***Official Villa v City Match Thread***

[PeterParker]

We were lucky today, lads. Bob didn't use the perfect formation and failed to make the subs in time, after the goal. Silva, Aj and even Milner were out of shape, but we did manager to win and counts. We scored the winning goal (again) from a set piece, so i hope Bob will solve this problem in our future away games.

The best thing for me after this game is that we redescovered Nige, the player we were used to be and our best defensive midfielder. I hope the contract problems are solved, because he looked on fire today.

Did anyone noticed the relief reaction that the lads had when we scored? This away problems is real and the tension around them was huge. Good to see them so happy.

[The Maine Man]

We should be killing these teams off. These performances will be inspiring opponents more each week not to mention giving the scum more belief

[dazlebluefrog]

good 3 pts, great save from joe to keep us in front ,nice at the end over here showed joe givin his shirt to a handicapped fan his team might of lost but he'll surely be as chuffed as fcuk with the gift

[DoomMerchant]

God we have some whingers, 3 points is what matters today

true and true...clearly directed at me. ;)

glad we got the 3 pts, but you cannot say that it gives you faith that we've got the title by the balls.

And as for the "top of the league" lickers...what will they do when we actually AREN'T top? is your optimism going to run out then? we may fall a point or two back between now and the end. I KNOW we have the players to win it. We have the fixtures laid out in our favor. This is ours to win or lose and i'd just like to see the same mentality from the manager in the lineup, and the subs to get the results.

Yes, we nicked it today, but just....luckily, style points don't count.

Roll on Porto...

cheers

[Burt]

iF I was gay. Joe Hart would be my boy xxx

[carolina-blue]

Just In from work caught the last 25mins What a fooooking save from Joe , Well done lads good win seeing as the last time we won there Peirce was in charge ,

[Londonblue1]

As easy a win as you could ask for really.hart had to make one save of note and we controlled 85% of the game.take these all day long until the end of the season.well done mancini and well done city.

[Ted Hughes]

Great result but we look very much like the cheese monkeys apart from the huge bonus of our defensive unit (- Kolarov who got dumped on his arse the only time anyone ran at him).

Vinny. Lescott, Zabba, Barry, Nige & of course Joe were all excellent. The rest were average at best by their standards & are playing as if their arses have gone. The way we gave the ball away & the attack collapsed once we scored was pathetic & classic Wenger's Arsenal. The front half of the team need to stand up & man up or we won't win it.

[ashton287]

If i hadn't been eating my dinner for most of the second half i would of fallen asleep. Despite the win mancini got it very wrong today, no pace, no threat, no options. If villa weren't so poor this could of been another sunderland/everton.

Have we not been through enough as city fans to just be able to sit back and enjoy football now rather than it being a chore.

[guv111]

Staying top of the league while playing like that proves we have stickability, and teams with stickability win the league.

We still need to improve, though. Those last twenty minutes were excruciating.

[guv111]

A bit of perspective -

The team who beat us to second on goal difference last season are currently SEVENTEEN points behind us.

[Chinners]

God we have some whingers, 3 points is what matters today

true and true...clearly directed at me. ;)

Ha ha, it was more to others actually but if you want to include yourself thats fine by me :)

[david yearsley]

The result was everything - just hope that Yaya gives the team a huge boost - I imagine just seeing him there will instill confidence coz he has that presence AND the experience of winning titles. We need to free ourselves from the anxiety . Don´t get injured ffs tonight

[shawzy]

Great result but we look very much like the cheese monkeys apart from the huge bonus of our defensive unit (- Kolarov who got dumped on his arse the only time anyone ran at him).

Vinny. Lescott, Zabba, Barry, Nige & of course Joe were all excellent. The rest were average at best by their standards & are playing as if their arses have gone. The way we gave the ball away & the attack collapsed once we scored was pathetic & classic Wenger's Arsenal. The front half of the team need to stand up & man up or we won't win it.

Good point Ted, but you would think a team playing at home would have abit of steel about them in attack..They made it hard for our front runners by defending the whole game..Not easy but ill take an ugly 3 points all day long..Thats how leagues are won so well happy tonight ;-0

[Jon London]

60% possession - nothing Ugly about that. We hit the post Aguero nearly scored a wonder goal but was off balance when he came to make the shot Hutton conceded a penalty that was not given Nzogbia should have been sent off for a two footed challenge.

Blimey I thoiught I normally saw a glass half empty. Congratulations lads great team performance and Micah Richards to start on Tuesday for England. Well done Micah.

[Buffalo Soldier]

January and half of feb negotiated with a few wobbles but just about done enough to put us in a good position going into the final run.

Blackburn and Bolton at home to come, rags away to tottenham coming up and balo, kolo and yaya back for next game. Need to hit our stride and get back the form we showed at the start of the season.

2 wins from our next two games and hopefully a rag loss or draw to the spuds would mean its definitely ours to lose going into the last ten games.

[Moonchesteri]

HELL YEAH!

3 points in the bag and I don't get all the moaners here. Imo we controlled the game from start to 80th minute... I was a bit worried whether we would be able to get the first goal or would we face a sunderland-esque blow again..

but I enjoyed it. on another day Aguero would have had his scoring boots on, AJ's shot would've hit the inside of the post, we would've been given the peno in the 2nd half, Barry's or one of the other shots from outside the box would've been deflected in or been hammered straight to the top corner... bring on Blackburn!

[zuricity]

Norwich are well able to tonk united with good clean football.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Great 3pts that. Not at our best for certain but totally deserved and earned. Thank you Joe for staying awake.

[blues2win]

That sort of performance is how league titles are won. Clearly the better side and restricted them to virtually nothing in front of goal. My only criticism and it's a big one is that we sat back after we'd gone 1 up. An Italian job if you like. Still it's playing with fire as the last couple of minutes showed. McLeish made a bit of an arse of himself though. Villa gave nothing to that game and deserved nothing.

Personally I'd leave Silva and Aguero on the bench on thursday. I think they could both do with a rest. We've got Dzeko and Nasri. Play them.