***Official Villa vs City Thread***

[Swales4ever]

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.

All very true, Ted.
But, as I tried to suggest a couple of page above - ignored? - , how many of the City players were up to the right to wear the MCFC Kit?
Feel free to keep Dzeko aside, because I came from a slow League, aftera 40 days stop, new team, tevez jumping on his boots, bla bla...

[Swales4ever]

Doug was saying: "You can only win when You deserve to"
I replied: "No one champhionship in the whole history of all sports had been won by only winning when deserved."

As usual, according to NQDP's instruction when I am right, I must be ignored.
So the legend that I am a WUM who cannot debate on this forum because do not own the language can be spread...
Cheers Mate.

i reckon you "cannot debate on this forum" because you are a bit of a dicksplash tbh.

[highlight]why ask me about my english language skills?[/highlight]

Simply because You don't, or perhaps I'd better say You pretend not to, understand 2 lines written in a very basical english, which a 7 years old, not affected by mental retard will understand promptly.
More intriguingly, why did You chose to reply just to the only post, that simply did not need any?
a) because 2+2=4 do not need any reply;
b) because, in case, only DH could be able to reply and better explain his thought.
why not picking any of the other open questions I offered above?

How far I am wrong when If guess that You have been just appointed as new secretary.... rrrmm... slave to the Finn Slave charged with the task to force me out?

WONDERWALL, CAN YOU UNDERSTAND: IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN? NEVER, EVER.
I DID GIVE YOU PLENTY OF EVIDENCES.
I DID SHOW YOU I CAN BE AS VIOLENT AS ANY OF YOUR FORMER ARMY SNIPERS
I DID SHOW YOU I CAN BE AS A WIND UP MERCHANT AS YOUR SLAVE YOU CALL A MODERATOR.

NOW YOU THROW AT ME ANOTHER GENIOUS WHO ISNT ABLE TO FILL A LINE WITHOUT USING AT LEAST A DEROGATIVE WORD, WHAT I MUST DO WITH YOU?

DO YOU REALLY WANT ME BAD?

'nite

yep - deffo dicksplash. thanks for coming love. even your comedy value has wained.

And Your point is?
You are a better hooligan than me?
Acknowledged.What's next?
Would You try and explain me that all the title winners have always won deservedly all the games they have won?
If You can do that, I mean with pointed arguments, not using derogative slang and the blade, I can offer You a very well paid and reputable job. We are always looking for good attorneys capable to demonstate the ocean's already dried.

[carl_feedthegoat]

I fucking love this site.

That is all.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

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.

All true Ted and especially the "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"

Any decent manager will do the same and we have to have answers.On this occasion we didn't really have any so I hope we have better plans coming along.

[john68]

Thanks Ted,
You put into words many of my feelings about our present situation. As you so succinctly state, not only are we in a state of change but teams that oppose us are also changing the way they play against us.
IMHO, as Tevez, Dzeko and Silva start to understand each others' play, we'll be far more successful and have fewer failures.

Even though we are good and with a bit of good luck and good judgement, plus a fair wind, we could still mount a serious challenge on the title this season, at the moment, I think we're like a kid with his 1st hard on, wondering just how big it might get. I don't think we yet know how good we could become, or how soon.

[craigmcfc]

I guess I should have known better

[Esky]

I didn't read half of Mancio's argument but I really like the idea of calling people 'internauts'. Much better than keyboard warrior.

[craigmcfc]

I didn't read half of Mancio's argument but I really like the idea of calling people 'internauts'. Much better than keyboard warrior.

If he took any sort of advice once in a while then he may get somewhere on here and he'd realise that a few people have been trying to help him. I now accept that trying to do this is a complete waste of time

[mr_nool]

Although we had a lot of possession I think we played quite poor. Tevez had one of those days when his first touch let him down, and Silva wasn't at his best. It also bugged me that we've gotten a proven goalscorer and fox in the box type player in, and the Tevez goes to play up front, leading to Dzeko being pushed back- and sidewards. And still we kept hitting the long ball to our top striker, 4 foot Tevez instead of 8 foot Dzeko. It's like Ade all over again.

The positive aspect for me was Kolarov. He was partly responsible for the Villa goal, but apart from that he had a good game, especialy going forward. He's crosses were class and his corners lethal.

And why oh why couldn't de Jong's shot have gone in!

[Duckman]

it just made me really sad. went to a party after the game, everyone was asking whats wrong with me...just couldnt get over it.