Villa post match thread

[Bozzie]

Hart seems to struggle at corners when the opposition try and block him in. It's a tactic that I'm surprised more teams don't use against us. It's definitely something that the whole defence need to work on collectively and find a method of coping with it. Same with closing down from the front, when the opposition restrict us from playing the ball to the back four and force Hart to kick it long we will almost allways concede possession. That's because he's trying to hit it to the feet of a 5' 7" forward who's 60/70 yards away.
I'm not particularly a fan of Kolorov but again you have to play to his strengths not his weaknesses. If you pass the ball to him inside his own half and then everyone drifts inside from the left you leave him no option but to pass it backwards and inside because he's no outlet infront of him. His strength is coming onto the ball in a forward position and whipping in a low, first time cross, we rarely get him into those positions. Maybe that's partly his fault and without doubt his current attitude stinks despite scoring a vital free kick yesterday. Unfortunately Kolorovs attitude seems to be the norm with several players at the moment. I can't believe anyone was surprised when Yaya failed to appear for the second half and even Milner and Sergio appear to be going through the motions.
However it was achieved, that was a big three points for us yesterday with Southampton, Spurs and Liverpool only picking up a point a piece. Hopefully we can scrape 2nd or 3rd place and re-group, recruit and reorganise in the summer, which incidentally can't come quick enough for me.

 

[Marvin]

joe made a good save after about 30 mins when a lucky rebound fell kindly fir Benteke .. Benteke looked offside (no surprise) and should have scored but good save by Hart .. only save I recall

How many great saves did their keeper have to make?

A win is a win but even the most blue tinted fan in the world can't be happy with the way we are playing.

Ofcourse we din't play well, but the general consensus that Villa absolutely dominated us for 70 minutes is a bit far fetched considering they din't test our keeper at all except the goals. Agreed we were poor but our keeper had a relatively easier day compared to some games where we have been kept in it by his saves.

Villa didn't dominate the game, but they edged it in terms of play and they over ran us in midfield

City's back4 was good, but our general play lacked any kind of cohesion or pattern of play.

We do not look like a top 6 side now and the fall in the standard of play is alarming.

Deal with it Khaldoon

 

[blue ranger]

My main observations on the game;

1. Pellers finally come to his senses about formation but now picking the wrong players. Lampard is ok as a sub but should never be starting over Fernandinho
2. Can understand why Milner is leaving. A player who always gives 100% and yet again made a positive impact
3. The atmosphere has been shite at City this season - but yesterday that certainly wasn't the case
4. We have got to stop conceding stupid freekick like the MDM one yesterday that led to a goal
5. We weren't great but we had 2 stone wall penalties not given yday. If the tackle on silva had been in the centre circle we'h have been screaming for a red. Poor decision
6. Joe Hart has got to learn to catch the ball as although the made an outstanding save in the game from Benteke his handling of aerial balls and distribution is pathetic

 

[wattle]

Words fail me for how poor that performance was. Inferior in every department to a side fighting relegation and managed by Tim Sherwood. We have serious problems.

Words fail me how poor some of our fans are. Inferior in every department to true fans of sides of recent past past fighting relegation and managed by ball, peace, neal, Clark etc. They have serious spoilt brat problems!!!!

Let me guess, you were there away at Clackmannanshire in 1960 when we were in the old division 7 and a bag of chips cost 2 farthings.

All hail the true fan wattle, who will swallow whatever City dish out without question just because we're not shit anymore. If that's the height of your aspiration then it's you that's not a true fan.

Haha christ I'm not old!! I just think the bile being thrown at a man that won us the double last year is pathetic. This place is rife with aggressive trumped up little keyboard warriors that know fuck all what's it's about to show a bit of loyalty and patience.
And no I'm not satisfied with what's being dished out by the likes of toure but the bloke has given me some of the best moments of my life so I'd be happy to say thanks and goodbye at the end of the season.
I'm quite happy with at least one trophy every two years and top two/three finishes in the 'rubbish' seasons!!
I'm sorry for expressing a view that does not match yours oh holy one
Love you anyway ;-)

 

[Centurions]

Words fail me how poor some of our fans are. Inferior in every department to true fans of sides of recent past past fighting relegation and managed by ball, peace, neal, Clark etc. They have serious spoilt brat problems!!!!

Let me guess, you were there away at Clackmannanshire in 1960 when we were in the old division 7 and a bag of chips cost 2 farthings.

All hail the true fan wattle, who will swallow whatever City dish out without question just because we're not shit anymore. If that's the height of your aspiration then it's you that's not a true fan.

Haha christ I'm not old!! I just think the bile being thrown at a man that won us the double last year is pathetic. This place is rife with aggressive trumped up little keyboard warriors that know fuck all what's it's about to show a bit of loyalty and patience.
And no I'm not satisfied with what's being dished out by the likes of toure but the bloke has given me some of the best moments of my life so I'd be happy to say thanks and goodbye at the end of the season.
I'm quite happy with at least one trophy every two years and top two/three finishes in the 'rubbish' seasons!!
I'm sorry for expressing a view that does not match yours oh holy one
Love you anyway ;-)

Very true. Even after a win they crawl out of the woodwork.

 

[alanblue]

How the fuck are we second in the league

 

[willipp]

How the fuck are we second in the league

Because a season is 38 games long and not 16 games long.

 

[big phil]

Three important points given the dippers result.

The match was memorable for Grealishes socks, back in the day when I played you had to wash your own kit. looks like he had put his socks on boil wash and they shrunk.

Some fans near the front in 106 spend all the game moaning about Kolarov (whether he is playing or not) . Someone shouted at him "you are shit", he responded with "Fuck off". Don't know why some fans go to the game if they don't want to encourage the team?

He is shit, though.

You're probably right, but I can't imagine it spurs him on.

 

[grim up north]

How the fuck are we second in the league

We have less points than first but more than third and fourth, not bad for a side that's so shite it's unbelievable

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Thing is , this is the"Villa post match thread". Earlier on in this thread, Jimmygrimbleboots offered a balanced medium to long term perspective, and I found myself agreeing with every point in it. But - given that this is explicitly a short-term thread, in the wake of a specific match, the harshness of the comments about that particular match seem to me very largely justified. I'll post a longer post tomorrow, when I've had more time to sift through my reactions and ditch those that are clearly over the top, but the plain fact is that yesterday we were utter tripe. Anybody could see it.
I do think that some of the vituperation directed towards Pellegrini is over the top (and just to make this clear, I'm now one of those that want him gone). I never quite understand that thing about " the players don't want to play for the manager". Towards the end of the 2011-12 season, at possibly our lowest point (after Arsenal), a journo asked Mancini "Do you think the players still want to win the title for you?" He said - and I really liked him for it - "I don't want them to win it for me. I want them to win it for themselves". He could have added "And for this club". That's right. We're not talking about kids in the schoolyard playing for the gym master, ffs! These are men at the absolute top of their profession, pulling down bigger bucks every week than you or I will ever see. They should pull on that shirt and run out of that tunnel with pride, otherwise I don't want them here. That's why, poor as Vinny and to some extent Zab have been this season, I can forgive them a lot, because I always, always, feel that about them. And their form will come back — that's a certainty.