Aston Villa (H) | PL | Post-match Thread

Citizen Mike said:
Foden was magnificent last night and seems to play better and has an understanding with Alvarez. The one touch passing from these two and Rico and Rodri was great and ripped Villa apart.

Our passing tempo was vastly improved and I think Rico was the reason for this. His passing was excellent and would have been my man of the match if it wasn't for Phil.

The other positive is we got more men in the box as Pep highlighted against the Arse
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Foden needs to learn how to play better with Haaland and vice versa. Phil has played this false 9 system for along time so it’s no wonder his best performances come from that set up. We need Haaland and Phil to figure this out and stop relying on kdb.

So many games, Phil dosent spot the run to erling. Fix that and we will be on to something.

Rico was brilliant using space and the quick one two that we have missed with the slow build up. I would have him in the middle with Rodri from now on unless teams are overrunning him due to his size.
 
wolviedinho said:
Foden needs to learn how to play better with Haaland and vice versa. Phil has played this false 9 system for along time so it’s no wonder his best performances come from that set up. We need Haaland and Phil to figure this out and stop relying on kdb.

So many games, Phil dosent spot the run to erling. Fix that and we will be on to something.

Rico was brilliant using space and the quick one two that we have missed with the slow build up. I would have him in the middle with Rodri from now on unless teams are overrunning him due to his size.
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If Phil would learn how to get picked to play near to big Erling rather than picked to play out wide.

8-)
 
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Betterdeedthan red said:
Are u mad.
Pep doesn't rate the best striker in the world.
We dontbdeserve to have him with some of the comments on here
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You need to understand PEP better. Look at the strikers he sacked at Barca and why.
I didn’t say he didn’t rate Haaland or anything like it.
 
eastmanc said:
Eto left Barca under Pep because he was a cock, much the same as Ibra and Cancelo. The last thing I'm saying is sell Haaland. I don't know how you’re getting that from my posts I'm defending him.
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You said H would never be anything but a pure goal scorer. I replied if that was the case he would be on his way. That is the clear implication of what you said, which, incidently, I disagree with; but the logic is inescapable. You have to read Pep, he wont be satisfied with a one dimensional player. You’re wrong too about Eto. He was a cock but the football reason was an open refusal to improve/change his game.
Incidently, people have forgotten that there was a mini rebellion against Pep ball at the outset when he lost his opening three(?) games. He then moved Messi to false 9, they smashed Real and the rest is history.
 
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I was very satisfied with last night's performance and result, despite the sneers that we only played Villa's reserves. The sneerers might like to re-examine our team sheet and compare how many players were not included because of injury. This led me to consider our record against other top five teams, which is considered surprising and, by implication, poor.

Last night was our first win against another top five team. Of the eight games we should play we have played seven and only have Spurs to play at their place. So far we have won one, drawn four and lost two - 7 points from 21. This is surprising and poor for City. But Liverpool, who have played six and have Villa away and Spurs at home still to play, have won only once (Villa at home!) and have taken only 6 points so far (from 6 games). And so the teams with the best records against top 5 teams are Arsenal (9 points from 6 games) and Villa (9 from 6). They have Villa (H) and Spurs (A) still to play, while Villa still have games at Arsenal and at home to Liverpool to play. So, there is little difference in the top five records against each other but City's record this season does not compare with our performance in our last 3 title winning seasons. Of the 24 points available we took 16 last season, 14 in 2021-2 but only 11 in 2020-1 (funnily enough we lost 3 of the 8 matches - all at home!) In the glorious season of 2017-8 we took 18 0f the 24 points, but our only 2 defeats of the season came in this mini league. With a performance more like last season and the season before there is little doubt we would be very handily ahead of the pack and likely to retain our title.

This doesn't mean all is lost! The fact remains that we have played more of the top five than any other team and our remaining match is at fifth place Spurs. On paper this should be the easiest of the top five matches (!!!!) while the other tear themselves to pieces and take points off each other! That's the theory at least. So fingers crossed fellow blues!
 
It’s likely already been discussed but I thought the pairing of Doku/Akanji and Grealish/Josko worked well. I think you get a balance of experience/youth and chaos/composure with both pairings.
 
Oh YeahOh Yeah said:
Just read Jamie Jacksons match report of tonights game in the Guardian. He states City haven't beaten a top 6 side all season. I've emailed the Guardian for a correction pointing out we've beaten his beloved 6th placed Rags home and away this season. He was probably counting empty seats rather than paying attention the bitter Rag.
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Chi-town blues said:
Tbf I agree with him , rags are not top 6 anymore ;)
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Imagine getting so angry about a throwaway line in an article you write an letter to the paper demanding a correction and retraction before even bothering to check the table.
 
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