Aston Villa (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

SWPISHOME said:
People can go on all they like about the players we've sold, At the time of these transfers it PROVED that the club made the right choices by moving them on as we've been hugely successful winning trophies.
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I disagree with this logic, especially when it's about young players in positions that are currently weak spots. You could say Chelsea were proven right about Salah and De Bruyne when they won the league in 2015 and 2017 after selling them, but when these two players go on to dominate the league for the next 10 years while Chelsea themselves slide into a rut then it is fair to criticise the short-sightedness of the squad planning
 
Tricky_Trev said:
I tell you what, we’re fucking lucky we beat Forest. If we lost to them we’d be TEN points behind them now and out of the top 4 race already.
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Sadly mate, I don’t think we are a top 4 team this season. I’m hoping we might recover and go deep in the FA cup
 
Tricky_Trev said:
I tell you what, we’re fucking lucky we beat Forest. If we lost to them we’d be TEN points behind them now and out of the top 4 race already.
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Add to that several fluky points earlier in the season when we scraped wins and draws - without that early season good luck - including catching Chelsea "cold" in game 1 - we really could be down with the dead men. It was a miracle that we were at the top, and undefeated for so long.

Oh well; another pointless weekend. The only way that fresh legs are going into this team is if the club buy them in January. I understand Pep's reluctance to use any youth, but it is baffling as to why he is so intent on persevering with players who are proving their inadequacies by the week - being perpetually off form, unfit, or both.

Pep seems intent on proving his point while the team's decline continues. How close are we to breaking-point? 1 win in 12 is really pushing it, now. We looked a class below Villa today. It's come to something when I'm hoping we'll get a point at home against Everton on Boxing Day, but, that's all I'm hoping for at the moment.

I've got the Christmas blues.
 
Lavinda Past said:
Too many people like you on here trying to prove what "big Blues" you are by accepting, and making excuses for, substandard performances.

I've seen 63+ years of City, and I can honestly say, I've never been more disappointed with any group of City players than our current squad.

I've watched generations of typical City...average squads being average, good squads being good, shit squads being shit and, more recently, great squads being great... Our current highly paid, very expensively built squad is falling a long way behind abilities and expectations, and it doesn't look like it's getting any better.

Blame lies with Pep, his coaching staff (the silent men) and Txiki Begiristain.

The squad is largely made up of players who are; past their best, made of glass, out of their depth, or simply badly used. Succession planning has been unbelievably poor.

Major reconstruction is needed for 25/26 season.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
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Has it ever occurred to you that maybe they are just mentally and physically shot, and what they need is patience and understanding, especially given that the last three years have probably been the best of those 63?
 
Norman kneejerk said:
Trying to nake sense of it probably comes down to do we believe Pep can employ the right tactics going forward and can he recruit the right players for whatever system he wants to implement from transfers or youth.

Think we are entitled to ask these questions without deriding his past achievements
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The question is - do we believe someone else can do the things you say better than Pep can. If you know who that someone else is , please let me know
 
Gorton_Tubster said:
Stop crying you fkin mard arse. We can't win every title every year. Deal with it or keep crying.
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Not having a go here chum but I don’t think it’s we want to win the league every year no one’s that deluded. More the performance of the team, which I think you’ll agree is fucking woeful.
 
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Blue Mist said:
The Monday night before the cup final started it.
The club allowed the players to get pissed, (until 4am) and that gave them permission to lose the final. It was now acceptable, who could better the treble and then 4 in a row ? The final was just the first 'it's ok to lose match

I know why it was done, it took huge mental strength to win 4 in a row but professional athletes should not have gone on the piss until after the final. . They switched off and have not got the mental strength to switch back on again as the more we lose the less painful and more acceptable it is.
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They became immortal when they won 4 in a row. Nobody would give a fuck if we’d lost to anyone else.
 
ScottSinclair said:
I disagree with this logic, especially when it's about young players in positions that are currently weak spots. You could say Chelsea were proven right about Salah and De Bruyne when they won the league in 2015 and 2017 after selling them, but when these two players go on to dominate the league for the next 10 years while Chelsea themselves slide into a rut then it is fair to criticise the short-sightedness of the squad planning
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Some in here think that because you win something - you can't possibly have been even better. It's a complacent, unanalytical logic. However those thinking it is possible are obviously Johnny come lately and spoiled.
 
Eccles Blue said:
You are the one who needs to do that!!!!
I wonder how you’d feel if your job ended by you getting older and people abusing you and saying you should **** off?
Give it a rest and respect a player who has worked hard for us.
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I think if he had been earning £10m a year for six or seven years with a chance of a huge pay day (Saudi Arabia) and then the opportunity to spend the cash with no pressures of trying to keep his battered and broken body fit for elite sport, he'd enjoy being told to eff off

I loved playing football (to an utterly shit standard) but I knew when my body couldn't even perform at that level, so retired

Stones is a sicknote and a drain on resources
 
AndyP68 said:
After a defeat I cycle out into the hills and mull it over. At least I’m getting fitter… various things I’ve wondered:

Is this just a hangover from 4 in a row.

Pep is a serial winner and hates losing. Maybe the players are less so?

The players are still largely decent. But after 4 in a row the desire and hunger must dip.

Maybe the players feel they have nothing to prove.

Far too much football played by our lads. All over the world. The spurs league cup tie was only 51 days ago. How many matches since then?

Off field issues seem to be a possible problem. Parenthood brings challenges for young guys.

Can players raise themselves now when they know realistically that title is gone this year.

Teams now fancy their chances and have worked out how to beat us. Easier to do when then players aren’t giving it all.

The absence of a physical presence on the pitch and dressing room can’t help.

The 115 have diverted Management attention. Rightly they have been focussed on that. They can’t do that and pay same attention to recruitment.

Clearly lots of factors at play.

Absence of Rodri and KdB cannot be underestimated though.
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Good post, probably with a lot of truth in there. 4 in a row has taken its toll and credit to the team for that. This team's has had it's day though now. The only positive from this crap run is it's hopefully accelerated the need for a rebuild that would have happened in the future anyway.
 
sir baconface said:
No matter how many times the poodles repeat this, it won’t be true. Palmer decided to show ambition and go somewhere where he would be appreciated.
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His form at City isn't anything like what it currently is at Chelsea. Put down your Cole Palmer poster.
 
Roachy said:
Good post, probably with a lot of truth in there. 4 in a row has taken its toll and credit to the team for that. This team's has had it's day though now. The only positive from this crap run is it's hopefully accelerated the need for a rebuild that would have happened in the future anyway.
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The more I think about it the more I’m sure Txiki was told no major signings til the 115 is done and dusted. No one envisaging the injury crisis that would follow.
 
ScottSinclair said:
I disagree with this logic, especially when it's about young players in positions that are currently weak spots. You could say Chelsea were proven right about Salah and De Bruyne when they won the league in 2015 and 2017 after selling them, but when these two players go on to dominate the league for the next 10 years while Chelsea themselves slide into a rut then it is fair to criticise the short-sightedness of the squad planning
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I completely understand your point.

It's all about timing too, The likes of Palmer would have got more game time now at City than he was two years ago, He wasn't prepared to wait around for his opportunity and credit to him for moving on.

Pep loves to work with a small squad and be narrowed down to squad to players to have gone on and won the Treble and 4 In A Row so his moves were obviously the correct ones.

Chelsea squad was incredible around those years too and they were very successful, They has players in the squad that still had years at a high level so decided to move Salah and De Bruyne on (at that time).

Timing in football is the most important and when you are so successful everything has to fall into place especially to do what we've been doing in recent years, Right now "some" of the players we've moved on we could actually be doing with right now, The reality is we didn't need them 2 or 3 years ago. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
 
GaudinoMotors said:
Some in here think that because you win something - you can't possibly have been even better. It's a complacent, unanalytical logic. However those thinking it is possible are obviously Johnny come lately and spoiled.
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Yeah, I don't see how it is sensible. We won a treble with Palmer in the squad, I doubt anyone in hindsight think we would have done worse if he were given Doku's minutes last year. Instead we ended up strengthening a team we were miles ahead of to the point where they seem to be ahead of us now. Not sure how any mental gymnastics can get that to be anything other than a mistake.

The only way we get proven right in that situation is if we end up with someone much better than Palmer in that spot or if we needed his transfer fee to strengthen the squad in different areas. But right now I'd carry him back to Manchester myself.
 
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RayCTID said:
Oh brother what? The truth hurts? If he was really that good enough he would still be here. Short term memories.
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You parrot the same drivel every time. Palmer must be shite because Uncle Pep let him go. We must be playing great now because that’s how Uncle Pep set us up.Great first half because Uncle Pep said so. Rah, fcukin, rah!
 
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