Aston Villa (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

[feedmpenzaandhewillscore]

You know what gets on my fooking tits .............the obsession by certain media outlets of how many touches haaland has had in the box ??????
Has any other striker had this bollocks brought up time after time ??????

He’s pretty efficient at scoring all these goals with so few touches. That one he put in yesterday but was ruled out for offside looked painful. Ouch

 

[The Norfolk Blue]

When Rodris not fully fit this has to be our starting 11.....love Bernie hes been class for us but hes another weve held onto for too long , he shouldnt be our captain ,

After such a great career for us, I find it so hard to criticise Brewnardo, even just slightly because he still gives his all .... but I'm not sure he is or ever was Captain material.

Can we swap this mid-season to Rueben or Big Erl who both have the sheer presence?

 

[Bantamgaz]

Spitty was taking the piss out of Richards calling him a Villa fan live on air yesterday and the clown Richards didn't correct him he just laughed and behaved like the useful idiot he is.

Everytime the man comes on ( Richards ) the tv goes off ............the man should be on kids tv rather than a serious football match

 

[Bantamgaz]

He’s pretty efficient at scoring all these goals with so few touches. That one he put in yesterday but was ruled out for offside looked painful. Ouch

Honestly its all they seem bothered about his touches in the box ............

 

[axlgod]

We are just too nice.
We need some destroyers, absolute bastards, some like big Fern who wouldn’t take any shit from any player
& was pulling up his own players when they weren’t on it i.e. when he grabbed Mahrez by the collar to buck his ideas up.

 

[feedmpenzaandhewillscore]

Honestly its all they seem bothered about his touches in the box ............

He’s scored 6 more goals this season than Isak, Sesko and Gyokeres have done combined. Could you imagine the wankathon on him if he played for a team in red?

 

[blue_danube]

We are just too nice.
We need some destroyers, absolute bastards, some like big Fern who wouldn’t take any shit from any player
& was pulling up his own players when they weren’t on it i.e. when he grabbed Mahrez by the collar to buck his ideas up.

Can't disagree with that. Even people like Kev had a lot of fire in him.

That's missing from a lot of our players. Take Kev as I mentioned. As great a player as he was, and he truly was great, a fair few of his goals and assists were down to sheer will and determination when things weren't going right. It wasn't all just technical brilliance.

That's my issue with the likes of Reijnders. Plenty of technical ability there but where's the fire to use it and force things to happen?

 

[yerwot?]

It takes time to build togetherness and learn each other's game, We are talking about 50% of the squad that are new to the system and understanding the Pep system. How many from last season's winter transfer to the summer transfer windows have had plenty of game time because of injury,

Key players have had long injury periods like Rodri, Foden, Khusanov and then Marmoush and Cherki, Ait-Nouri
So that means more pressure on the squad having to play players that are not fully match fit 3 times a week.

The one thing that needs looking at is the right back role and Nunes being the only choice at the moment
The recruitments are good enough because, before the game yesterday everything was rosy and City are back

9 games into the new season is not the right time to question the recruitment, after 38 games and all the cups games you judge the recruitment by were you finish. Also, the City fans have to lower their expectations and not think we should be champions every season,

thoughtful post, maybe too thoughtful?, BM is where knee-jerk reactions thrive. Expectations, created by so much success are inevitable. The painfully slow build-ups, the way teams just need a hopeful punt to cause problems, unforced errors, the reluctance to make substitutions, are difficult to understand, as is the often wtf starting eleven. We looked much better as a counter-attacking team, but that's been abandoned, we dont have the talent to unlock low blocks but still try intricate one-touch patterns in a packed penalty area.As fans, we ball-watch, dont see the bigger picture, put too much emphasis on body language, look for instant solutions; City fans especially having watched so much champagne football are choking on flat beer.....

 

[pride in battle]

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.

It's all in your username...

 

[the blue panther]

We were due a poor result and 2 things ensured it yesterday - our injury list and the fixtures calender which put us away at Villa Park. It's taking on Spurs-like difficulties for us there.

Villa just got lucky with a shot from distance and created very little else Our lack of quality and physicality lost it for us - though quite how the Villa defender managed to clear that 2nd Savinho shot over the bar is something even Einstein would struggle to explain.

Marmoush inches offside stopped a late equaliser and it just was never going to be our day -on another day, we might have scraped a draw or a 2-1 win. At least we had the pleasure of seeing the sub, Jadon Sancho, going off in a strop and ignoring Unai Emery when he got subbed off - the smug ****!

Silver linings, hey!?!

 

[Roachy]

Every other clubs ex players lords over there former teams then you have him and Richards ..........sure the Tv Channels do it on purpose

I know we weren't particularly good, but the way bulb nose made Villa's performance sound like one of the best ever in PL history was ridiculous.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

Ah, Prophet! Hello! Good to finally see you again. I wondered where you'd been the past few weeks. Nice to see you posting again after only popping up after the defeat to Brighton in August and the draw against Monaco. A shame you weren't here after the Manchester derby, or the win against Napoli, or any of the other wins we've notched up in recent matches. God, I bet the unbeaten run must have been killing you.

I'll file your most recent prediction here alongside all your other pearls of wisdom, such as: "Pep saw enough of Khusanov in those early games to know he is not for him", "Marmoush is the only January 2025 signing that has a future at City", "We'll drop to 8th and miss out on the the top four in 2025", "Absolutely no chance we are getting a Champions League place", "City shouldn't have held a trophy parade after winning four titles in a row" and, my favourite, "We won't be winning anything at the end of the 23/24 season" - among dozens more that I've unearthed just from a quick scan at your posting history this morning.

Although, looking through your post history, I started noticing a pattern. You were largely absent the week we won the title in 2024 but popped up days later after the FA Cup final. You were also largely absent the month we won the treble in 2023. You still posted in the 115 Charges thread, though, and the Etihad Atmosphere thread... Hm. "Sniff sniff" as some say round here.

Thank you for reminding me that there are still a handful of users on Bluemoon who should be on my "ignore" list - it should go without saying that you're one of them. I thought I'd caught all the doomsayers who only hang around here on our occasional bad days, but you've popped up so rarely recently that I'd forgotten about you until this morning. I guess our form since the spring has been so good that you've felt no reason to jump on here and wind people up.

I like it when City win, for many reasons. I think chief among them now will be your embarrassed absence from this forum.

ha sniff sniff indeed. I’ve been posting on here for the best part of 20 years son so there is plenty of research for you to go back through !

I don’t post when the team is winning cause funnily enough I normally feel more compelled to post when I’m angry at a shit show performance, or 115 or the atmosphere at matches. I’m sure that’s the same for a lot on here - just not the happy clapper gang that you are with.

99% of the posts on this post match thread think we were shit yesterday and most have big concerns. You are in the tiny minority that think it was great - so maybe do yourself a favour and block every negative poster then you can wallow in your happy clapper utopia where everything is super positive.

Oh and as you looked at my historical VA posts on the January tfr window - I will hold my hand up and say I was wrong over Khusanvov. Not so much on the rest of our recruitment which has been crap for several tfr windows.

 

[Earlyriser]

Think quite a few people are stealing a living at the club , whoever it is scouting players they need firing , our injury record has become a joke .

I really wonder how players are signed these days. Do we solely rely on scouts and data analysis to assess a player.

Can't disagree with that. Even people like Kev had a lot of fire in him.

That's missing from a lot of our players. Take Kev as I mentioned. As great a player as he was, and he truly was great, a fair few of his goals and assists were down to sheer will and determination when things weren't going right. It wasn't all just technical brilliance.

That's my issue with the likes of Reijnders. Plenty of technical ability there but where's the fire to use it and force things to happen?

I can remember 2 goals that Kev scored that stick in my memory. One away at Wolves and one against United when he gathered the ball by the halfway line and went on a run before blasting the ball home. I compare those with Reijnders pathetic effort yesterday and it is so indicative of how our standards have fallen

 

[Cobwebcat]

9 games unbeaten…we are back!
Lose 1 game…..everyone is crap we won’t even get top 4!

 

[noseve]

Every team plays the low block against us - why? Because they think we’re average?

No, because it works against us. Frequently.

You can hardly complain about a low block whilst continuing to maintain a high press, which compacts the pitch, making the low block inevitable and easier - especially for a home team - to justify.

It's hardly rocket science, is it?

Drop back and there will be gaps. Especially in away games, where the crowd will likely pressure their team to push up more. Erling would relish this.

Also, attacking in straight lines as we do produces such a safe, easy rhythm that's far less stressful to defend against.

Other teams make diagonal runs, with players swapping positions, so making defenders have to constantly make split-second decisions 'do I go, or do I stay? - so much more fluid than us.

I wonder how many neutrals bother to watch City matches now? Hardly gripping, is it?

Thanks to what seems to be weaker opposition than I'd expected, we still look capable of doing something this year season, but it isn't just going to happen - somebody needs to grab Pep by the scruff and shake him out of this stupor whilst we're still right in amongst it.

We've had one of the easier opening set of fixtures compared to others, which may have given some a false impression of where we are?

 

[I'msingingingtheblues]

I really wonder how players are signed these days. Do we solely rely on scouts and data analysis to assess a player.

I can remember 2 goals that Kev scored that stick in my memory. One away at Wolves and one against United when he gathered the ball by the halfway line and went on a run before blasting the ball home. I compare those with Reijnders pathetic effort yesterday and it is so indicative of how our standards have fallen

His one away to Chelsea - left footer across the goalkeeper after a lung-bursting run - maybe 2018-19 - he was being roughed up by Chelsea and he grabbed the game by the throat - it was the game that announced Pep's City as potential champions.

 

[east2]

We were due a poor result and 2 things ensured it yesterday - our injury list and the fixtures calender which put us away at Villa Park. It's taking on Spurs-like difficulties for us there.

Villa just got lucky with a shot from distance and created very little else Our lack of quality and physicality lost it for us - though quite how the Villa defender managed to clear that 2nd Savinho shot over the bar is something even Einstein would struggle to explain.

Marmoush inches offside stopped a late equaliser and it just was never going to be our day -on another day, we might have scraped a draw or a 2-1 win. At least we had the pleasure of seeing the sub, Jadon Sancho, going off in a strop and ignoring Unai Emery when he got subbed off - the smug ****!

Silver linings, hey!?!

Yesterday’s result came as no surprise, Villa are nothing like the side that battered us last season.
However Pep decided to sleepwalk into this one, with a weak midfield where the game was always going to won or lost.
Leaving Nico on the bench was baffling, Starting Bobb and leaving the in-form Doku out was also a poor decision.
Viewed from the upper tier, Villas goal was a well worked set piece, which they had clearly done their homework on us, from the moment they dropped short for the corner, that was the trigger for a well worked routine which we failed to defend against.
It’s games like this where we should be making changes at half time and not waiting until the 65th and 85th minute for a reaction.
It’s clear we are now fighting for a top four finish, and can’t afford too many more bad days at the office, Bournemouth will be no pushover…

 

[Semper aggressus]

We are just too nice.
We need some destroyers, absolute bastards, some like big Fern who wouldn’t take any shit from any player
& was pulling up his own players when they weren’t on it i.e. when he grabbed Mahrez by the collar to buck his ideas up.

Completely agree.

 

[Bozo]

Really, really poor. Another one of those games from the last couple of years to add to a long list of 'could play for hours but still won't score'. Lack of spine in the team, poor team selection, no clear game plan.

 

[Father Paul]

I heard despite there position Reis had performed ok...maybe I got it wrong.

Echeverri will need time....like any youngster coming from South AMerican leagues it will be hit and miss....maybe it works, maybe it doesnt - we will sell him on for profit if he doesnt make it

You are correct though -we needed first team players in the summer as well as those ....All summer i said we were crying out for a CDM and fullbacks plus cover for centre half

Unless we see more from Bobb and Sav over the next couple of months I think changes may be made in January. Bobb in particular could find himself out on loan if an opportunity to buy a quality replacement emerges. Now they might improve but currently Marmush would seem to offer more out wide than they do.