically play a midfield box of Stones, Reijnders, Bernardo and Foden was never going to end well. It was too weak and not physical enough to compete Onana, Kamara, McGinn and Rogers. That's on Pep unfortunately. He had two centre midfielders on the bench in Nico and Kovacic. People will say he's managing Kovacic's minutes and Nico got a knock on Tuesday but when he came on we looked solid and more composed in attack. If they're on the bench then they're fit enough to start.

Other thoughts

Savio and Bobb need to be benched for the foreseeable
Start giving more opportunities and increased minutes to Cherki and Marmoush, we looked dangerous when they came on yesterday
Doku has been our most in form winger this season and has been on the bench the last couple of games - why?
We probably did enough to snatch a point in the end but left it too late to make changes, we all love Pep but his stubbornness costs us at times
Bournemouth at home next Sunday is a must win game and we need to get the ground rocking

 

[KS55]

The end of the world is clearly nigh; City lost a game of footy.

 

[jrb]

For once Danny Murphy gets it right.

Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy says Aston Villa too advantage of Manchester City's unexpected selection, containing no orthodox defensive midfielder.

Match of the day: Aston Villa vs Manchester City analysis

Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy says Aston Villa too advantage of Manchester City's unexpected selection, containing no orthodox defensive midfielder.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[salfordbluetrue]

Gvardiol at left back tells you everything, not that he played badly, but we have 2 left backs who play better there, pep lost this game, even his substitutions came too late and looked desperate. Frustrating as it knocks our team bonding, that this season is about.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

Completely agreed. I don't think we're up to winning the league this season, but I'm not saying that in a defeatist way. Arsenal are just solid as fuck at the moment - they've built a great side, and we're the only side capable of catching them, but we're still recovering/in transition from 24/25.

Aside from that, there are lots of encouraging signs - yet one loss to Villa has some fans acting like the last 6-8 weeks never happened. 1 loss in 10 during a bumpy bit of the season (international breaks), finding new ways to play, new players are already very important to how we perform (Donnarumma, Khusanov, Gonzalez, O'Reilly).

The bigger picture is all looking broadly positive.

I said it repeatedly over the summer and I'll say it again: this season is not about challenging for the Premier League title. Sure, by all means try to win it, but for me the main targets are City getting about 75-80 points on the board, getting the good vibes back at the club, and going as far as we can in all the cups.

Last season reminded me a lot of 15-16, the last year under Pellegrini. An ageing and tired team that was badly in need of changes, miserable runs of form all season, with urgent improvement needed in the squad. The only difference between 2016 and 2025 was that we won a Wembley cup final on penalties instead of losing.

So it's fair enough to expect this year to be like 16-17, Pep's first season. A team in transition, learning new ways to play, lots of new faces adjusting to life in England. We'll have bad days while the team adjusts to all the changes going on, and we might go empty-handed again in May, but we'll quietly be building a solid foundation.

If you'd come to any City fan in January 2017 - after we lost 4-0 at Goodison Park - and said that we'd win 18 PL games in a row before the end of the year, they'd have laughed their head off. They'd have laughed even harder if you'd told them we'd beat almost all before us and finish the season with 100 points in less than 18 months time.

I'm not saying our current lads are Centurions in waiting (the PL is too good for that to happen right now), but we're a couple of specialist additions away from seriously challenging. We sacrificed a rebuild in 2023 to win that fourth title in 2024 and it was worth it to have that record. Now we're finally under way with that rebuild, just delayed.

Donnarumma
[RB?] Dias Gvardiol O'Reilly
Rodri Gonzalez
[RW?] Foden Cherki
Haaland

Trafford
Nunes Khusanov Ake Ait-Nouri
Kovacic Reijnders
Doku [CM - Mukasa?] Marmoush
[CF]

The signs are promising. In terms of equivalent fixtures from last season, we're up by 8 points (United L to W, Arsenal L to D, Brentford D to W, Everton D to W). Even in the games we've lost and haven't improved on in terms of points (Spurs, Brighton, Villa) our goal difference is up by +2. We are absolutely better than we were last season.

And we copy our results from 24-25 for the rest of this season exactly, we'll finish on 79 points, which, funnily enough, is what we finished on at the end of Pep's first season. This year is just about building foundations for the future, and I feel bad for people who haven't spotted this already - I'm just enjoying this part of the ride.

I’m sorry but would love to know what the encouraging signs are. Our performances against the better teams are shocking.

We have one player scoring 95% of our goals and yesterday played with 2 wingers that have both scored once in their mediocre PL careers.

But it’s not just the quality that’s shit - there is no charisma, passion or star dust in this City team. Just dull passive crap with no spirit. Nobody looking after each other.

We are the only team in the league that hasn’t scored a set piece goal all season. Which is not surprising as we don’t have a player in the team that can take a free kick or corner.

We had better pray Haaland stays fit cause if he picked up a long term injury we would be truly fucked.

And I totally disagree that we are on the way with our rebuild. How many of our rebuild will be starting games.

Shit recruitment and a confused Pep has left us watching garbage like yesterday.

 

[Blue Hefner]

Yep, there might be a lot of truth in that ...... and why aren't they working on taking productive corner kicks too. They're an important 'set piece' and ours are usually a complete waste of time.

Slightly off topic but I remember when Pep was at Barca they used to take loads of short corners. Given our ineffectiveness at corners, maybe just do that. Get it down and play quick - Dias hasn’t scored since God was a boy so at least he’d save some energy

It’s worth a shot, isn’t it??

 

[Fordyboy46]

Yep, there might be a lot of truth in that ...... and why aren't they working on taking productive corner kicks too. They're an important 'set piece' and ours are usually a complete waste of time.

We got a new set piece specialist in at the start of the season. Nothing has changed as of yet

 

[Marvin.]

I would prefer City to play football. Set-pieces are part of football but for some teams it is the only way that they can score goals. I do not like the way that corners and long throws have come into the game. The blocks, and foul play at corners are a farce. They are effective but that's not football for me. I prefer City to play like PSG, or Barcelona. That's what we should focus on. Teams that spend hours on the training pitch perfecting corner routines might regret it in the long run.

 

[Semper aggressus]

This isn't Peps first season, though. It's his tenth.
Your positive reasoning around our mediocrity doesn't change the fact that the team isn't in a good place.
Watching them these days I am waiting for the inevitable aimless floated cross, or an unforced misplaced pass. And if I'm expecting it, you can be damn sure the players are too.
Self belief is a massive part of any successful team, in any sport. We don't have it. There is no one except Erl who can drag the team up a level.
Positive vibes in a footy team are produced from the wingers. They create chaos, apply pressure, and out think their opponents to put us in dangerous moments with accurate delivery. Our wingers don't do that. None of them. This is our biggest problem right now, and I don't see it changing any time soon.

It’s pretty much all down to poor recruitment. There seemed to be no ambition to replace absolute top quality like KDB, Mahrez, Fern, Walker with anyone anywhere near that level.

Too many projects; youngsters who may or may not have potential. Too much faith in young players who’ve never shown any hint of being as effective as our old stars were.

Sometimes you have to just replace the best with the best - proven talent already doing well with good clubs. The biggest mistake for me was not paying whatever it took to get Declan Rice (or better still Bellingham). After that, we should have got rid of Savinho who offers nothing, when Spurs bid, and bought Eze. We seemed interested in Cazorla then gave up, he’s better than bloody Reijnders isn’t he.

Why think Nunes/Lewis are worthy replacements for Walker who for years proved he was the best RB in the league? Why not sign a proper, established right back - even if not Walker’s level at least it would be his proper position. Test the market at least, for these sort of players. Offer PSG £120m for Hakimi. Even if they say no at least it shows ambition! Failing that, look for the next best RB, offer for them (Livramento, before he got injured).

We’ve spent a decent amount but not on anyone who actually improves the starting XI.

Get Semenyo signed in January. Scout a proper full back with pace that can stop crosses.

Recruitment recently has been fucking shit.

 

[Fordyboy46]

Why won't Pep ever call a poor performance out?. There's no way he can call it a good performance yesterday without blatantly lying through his teeth. He mentions chances we created, Erling's in the first half and the Savinho chance 2nd half when I think it would've hit the post, that was it. Laborious build up play yet again just added to the ineptness of it all.
Hopefully a few choice words were said in the dressing room at full time

 

[Zabbasbeard]

Completely agreed. I don't think we're up to winning the league this season, but I'm not saying that in a defeatist way. Arsenal are just solid as fuck at the moment - they've built a great side, and we're the only side capable of catching them, but we're still recovering/in transition from 24/25.

Aside from that, there are lots of encouraging signs - yet one loss to Villa has some fans acting like the last 6-8 weeks never happened. 1 loss in 10 during a bumpy bit of the season (international breaks), finding new ways to play, new players are already very important to how we perform (Donnarumma, Khusanov, Gonzalez, O'Reilly).

The bigger picture is all looking broadly positive.

I said it repeatedly over the summer and I'll say it again: this season is not about challenging for the Premier League title. Sure, by all means try to win it, but for me the main targets are City getting about 75-80 points on the board, getting the good vibes back at the club, and going as far as we can in all the cups.

Last season reminded me a lot of 15-16, the last year under Pellegrini. An ageing and tired team that was badly in need of changes, miserable runs of form all season, with urgent improvement needed in the squad. The only difference between 2016 and 2025 was that we won a Wembley cup final on penalties instead of losing.

So it's fair enough to expect this year to be like 16-17, Pep's first season. A team in transition, learning new ways to play, lots of new faces adjusting to life in England. We'll have bad days while the team adjusts to all the changes going on, and we might go empty-handed again in May, but we'll quietly be building a solid foundation.

If you'd come to any City fan in January 2017 - after we lost 4-0 at Goodison Park - and said that we'd win 18 PL games in a row before the end of the year, they'd have laughed their head off. They'd have laughed even harder if you'd told them we'd beat almost all before us and finish the season with 100 points in less than 18 months time.

I'm not saying our current lads are Centurions in waiting (the PL is too good for that to happen right now), but we're a couple of specialist additions away from seriously challenging. We sacrificed a rebuild in 2023 to win that fourth title in 2024 and it was worth it to have that record. Now we're finally under way with that rebuild, just delayed.

Donnarumma
[RB?] Dias Gvardiol O'Reilly
Rodri Gonzalez
[RW?] Foden Cherki
Haaland

Trafford
Nunes Khusanov Ake Ait-Nouri
Kovacic Reijnders
Doku [CM - Mukasa?] Marmoush
[CF]

The signs are promising. In terms of equivalent fixtures from last season, we're up by 8 points (United L to W, Arsenal L to D, Brentford D to W, Everton D to W). Even in the games we've lost and haven't improved on in terms of points (Spurs, Brighton, Villa) our goal difference is up by +2. We are absolutely better than we were last season.

And we copy our results from 24-25 for the rest of this season exactly, we'll finish on 79 points, which, funnily enough, is what we finished on at the end of Pep's first season. This year is just about building foundations for the future, and I feel bad for people who haven't spotted this already - I'm just enjoying this part of the ride.

That's a really well considered post. The selection and performance at Villa should still though have been better.