Villa Vs City Post Match Thread

[Bluemoon dan]

I've just watched the Gestede thing again and for me just before he throws the ball he makes a little gesture towards the goal. Now I may be being naive here (and I'm sure plenty on here will yell me I am) but I think he was saying he'd throw it out and we'd restart with a goal kick. He then throws it as hard as he can and it's Hart that steps across to try to intercept it. I don't think he did anything wrong.

 

[Steve68]

The no striker thing worked out fine last spring but Silva was the key to making it work. Without his speed, movement and vision we haven't cracked it yet. I guess Sterling can play striker but like you say. Sometimes you can see very early on what sort of City have turned up on the day. You cannot wait until the last 10 minutes to make the necessary changes.

Edited to add:

I don't want to see Sterling playing the poor man's Aguero. I think he's best as the rich man's Sterling.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I've just watched the Gestede thing again and for me just before he throws the ball he makes a little gesture towards the goal. Now I may be being naive here (and I'm sure plenty on here will yell me I am) but I think he was saying he'd throw it out and we'd restart with a goal kick. He then throws it as hard as he can and it's Hart that steps across to try to intercept it. I don't think he did anything wrong.

Even if what you say was correct, his decision to throw the ball for a goal kick was designed to slow the game down (and for him to get back in position) with the clock ticking down, which put Villa in a more advantageous position than they would have been had we not kicked the ball out for the benefit of N'Zogbia. So to say he's done 'nothing' wrong is stretching it a little. He's sought to gain an advantage from our benevolence, which makes him culpable, albeit only slightly. He knew exactly what he was doing. Hart's attempt to keep the ball in play shows that a goal kick was disadvantageous to City.

 

[tonea2003]

I've just watched the Gestede thing again and for me just before he throws the ball he makes a little gesture towards the goal. Now I may be being naive here (and I'm sure plenty on here will yell me I am) but I think he was saying he'd throw it out and we'd restart with a goal kick. He then throws it as hard as he can and it's Hart that steps across to try to intercept it. I don't think he did anything wrong.

there was no need to throw it as hard as he did, none at all, the unwritten protocol is to just to give it back to oppo without any hassle, there would have been little difference a goal kick and joe kicking it from where he was
it was unsporting plain and simple,

 

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

I think the reason why so many people are disappointed is due to Pelle's tactics.

For the 1st time in a very long time against Sevilla, he'd picked the right lineup and set us up how we'd expect the tempo of the game to go and the 3 midfielders of the 2 ferns and Toure was needed and worked. Flashforward to Sunday and we've reverted to a formation not ideal for a game where we were required to actually go and breakdown Villa, even before the game started I could see how it was going to pan out.

The subs tactically were awful, although another decent performance from Navas, who should have started instead of Fernando.

People accepting the result as we're still level with Arsenal, seem to miss the point that Spurs have been decent this season and we missed a really good chance to open a buffer.

You make some really good points there and I agree totally with you.

 

[our tommy]

there was no need to throw it as hard as he did, none at all, the unwritten protocol is to just to give it back to oppo without any hassle, there would have been little difference a goal kick and joe kicking it from where he was
it was unsporting plain and simple,

Add to that the fact that he immediately moves to close down Hart and the fact that if he was going to throw it out for a goal kick then why throw it at Hart and not to the side of him. Despicable behaviour IMO. Ref should have had him take it again or Villa, realising what had happened, should have had the decency to play the corner deliberately out of play.

 

[Steve68]

I remember a very new Chelsea player, might even have been Drogba in a similar situation. He didn't know the protocol and innocently took a normal throw. The ref then gave an indirect free kick for ungentlemanly conduct and everyone was happy.

 

[Chris in London]

Add to that the fact that he immediately moves to close down Hart and the fact that if he was going to throw it out for a goal kick then why throw it at Hart and not to the side of him. Despicable behaviour IMO. Ref should have had him take it again or Villa, realising what had happened, should have had the decency to play the corner deliberately out of play.

The fact that he sprinted hard after the ball to close Hart down shows his intent. If he had been putting the ball out for a goal kick he would have been trotting back the other way. The ref should have booked him for unsporting conduct really.

Speaking of the ref, apart from not managing that situation at all, giving Sterling offside from a throw in (you can't be offside from a throw in), missing the penalty on Sterling in the first half, giving Villa a free kick in a dangerous position when Ashley Young seemed to have rejoined the club, adding only four minutes of additional time when the Gestede incident stopped play for three minutes alone, not penalising Villa for their blatant time wasting throughout the second half, and getting dozens of smaller decisions wrong, I thought he had a decent game overall.

 

[Chris in London]

I remember a very new Chelsea player, might even have been Drogba in a similar situation. He didn't know the protocol and innocently took a normal throw. The ref then gave an indirect free kick for ungentlemanly conduct and everyone was happy.

Arsenal did that a while ago in a FA cup tie IIRC, broke away and scored and won the tie. They later agreed to a replay, and again everybody was happy.

 

[Bozzie]

Even if what you say was correct, his decision to throw the ball for a goal kick was designed to slow the game down (and for him to get back in position) with the clock ticking down, which put Villa in a more advantageous position than they would have been had we not kicked the ball out for the benefit of N'Zogbia. So to say he's done 'nothing' wrong is stretching it a little. He's sought to gain an advantage from our benevolence, which makes him culpable, albeit only slightly. He knew exactly what he was doing. Hart's attempt to keep the ball in play shows that a goal kick was disadvantageous to City.

Absolutely spot on. It's a bizarre un-written protocol that has been allowed to develop into a convenient method of time wasting and just encourages players to go to ground, feign injury and take the momentum away from opposition teams. I wouldn't single Villa out because all teams do it, remember Edin at Goodison Park, albeit not many players would be as cynical as Gestede was in their exploitation of the advantage they've gained. It's something that frustrates fans and players (when they're on the receiving end of it) and along with blatant time wasting from the goalkeeper is something the powers that be should legislate for. Booking the keeper in the 89th minute is a complete nonsense, book him in the 29th minute and it's problem solved.