City Will Lose At Villa

[lionheart]

...according to that unbiased expert, Paul Parker...discuss.

Upset of the weekend: Aston Villa v Manchester City

I'll continue on the same theme here and say Bent's Villa could spring a surprise against City. Villa were very good against Birmingham last Sunday but they had two strikers - Gabriel Agbonlahor and John Carew - who had not scored a Premier League goal between them all season and didn't look like breaking their duck.

Sad to say it, but Agbonlahor is so bereft of confidence he looks like a park player. If he is still considered a contender for the England squad then we might as well pick Bobby Charlton.

Houllier has blooded plenty of youngsters, and I think he needs to give Nathan Delfouneso his chance up front instead of Agbonlahor, Carew and Emile Heskey. He has the pace to get in behind and looks an ideal foil for Bent - they could cause City some real problems.

City have their own new striker in Edin Dzeko, and he looked impressive on his debut against Wolves. However, both he and Carlos Tevez need to play through the middle, and that will mean Roberto Mancini must have the courage to play 4-4-2 and drop one of his three central midfielders.

 

[wanderer72]

A quite fair assessment altogether (apart from "need to play through the middle), but nothing in the text justifies the conslusion, actually quite the contrary...

It leaves me puzzled as to from where did he pull that conclusion? Wishful thinking or some anatomical features? ;)

 

[1voiceofreason]

Tough game for sure as they will be buoyed by the signing of Bent but attack them at will and 3 points is there for the taking. If Bobby plays a more defensive game I can see 2 points dropped worse case scenario.

 

[john@staustell]

Well as he called it 'the shock of the weekend' he clearly doesn't believe it's very likely. So it's just wishful thinking, the RAG twat!

 

[Edwin]

IMHO, the one that I'm worried is Carew and glad that he's gone.
This guy always springs a surprise against us.

 

[HellasLEAF]

I like our chances at Villa. I'm confident in the team.

 

[manc93]

Funny how he wrote a paragraph about them and only one line on us!

I also don't get why the signing of bent has miraculously made them a decent side again, yes he's a prolific goalscorer but he's going into a team thats been shite all season and I don't see their form changing for this one.

The team we've gained the most points against in the PL plus our great away form.... 3-1 city!

 

[southern muppet]

Funny how he wrote a paragraph about them and only one line on us!

I also don't get why the signing of bent has miraculously made them a decent side again, yes he's a prolific goalscorer but he's going into a team thats been shite all season and I don't see their form changing for this one.

The team we've gained the most points against in the PL plus our great away form.... 3-1 city!

I don't think it's gonna make a huge difference either, that Makoun guy can't play for them this weekend so it's literally just Bent, one new player - and sticking him up front in that team is like putting a shiny new fairy on top of a rotting, diseased, practically dead Christmas tree

As long as we keep the ball and don't have sudden bouts of defensive sloppiness that have characterised the last 3 games (you know Mancini will have been drilling this into them) then we should take maximum points.

 

[manc93]

Yeah I agree, although I can't see it I would like to see him try out a 4-4-2 so that we can get some balls in for dzeko because otherwise we're basically losing out on his biggest attribute.

 

[Marvin]

I'd take a point now. Villa were on the slide but they will play this game like a Derby.

Remember how well they played against Utd?

The Premiership is so strong because even the clubs at the bottom can play well. It might not have the skill level you see in Spain, but it is so competitive. Never known anything like it