***Official Villa vs City Thread***

[Bingo Lewis]

mancio, take mancini's cock out of your mouth.
anyway, we lost, not the end of the world. it'll look a lot better when the scum lose on tuesday.

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

The format that the opposition are starting to use against us when they play at home is increasingly like the format they play away. By making City the "home" team i.e. putting everyone behind the ball, a straight bank of 5 and then 4 with one up top then counter when City misplace a pass after boring themselves with 30 meaningless passes in the centre circle is turning into 3 point golden template.

Everton showed everyone else how to do it and more managers are starting to implement it against us. The end result is we have 60% to 70% possession about 20 odd shots (all from distance) and hopelessly wide but no real threat upon their goalkeeper. They attack with speed and surprise and we all go home empty handed.

The only way to beat this format is to draw them out - by giving them more of the ball and let them commit players forward then counter them with a range of direct and high tempo passing plus movement.

By having too much of the ball at a shockingly slow pace we are helping the opposition to beat us.

This, ultimately, sums up the game today imo.

Tough it should also be noted that teams do this even more when they get the first goal. We should be starting games livelier. Giving away an rudimentary goal early on will be more costly to us now than ever.

[Beefymcfc]

Without being too inciteful, did anyone actually enjoy tonghts game, or were you as frustrated as me?

Edit: Without the excuses.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Without being too inciteful, did anyone actually enjoy tonghts game, or were you as frustrated as me?

Edit: Without the excuses.

I spat at my plasma.

[Arjan Van Schotte]

Without being too inciteful, did anyone actually enjoy tonghts game, or were you as frustrated as me?

Edit: Without the excuses.

tbh honest mate - right up until the 2nd minute of inj time i thought we'd win it. and that's not like me.

vanilla fluked it.

[Bingo Lewis]

The format that the opposition are starting to use against us when they play at home is increasingly like the format they play away. By making City the "home" team i.e. putting everyone behind the ball, a straight bank of 5 and then 4 with one up top then counter when City misplace a pass after boring themselves with 30 meaningless passes in the centre circle is turning into 3 point golden template.

Everton showed everyone else how to do it and more managers are starting to implement it against us. The end result is we have 60% to 70% possession about 20 odd shots (all from distance) and hopelessly wide but no real threat upon their goalkeeper. They attack with speed and surprise and we all go home empty handed.

The only way to beat this format is to draw them out - by giving them more of the ball and let them commit players forward then counter them with a range of direct and high tempo passing plus movement.

By having too much of the ball at a shockingly slow pace we are helping the opposition to beat us.

This, ultimately, sums up the game today imo.

Tough it should also be noted that teams do this even more when they get the first goal. We should be starting games livelier. Giving away an rudimentary goal early on will be more costly to us now than ever.

two spelling mistakes there sonny, you been on the pop?

[Beefymcfc]

Without being too inciteful, did anyone actually enjoy tonghts game, or were you as frustrated as me?

Edit: Without the excuses.

I spat at my plasma.

No wanking sunshine!

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

two spelling mistakes there sonny, you been on the pop?

I've had two glasses of a cheeky Bordeaux claret. Living the dream. Possibly clouded my usually razor sharp mind, who knows?

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Without being too inciteful, did anyone actually enjoy tonghts game, or were you as frustrated as me?

Edit: Without the excuses.

Really really did not enjoy it.

[Bingo Lewis]

two spelling mistakes there sonny, you been on the pop?

I've had two glasses of a cheeky Bordeaux claret. Living the dream. Possibly clouded my usually razor sharp mind, who knows?

are you now relaxed in the boudoir, listening to beethoven's 5th, and scoffing at the peasants on their way to 5th avenue?

i'm envious ;D

wanna come cream fields?

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

two spelling mistakes there sonny, you been on the pop?

I've had two glasses of a cheeky Bordeaux claret. Living the dream. Possibly clouded my usually razor sharp mind, who knows?

are you now relaxed in the boudoir, listening to beethoven's 5th, and scoffing at the peasants on their way to 5th avenue?

i'm envious ;D

wanna come cream fields?

Nowt wrong with 5th Ave. When you're about 5 years younger than I am anyway.

I've convinced myself that switching to wine is better for me.

I'll get back to you on Creamfields.

[MaineRoadMemories]

Looking at the stats again its amazing/spooky how closely we are mirroring last season.

45 points on the board this year. Last season against the same teams 44 points, last year based on the first 24 games - 44 points

The trend is pointing towards us getting exactly the same points tally as last season - or maybe 1 or 2 points more. That will put us on about 68 points.

The league points total is going to be a lot less this season for the majority of teams. So hopefully 68/69 points will get us into the top 4 instead of 5th.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

WIll people stop saying we dominated the game. It wasn't as if we were creating chance after chance. We had a lot of the ball but created very little, a couple of half chances here and there but that was it.

Mainly because of the imbalance of the side because we played with three defensive midfielder s. I don't get it, why did Johnson and Milner not play from the start?

[Beefymcfc]

Without being too inciteful, did anyone actually enjoy tonghts game, or were you as frustrated as me?

Edit: Without the excuses.

Really really did not enjoy it.

You and me too Doug. A gash game that certain people will say that we're unlucky. Mancini just got ruled by Houlier!

Says it all.

[Bingo Lewis]

two spelling mistakes there sonny, you been on the pop?

I've had two glasses of a cheeky Bordeaux claret. Living the dream. Possibly clouded my usually razor sharp mind, who knows?

are you now relaxed in the boudoir, listening to beethoven's 5th, and scoffing at the peasants on their way to 5th avenue?

i'm envious ;D

wanna come cream fields?

Nowt wrong with 5th Ave. When you're about 5 years younger than I am anyway.

I've convinced myself that switching to wine is better for me.

I'll get back to you on Creamfields.

vino is ace mate, one bottle and you're a happy chap.
just pulling yer plonker matey, i'd stand you up at creamfields.
enjoy your night.
as for City, get bigger balls from the offset. As a team they remind me of my staff at work. get them going and they'll be ace, and momentum will keep them performing for a few weeks, and as a boss you start to relax with them a little, thinking the momentum will continue, but it doesn't. and as a manager, you've got to treat each week as a bad performance, and keep the level of pressure on the staff continuous just to stop these one off bad weeks. back to the drawing board now, and it'll be a struggle next week getting everyone fired up again, but Bob has done this enough times and we always come back fighting. Just in time for the Derby, which, by the way, we need to approach in a totally different way than recent Derby's, otherwise Bob is gonna have a real struggle getting the fans back onside. Bob - keep the pressure on them, constantly.

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

Ivino is ace mate, one bottle and you're a happy chap.
just pulling yer plonker matey, i'd stand you up at creamfields.
enjoy your night.

I'm now on my last drop.

The only other alcohol in the place is a bottle of champagne I got a year ago from work. The nearest open off license will be a 20 minute walk to Piccadilly Gardens.

Bad times : (

[Bingo Lewis]

Ivino is ace mate, one bottle and you're a happy chap.
just pulling yer plonker matey, i'd stand you up at creamfields.
enjoy your night.

I'm now on my last drop.

The only other alcohol in the place is a bottle of champagne I got a year ago from work. The nearest open off license will be a 20 minute walk to Piccadilly Gardens.

Bad times : (

a cat like you should have a van wilder style golf buggy.
or an assistant for booze runs.

[Ted Hughes]

Question: When's the last time City dominated a game like that away from home at somewhere like Villa? Has it ever happened in the Prem?

Today, we were officially a BIG side. We played a team who have spent the past week practicing trying to stop us & had a goal start. We're not used to it, unsurprisingly because, in the past, we've never been the kind of team Villa would do that against; we are now.

We've seen it before though; WE'VE done it to Utd, Arsenal & Chelsea at COMS, before the Sheikh came. Did that make them poor teams?

Look, we already knew before today that we struggle to break down massed defences & that we need a plan B. Today, we put one or two better balls in, than we've done for ages. Kolarov delivered a couple of great corners, Johnson put a beauty on Dzeko's head EXACTLY the things we need to break down the Villas & Evertons but Dzeko missed. He does miss em but if we start putting that quality in, he'll start to score them as well.

Hart dropped a clanger, we could have moved the ball a bit quicker, Silva & Tevez were't at their best etc BUT, we were & are a fucking top side, we attacked & attacked & didn't quite manage to win. Nobody was hopeless like they have been in some games, nothing was catastrophically wrong, Bob wasn't negative, Kolarov & Boateng weren't liabilities, we ran the show ffs.

We're not quite there yet, we're just a work in progress & still have stuff to learn. This kind of thing may happen to us again & it may have cost us the title already but If we keep possesion like that, sooner or later, we'll learn to solve it & when we do, we'll fuck everybody. This season may be a bit too early but it's still not quite over yet. Lets win as many as we can & see what happens.

Houllier knows how good City are already, he made a point of saying so.

I like this post even though I feel overlooks the weaknesses we displayed. It's absolutely right that we are a top side and correctly recognised as such. I think to a certain extent that the team have actually started believing this. Whilst that can be a good thing it can also create an overconfidence but maybe would explain why we sometimes start so slowly..

I watched today as we kicked off and passed the ball around for 2 minutes without seeming to be looking for an attack and without Villa giving a monkeys that we had the ball.For some reason I was quite concerned as it suggested to me that the players thought that ,don't worry we will just play the ball around and sooner or later we will find a way through and score a goal.

Ok maybe the players were thinking nothing of the sort but it's the impression I got.There was quality to a point but where was the pace and movement? It didnt seem like well into the 2nd half that we really looked as though we meant it but by then it seemed almost inevitable that we wouldnt score.

Whilst I havent read all this thread I saw that Mancio posted Doug was saying: "You can only win when You deserve to" I suspect that is a weird interpretation of something I said and it's garbage.Plenty of teams win when they don't deserve to and maybe City have done before ( I can't remember many) but I think I said I hope I don't hear anyone from City saying we did everything but score as I don't think that is true. I happen to think we were poor tonight and very lacking in attacking ideas and threat..

But it is just one game. I said earlier today that with 16 games left we certainly won't win them all and probably will lose one or two. C'est la vie.It's just disappointing to lose one like this against a team we shouldnt be losing to. Maybe we will make up for it in an away game against a team we would be expected to beat.

Doug, I agree we started slowly & without a real purpose & I agree with what Bingo says about keeping up the intensity & not letting the team coast along but I think we also have to look at the way Villa were set up. Houllier has studied us & knows what our strong points & weak points are. Sven even said in the cup game that Leicester always had one eye on not letting us get any kind of a breakaway, even at the end of the game, rather than going for the knockout. Houllier was doing the same. There was a wall of players between us & their goal. The rags, Arse or anyone, would have found it a problem to get the 1st goal today.

We were testing the water, looking for a weak spot & then suddenly handed them a goal out of nothing. Had we not made that mistake, I think the game would have been different but that's football. In an ideal world we could come out all guns blazing & trounce them but we're not that team yet. We've moved up a stage from where we were though; now we're looking to get lots of players forward, even though it doesn't always work or is too slow. Bob is trying to sort out our attacking variety & our plan B. We may lose some similar games in the near future before we perfect it but we are getting better.

Houllier, twice made a point of saying he'd beaten 'a great side'. I think he can see what's coming next.

[Swales4ever]

Mancio, why do you persist in taking threads down this route? All this "the world's against me" or in your case "everyone on this forum is against me" is getting boring and slightly irritating now

In the match thread I was quite pleased to see you posting again and, I thought, back to how you were when you first came on here. But here you are again looking for a fight.

Seriously, how many different people on here do you need to ask you to stop being so confrontational, argumentative and, on occasion, downright rude? Stop playing the victim and look at how you are posting on here

Craig, darling... are You for real?
The only one entitled to be annoyed is me, because it's me the only one who had been treated like a leper from day one.

You say, you were happy... bla, bla, bla, Did I miss some of Your comment to the argument I tried to debate?
Or perhaps do You actually believe that all the arguments I tried to counter were so impecable, so You rightly ignored my counters?

While I offered thousands of evidences of the fact that:
I have tried to enter this forum very politely as a new guest should behave in the good society, receiving in exchange only a generic catalogue of the most derogative words listed in the so called urban dictionary. Can You give me evidence of the contrary? The Moderators still could not. I have prayed them, challanged them, but...
But no, wait, that was only the finest selection of mancunian good humour, ah!
Strange is that when I do the same, suddenly it become a "slightly irritating confrontational, argumentative and, on occasion, downright rude". Weird also that a forum, should be all about being argumentative....
Because I've got plenty of vices but I am not stupid, I even happened to challange the Owners to add to the Rules above, advising the Internauts, who occasionally may happen to think: look what a nice forum for MCFC Supporters! It's also free! Let me become a member and feed my joy to support MCFC! a point 7) This is a private, closed forum, You may only be admitted upon revision, from Owners and relevant Servants of Your certificate of origin
Still no acknowledgment whatsoever, nor any possible evidence to the contrary, only generic, totally unsupported allegations, like those extremely kind and polite, from You, darling. Do You perhaps, only a bit maybe, feel a little stupid at accusing me to be downright rude, while You have deliberately chosen to ignore the nice words the gentleman above did address to me and even more pathetic, why he chose to call me "daft wazzack" + "dicksplash" for the first time in his Posts: 6323?
As I stated several times, I generally like You Craig and perhaps You are only another of those dozen of naive members, who very secretly PM'd me to show their kind respect and explain me that is not possible that I still not allowed to start a thread after one year... again... You don't have to be arsed to find out a good evidence of double standard, it last since... tonight! http://www.mancityfans.net/mcfnet/viewtopic.php?f=119&t=36919
This Guy has only posted 100 times, clearly don't know a fuck about football, [Dzeko and Tevez cannot play together, comedy!] maybe is a WUM, make Your pick... Still remain strange why, If the Finn Slave spend half the summer in starting WUMs Topics he is a Stubburn Nice Guy, while if I do stand for my respect I am "a slightly irritating confrontational, argumentative and, on occasion, downright rude".

If You come closer with the ear I'll tell a secret Mate: "This Forum, that I love, support and I would like to be a regular member of, is the only place in the whole United Kingdoom where I am perceived as someone who cannot be understood because of his broken english and/or where I am perceived as a paranoid who thinks "the world's against me."
And beleive me I meet every year hundreds of very selective British Citizens.

Can You show me any evidence, not vain words, evidence, to the contrary or would You prefer to restart our relationship on a man to man basis, my Son?

[Swales4ever]

Without being too inciteful, did anyone actually enjoy tonghts game, or were you as frustrated as me?

Edit: Without the excuses.

Really really did not enjoy it.

You and me too Doug. A gash game that certain people will say that we're unlucky. Mancini just got ruled by Houlier!

Says it all.

Let's be quick to swap them! Problem solved.

btw, where are your money when the site You live need You, Ragamuffin?