Official Manchester City Vs. Aston Villa thread.

[allblues09]

Fernandes - 5, this guy is just not a footballer, must have a pass completion of 2%, ran around a lot but was just pointless tbh.

He cmpleted 2 of 3 passes and complete 2 of 3 tackles in his return from injury and first game time in wuite a while. Your analysis seems a little harsh. Espically considering you give everyone else 8's and 9's.
Caicedo completed 5 of 7 passes and won 6 tackles. The kid is still young and has been lacking games.
I am surprised you feel he played so poorly. Give the lad a chance.

 

[allblues09]

Fernandes - 5, this guy is just not a footballer, must have a pass completion of 2%, ran around a lot but was just pointless tbh.

He completed 2 of 3 passes and complete 2 of 3 tackles in his return from injury and first game time in white a while. Your analysis seems a little harsh. Especially considering you give everyone else 8's and 9's.
Caicedo completed 5 of 7 passes and won 6 tackles. The kid is still young and has been lacking games.
I am surprised you feel he played so poorly. Give the lad a chance.

 

[moomba]

Excellent result against tough opposition, one of our best for the season.

Shame it's Chelsea next because I think we really need to start to establish some consistency in our game. Still, if you're going to lay a ghost to rest, why not start against one of the toughest.

 

[Nils]

Fanatstic display in the first half...Dunne man of the match for me, closely followed by Kompany (in the first half that's the best i've seen him...excellent anticipation and didn't give the ball away once, (his usual failing for me) SWP and ireland. Can we now drop this three holding midfielders...we don't need it....a fit kompany and de jong are more than enough with zab at right back and elano providing the creativity and interplay with swp and ireland which we saw last night. i know villa only had the two central midfielders with two wide, but for me let the opposition worry about us than the other way round...with 3 holding in midfield we never look like scoring. I have to say though that with de jong going off injured, it emphasised the lack of quality in our squad as a whole. Disagree with those who say fernandez was good...i thought he was as poor as he always is...a championship player and for me he's a red card waiting to happen...he can't time his tackles....and big phil upfront , well when he first came back into the side earlier this season i thought i might have been wrong about him and too quick to judge, but last night and other recent performances, oh dear. He lacks that yard of pace if he's going to play off the shoulder and and if he's a target man he just can't make the ball stick..well done to evans who looked good.

 

[Benarbia]

Great result but more questions have to raised why we don't perform like that away from home.

Or was it the fact Robbie wasn't there

 

[mancity1]

Before the game I commented on the fact that SWP has played his best football when Robby is not in the team and last night was no exception.

When given a bit of space he can excel as opposed to marked out of the game when we are a little more cluttered.

Its a dilemma that will have to be addressed at some stage , I just don't think both can play well or at their best in the same lineup.

None of the three players missing from the West Ham game were missed.

We have played 32 players at some stage during the season which is far too many for consistency in performance to take place albeit many enforced through injury and suspension.

When our best eleven can maintain health and fitness we will be tougher to beat both home and away.

All in all a good performance with SWP stepping up to the plate and creating or being on the end of all of our best moments.

 

[BimboBob]

After a good nights sleep and some cheese i would like to add my bit into the ring that is the decimation of the players.

Big Phil looked good first half,held the ball up and at least tried to bring other players into the game.SWP looked fit and refreshed and it showed in his play.Stevie seems to have come out of his rut.Dunne looked great first half but was second best on a lot of headers against Carew.Zabs and Kompany both played fantastically well.Given had nowt really to do.Neddy played what i thought was his best game in a long while.Elano showed his skill and provided the midfield with some balance.Bridge was steady.Nigel was the MOTM.Tackling,hardly gave the ball away and always showed for the ball.Me like him long time.

 

[C_T_I_D]

Just got a few points to make.

The Dunne and Onouha partnership.

I think this is developing really well and is promising. Dunne went and spoke to Onouha and also spoke to Bridge before the game just kicked off. Onouha, in my opinion, is the most natural defender we have at the club and his reading of the game is exceptional. Dunne was dominant in the air and won more or less every header. If one of them made a mistake then the other was there to cover for them and that happened on numerous occasions.

Elano and Ireland.

I questioned whether they would be able to work in the same team but they seemed on the same wavelength and that is a testiment to the ability of 'Superman' given the other player is a Brazilian playmaker! Some of the interplay between Ireland, Elano and SWP was beautiful to watch really and their joint ability to pick out a pass played a significant part in this fixture. It is an interesting statistic that Elano has never missed a penalty for us.

The 'Given' effect.

To me, he inspires confidence and not only is he a great shotstopper, he is very vocal and knows how to sort his defence out when facing free kicks. I like his desire to win and succeed with this club, it's something that isn't quite there with Hart yet (the vocal side).

The strikers.

Sorry Caciedo, but you're never a premiership striker. No desire to run for the team and simply held the ball up all game. Not an attacking threat in my books which is worrying considering he's meant to be a striker. When Chad/ Ched (don't start that debate again ffs!!) came on I labelled him a Championship class striker and his movement alone proved me wrong. A great chest down for the attempt on goal by Elano and if not for a great save by Friedel would have gone in. Bojinov looked really up for it and wanted to succeed immediately, always wanting the ball and wanting attacks to start. He'll be important for us, but he desperately needs playing time and that was clear to see at times.

Not missing Bellamy and Robinho.

They played as more of a team because of this and seemed more on the same wavelength rather than playing the 'Give it to Robinho and hope he does something special' tactic. If we get to see Bellamy and Bojinov up front when both are fully fit, I think we're in for a treat!

 

[Greiver]

Just got a few points to make.

The Dunne and Onouha partnership.

I think this is developing really well and is promising. Dunne went and spoke to Onouha and also spoke to Bridge before the game just kicked off. Onouha, in my opinion, is the most natural defender we have at the club and his reading of the game is exceptional. Dunne was dominant in the air and won more or less every header. If one of them made a mistake then the other was there to cover for them and that happened on numerous occasions.

Elano and Ireland.

I questioned whether they would be able to work in the same team but they seemed on the same wavelength and that is a testiment to the ability of 'Superman' given the other player is a Brazilian playmaker! Some of the interplay between Ireland, Elano and SWP was beautiful to watch really and their joint ability to pick out a pass played a significant part in this fixture. It is an interesting statistic that Elano has never missed a penalty for us.

The 'Given' effect.

To me, he inspires confidence and not only is he a great shotstopper, he is very vocal and knows how to sort his defence out when facing free kicks. I like his desire to win and succeed with this club, it's something that isn't quite there with Hart yet (the vocal side).

The strikers.

Sorry Caciedo, but you're never a premiership striker. No desire to run for the team and simply held the ball up all game. Not an attacking threat in my books which is worrying considering he's meant to be a striker. When Chad/ Ched (don't start that debate again ffs!!) came on I labelled him a Championship class striker and his movement alone proved me wrong. A great chest down for the attempt on goal by Elano and if not for a great save by Friedel would have gone in. Bojinov looked really up for it and wanted to succeed immediately, always wanting the ball and wanting attacks to start. He'll be important for us, but he desperately needs playing time and that was clear to see at times.

Not missing Bellamy and Robinho.

They played as more of a team because of this and seemed more on the same wavelength rather than playing the 'Give it to Robinho and hope he does something special' tactic. If we get to see Bellamy and Bojinov up front when both are fully fit, I think we're in for a treat!

Some very good points in there, especially about Dunne and Given.

 

[Marvin]

Get in there.

So, Hughes is clueless eh?

Yup.

hold yer hands up and admit you talked shit son, at least attempt to retain your dignity.

I have plenty of dignity thank you.

Bringing Boj on was the wrong thing to do in my opinion. Of course I am delighted we won, but just because we did, it doesn't automatically mean Hughes made the right decision. I don't think he did.

I think Hughes makes some very poor substitution decisions generally. Not making changes when they are needed is his usual failing. Or making them too late.

This was another daft one. But he got away with it this time, largely because the team played so damned well.

Elano was not tracking back, although his work on the ball was good.

Bojinov helped us hold the ball up, and retain possession which was vital in the final minutes, and played a key role in the goal.

I think Hughes should use his subs more than he does (eg at home against Copenhagen when 2-0, and a game coming up against West Ham), but he got tonight's set-up and subs right