Aston Villa (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

Burtonblue said:
One defeat and wet fannies are out in force.
Get a grip for Christ’s sake.
It’s not our God given right to win every game.
Today Pep got the team selection wrong. He didn’t do it on purpose. We still have players out injured and he’s trying to keep the players in the squad happy by giving them all gametime. As a result first half was a shit show.
There’s no way he would have started without a holding midfielder if he had a fully fit one available and once Nico came on we did look more stable.
Many teams have struggled away at Villa and we have done so in the past and gone on to win the league.
It’s still October. No need to panic yet.
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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.
 
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The Stockport Iniesta said:
It's pitiful that Bayern have 3 wingers of that quality compared to the three we have. They are head and shoulders better than our 3. My only hope is Pep gets Cherki on the right and doesn't try and shoehorn him in centrally.
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Not to mention the PSG wide men/wingers we could have bought any of them, bad scouting, unless it the dreaded 115 that's putting top players (except for Donna) off at the moment.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
I'll give Viana a pass for the moment, and I'm not sure that Khaldoon really has much say in our targets. If you'd said Soriano then I'd add him to the list. Someone like him should have been kicking arses over some of our buys like Philips, and there really should have been some hard questions asked over Grealish and his drinking before we splurged £100m.

I've recently changed jobs and the CEO of my old company got the elbow because he wasted something like £40-70m on a failed project and failed to achieve other financial targets. It's been far too cosy in our boardroom and executive suite for too long. We need someone who's prepared to hold peoples' arses to the fire and we don't have that.
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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.
 
Oscar Bobb, whom I really like, should have been substituted at halftime because he was the worst player on the pitch. The same goes for Reijnders.

I find Pep increasingly accommodating and kind to certain people. In the past, he has punished players at halftime for less bad performances.
 
youngbob said:
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.
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Really good analysis that!
 
youngbob said:
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.
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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.
 
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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?
 
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mattcity5 said:
I'm really fucked off about the two-handed push by Rogers on Gvardiol and var thinking nothing of it. And neither did the commentators, but they were biased throughout.

But I'm also annoyed about the shove in the back by Rogers on Nunes in injury time, shoving him off the pitch when it was going out for their goal kick.

It's just really dangerous and was unneeded anyway. There's been serious injuries, and worse, recently due to players hitting advertising boards/walls around the pitch, so that kind of thing needs stopping.
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Agree & said something similar in another post.

But I’m also puzzled that we seem so placid in those situations, obviously don’t want them to behave like Keane era rags, but I would like them to have a strong word, in that case make sure Rogers knew he was a ****.
 
Blue Hefner said:
My position is make them available. Outside of the Premier League and 4 teams in Europe, no one has any money - there must be someone!
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The problem with you is a broken record comes to mind, you’ve already put your flag on the mast by naming Doku, Savio and Nunes as not good enough, but can’t name anyone to replace them, not once do you ever criticise team selection from Pep, our toothless midfield ie Reijndeers or our slow sideways passing, it’s always the wingers that get the criticism, so for me your not a serious poster.
 
balotellishaircut said:
The problem with you is a broken record comes to mind, you’ve already put your flag on the mast by naming Doku, Savio and Nunes as not good enough, but can’t name anyone to replace them, not once do you ever criticise team selection from Pep, our toothless midfield ie Reijndeers or our slow sideways passing, it’s always the wingers that get the criticism, so for me your not a serious poster.
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I did critise the team selection today, maybe not on here but I can share the text messages if you like.

Maybe I have a blind spot for Rijnnders given his good start but he’s never a defensive midfielder and he needs to improve sharpish. But he hasn’t been here that long so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt

Doku and Savio aren’t up to it. Check their CV/resume - I’d have Marmoush ahead of them every time and have said so many, many times

I’ve critised Kovecic a lot. I often shout at my TV or from the South Stand that we play to slowly

As to whether I’m serious or not. It’s a football forum, not real life. So some posts will obviously be exaggerated for effect

If you think Doku, Savio and Bobb will be successful for us then fair dos but I couldn’t disagree more. Maybe if one stays as a sub but that’s about it
 
Ric said:
A stark reminder of where we are as a team. We're improving on last season, but still miles off being genuine title contenders. Villa deserved winners today.
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We were off it yesterday. The balance of the team wasn't right and the substitutions were poor. I still wouldn't say Villa were deserved winners. They were the home team and held on to a 1 nil lead.
 
bobbthebuilder said:
Michael oliver allowing martinez to lie down with the ball way longer than 8 seconds... ****. dippers got a corner yesterday when kelleher only had it for about 5 seconds
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Oliver is a dick. He wasted time going to speak to Martinez about time wasting when he doesn't need to now. Just give a corner like they've been instructed to do.
Oliver isn't the reason why we lost the game but he sure didn't help.
 
PragueBlue said:
I thought we started brightly but then lost our way after 15 mins. Dominated the 2nd half but just one of those days. A very close offside goal (correctly) ruled out and some excellent blocks from Villa defenders stopped us getting something from the game.

I thought we played some decent stuff at times but we really need a bit more from our wide players, none of whom really created anything of note. Would have liked Cherki to get more minutes as he is the type of player that can make a difference in these kind of games.
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Good summary. A lot better than most of the over the top drama that comes after a defeat.
 
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