Aston Villa (A) - Wed 6th Dec, 20:15 | PL | Pre Match Thread

[AliBobbyJ]

Chris Sutton on BBC has City winning 2-1. Think he's predicted a City win before every match this season.

 

[alexmcity]

What have you seen from either to predict this out of interest?
Kovacic did ok first few games but had a big wobble since the arsenal game
Nunes hasn't shown a thing to suggest he's at citys level

Kovacic was more than OK before his first injury, he was top quality vs Newcastle. Nunes can be a fantastic carrier of the ball and can run all day. That's what I've seen. You should factor in what Pep and Txiki have seen, who have been largely great at identifying the right players, even if not entirely faultless. Sometimes it might be hard to tell from distance whether a player can learn what's required in his position in our team. Apparently, Phillips couldn't understand or do what is expected from him.

 

[Oystercatcher28]

Lethargic at times, lightning at others. I feel City will fly out of the box. A reaction is needed. Some quality finishing wouldn't be a miss.

 

[Father Paul]

58% of fans on here dont think we can beat Villa....WTF?

I think we can beat them of course but I am not sure we will. That is based on the evidence of recent weeks together with injuries and crucial suspensions.
Also I have a feeling that our period of dominance in recent years may be starting to ebb away. Again there is no way of knowing this for sure until it actually does. This team has a lot of resolve and routinely delivers under pressure so one should never be tempted to write them off.
Having witnessed the wilderness years of despair and dejection I am content that we now have a setup geared towards success which means that for the foreseeable future we should be competitive. This should be enough for us.

 

[KingGeorge]

I think we can beat them of course but I am not sure we will. That is based on the evidence of recent weeks together with injuries and crucial suspensions.
Also I have a feeling that our period of dominance in recent years may be starting to ebb away. Again there is no way of knowing this for sure until it actually does. This team has a lot of resolve and routinely delivers under pressure so one should never be tempted to write them off.
Having witnessed the wilderness years of despair and dejection I am content that we now have a setup geared towards success which means that for the foreseeable future we should be competitive. This should be enough for us.

Our recruitment last summer didn’t go as planned and it allowed other teams to close the gap with us unfortunately.

If we got Paqueta over the finish line I think we likely be ahead of Arsenal right now. The club seemed to have a list and plan properly, we just got screwed by an unexpected investigation.

 

[Semper aggressus]

Our recruitment last summer didn’t go as planned and it allowed other teams to close the gap with us unfortunately.

If we got Paqueta over the finish line I think we likely be ahead of Arsenal right now. The club seemed to have a list and plan properly, we just got screwed by an unexpected investigation.

And Bellingham being a twat. And Rice wanting to stay in London with his mummy.

Hopefully this summer we’ll get our business done early and get some players in that will take the team to new levels instead of just squad fillers.

With Pep, our almost guarantee of at least one trophy a season, guaranteed CL football every season and financial clout it still irks me and confuses me as to why we can’t get anybody we want. We should be way ahead already but for bad luck with transfer targets attitudes or refusal to outbid rivals. It just feels like if we were just that bit more ruthless with transfers we’d win the title by at least 10 points every season, because the team and Pep are that good. It’s frustrating.

 

[LesBleuMiserable]

Kovacic was more than OK before his first injury, he was top quality vs Newcastle. Nunes can be a fantastic carrier of the ball and can run all day. That's what I've seen. You should factor in what Pep and Txiki have seen, who have been largely great at identifying the right players, even if not entirely faultless. Sometimes it might be hard to tell from distance whether a player can learn what's required in his position in our team. Apparently, Phillips couldn't understand or do what is expected from him.

Would that skittle board Thomas Frank uses at games have aided Phillips?

 

[wolfie1988]

Got a feeling we'll turn it on tomorrow night. Angry team.

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

One of the few games i think we go into as underdogs , Villa have won 13 games on the bounce at home and we are missing some big players , Rodri , Stones , KDB ,Grealish and possibly Doku if you add Gundo and Mahrez leaving the club we are down to the bare bones.
Could be a makeshift team with a few playing out of postition but this group of players will never lied down and die , so wouldnt be surprised if it is draw number four in a row

EDERSON
WALKER , DIAS , AKANJI , AKE
LEWIS
BERNARDO , KOVACIC , ALVAREZ , FODEN
HAALAND

subs ? Guardiola better get his boots on

 

[blue b4 the moon]

58% of fans on here dont think we can beat Villa....WTF?

There's a lot of members on here who are sleepers or if not I'd certainly not want them giving a team talk or in the trenches.

Looks like with a shit defence and no fit players we'll end up being worried about a points deduction later in the season... FFS.