Aston Villa (A) | PL | Post-Match Thread

[Whether or not]

Shouldn't matter though - we should be prepared for it and have enough.
The only thing that stops City is ourselves.
A concerning result and performance, that feels even worse today.

I could not agree more. We were sloppy throughout with our passing and switched off after we scored.

 

[Otamendi's Beard]

We were poor. Walker not crossing to Haaland seemed to be the catalyst for the rest of the first half, just like Rodri being easily dispossessed in the 2nd - which appeared to spoil our rhythm.

Overall it's one to forget barring another great goal from Haaland.

 

[daflanger]

Can everyone relax a bit!! Its only the first 6 games of the season. We are playing every 3 days and the players are still not at their best.

Teams like Villa will plan to frustrate us and we will have to adapt. Many times we will win and sometimes we will draw. Stop slamming the players and give the new system some time

This year is going to be tough with all the games and the world cup and so much more so lets back the players. Everyone is allowed a bad day at the office! Besides we had clear chances in the second half especially KDB!!!!

Haaland is hitting the target everytime now and if we play more into him we will get more tap ins. We just need to learn from this game and move on! Villa is no push over team

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

I always fear the worst when the opposition get behind our flanks, especially as our full backs make no attempt to block the cross.
As ever, this will be more of a concern in the latter stages of the CL.

 

[City_Sean]

That was a really bad result. Villa are dire and we really shouldn't be dropping points there from a winning position.

Shocking that Foden couldn't get any change out of a 36, year old Ashley Young. Mahrez totally anonymous again when he came on. Walkers form a slight concern.

 

[i8rags]

Watching foden constantly pass backwards was beyond frustrating, Ashley Young had him on toast, can’t remember a good game from foden it’s been that long.
Walker can not pass so why is he been asked to, how can the management collectively think gundogan has 90 mins in his legs. Strange decisions today.

 

[Fordyboy46]

Why did he not bring Alvarez on?

Punishing him for scoring twice and playing well against Forest

 

[JTFactsPlz]

The issue is neither in my opinion is KDB, , Bernardo, Gundogan a left winger so Foden gets the nod at this present time as Grealish hasnt flourished there…

Grealish hasn't flourished there either because neither Jack nor Phil are natural wide wingers and making that use of them doesn't enable either of them to shine. They're both more effective playing more centrally and with more freedom, but clearly Pep wants that wide LW job done by someone in many matches and one or the other of them gets lumbered with it. That Phil is now getting criticised for exactly the same things Jack was criticised for last season (playing too safe, passing back) surely implies when they're playing like this it's as instructed. Stick either of them more centrally and you see a different player. If people don't like how they're used when Pep sticks them on the touchline, maybe criticise Pep, not the players following their coach's orders.

 

[come-on-barney]

Grealish hasn't flourished there either because neither Jack nor Phil are natural wide wingers and making that use of them doesn't enable either of them to shine. They're both more effective playing more centrally and with more freedom, but clearly Pep wants that wide LW job done by someone in many matches and one or the other of them gets lumbered with it. That Phil is now getting criticised for exactly the same things Jack was criticised for last season (playing too safe, passing back) surely implies when they're playing like this it's as instructed. Stick either of them more centrally and you see a different player. If people don't like how they're used when Pep sticks them on the touchline, maybe criticise Pep, not the players following their coach's orders.

Spot on.

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

It was a very frustrating game, one we could see coming but at least we're unbeaten.

One thing I can never understand with us under Pep is that we rarely have 1 player who has a bad game, it's the whole team. It's as if the players just don't understand what they've been told to do. Surely the pre match talk should've been "play like you did against forest. Don't worry about the opposition".

The first half was poor and although we had the ball we didn't look like we'd win. I always felt we would be suckered with the usual "1 shot 1 goal". Pep HAS to figure this out as it's our only weak spot but we're as open to it now as we were 5 years ago.

Haaland showed brilliant anticipation to score and the move that led.up to it was superb. The cross from KdB was world class.

As for their goal, it was another example of the left back just not being aware of who is around him. Cancelo might be a good attacker but he is a useless defender - he doesn't bother defending to be honest and again better teams in Europe will exploit that. It's not like Villa pushed loads of players forward so why not just look who's around and close the space?

Strangely I think it might help the balance of the team with Walker getting a knock. He's a great defender and would be one of the first names on my teamsheet but if he is playing in midfield he's no Cancelo. Maybe we will move Cancelo to right back, Gomes to left and maybe bring in Phillips if he is fit to help shield the defence.

Overall a frustrating game but one I've seen plenty of times. These results give every team in the league hope and belief that a couple of fast counter attackers will cause us problems. Pep needs to understand that being vulnerable to the counter is THE single obstacle to us winning everything.

Overall one to forget.