I was under the impression .....

[Kladze]

that the signing of Edin Dzeko was going to make us less one-dimensional.

A game crying out for a mixture of through balls AND airborne crosses today. Fuck me!

[King Kev]

When you are up against a team who score then put 10 men behind the ball for 70 minutes it's always going to be difficult to get the ball into their box.

[Kladze]

When you are up against a team who score then put 10 men behind the ball for 70 minutes it's always going to be difficult to get the ball into their box.

You still have to give them a variety of problems to deal with Lee. We didn't.

[Blue Blood]

When you are up against a team who score then put 10 men behind the ball for 70 minutes it's always going to be difficult to get the ball into their box.

That.

They clung on and nicked it, everton all over again.

[bluej]

I don't know, it must have puzzled them somewhat to see said striker hugging the left touch line to float balls into 4ft 3 David Silva.

[MaineRoadMemories]

I disagree, Villa defended so deep we had amble opportunity to get the ball into the box from crosses out wide and deep. We choose not to because Tevez and Silva had very bad days at the office and insisted on going through the middle. Boateng and Johnson showed us that crossing would cause Villa trouble. Dzeko wasn't on form though with heading this afternoon.

[Green & Blue]

It was just one of those games, we could not break them down and were just not on form at all today.

Terrible use of possesion at times and a lack of urgency from the off today.

Carlos and Silva went missing today, Tevez held onto the ball far to often when he should have played it and was running into walls.

Credit to Villa for a good defensive display but they offered very little else.

[john68]

I don't think it's a coincidence that our main failures seemed to be around Silva, Tevez and Dzeko. Dropping a new boy in often causes a few teething problems. Players not yet used to each other often take a few games to sort it out.

All three are talented players and I'm still very optimistic that it'll be sorted out sooner rather than later.

[Kladze]

I don't think it's a coincidence that our main failures seemed to be around Silva, Tevez and Dzeko. Dropping a new boy in often causes a few teething problems. Players not yet used to each other often take a few games to sort it out.

All three are talented players and I'm still very optimistic that it'll be sorted out sooner rather than later.

Please don't misunderstand me - I love to see a team like ours playing good football and passing the ball well. We dominated the possession today so ....

But a dominant team shouldn't play every second of every minute using that possession in the same way (unless they are Barcelona) because if they don't score first they will struggle; the opposition will know what they''re going to face and defend accordingly.

Throw in a percentage of airborne stuff though and the dynamic changes. High crosses don't even HAVE to be good crosses, they do though force defensive headers which in many instances will drop back at the feet of the attacking team who will then have the advantage that the defence is now turning - confusion can ensue.

And then back to the through balls ...... or a shot from the edge of the box ..... deflections .... etc.

[john68]

Kladze,
I understand what you are saying and agree with you mate. I am only pointing out that we may have to wait a few games before we get the best out of our talented threesome.
It took Silva a little time to get acclimatised to the pace and physicality of the English game, as well as learning about his forward partners and they about him. It didn't take long before they got it sorted. I think it's the same with Dzeko and it will all settle down and be successful in a short time. It may cost us some points in the short term but will benefit us in the longer term.

[brite blu sky]

I don't think it's a coincidence that our main failures seemed to be around Silva, Tevez and Dzeko. Dropping a new boy in often causes a few teething problems. Players not yet used to each other often take a few games to sort it out.

All three are talented players and I'm still very optimistic that it'll be sorted out sooner rather than later.

I also thought we would take a step backwards to accommodate Dzeko to begin with and maybe there is some of that, but not all of it, SIlva and Tevez both seemed to be struggling today and that just took the edge of everything basically. We will see very few days where all of them are not on the ball like today.

[john68]

I think that the inclusion of Baoteng and Kolarov too have set us back a little too. Maybe it was a case of me dreaming that they would all hit the pitch running but now I think we'll see a gradual improvement and the best next season.

[Arjan Van Schotte]

apparently we had 24 shots including 14 on target and 13 corners. in the home game apparently we had 8 shots including 5 on target.

that's football.

[Murph]

Thought we played well up to the edge of their box then tended to run out of idea's. I thought AJ made a big difference as he was willing to beat his man when he got wide and we were unfortunate not to score from one of his passes. I'd have liked to have seen Silva hugging the left touchline in the last 30 mins to stretch the Villa backline the width of the park, with Tevez and Dzeko playing off each other centrally.

[s1ty m]

Someone has to say it. Silva was dogshit today. No? Really?

[rabbit]

The difference in quality bewtween the 2 sides today was there for all to see.

Hart should've pushed the shot from Young sideways away from goal and Kolarov was too slow ( again).

Had that not gone in , we would have mullered them.

[Manx Blue]

Kladze,
I understand what you are saying and agree with you mate. I am only pointing out that we may have to wait a few games before we get the best out of our talented threesome.
It took Silva a little time to get acclimatised to the pace and physicality of the English game, as well as learning about his forward partners and they about him. It didn't take long before they got it sorted. I think it's the same with Dzeko and it will all settle down and be successful in a short time. It may cost us some points in the short term but will benefit us in the longer term.

I agree with John. We're also likely to see similar difficulties when Ma-ri-o Ballo-Tell-i comes back to full fitness. We have to accept there are going to be issues, but lets stick with Bobby and his plan... It is working.

[lets all have a disco]

When you have the quality of players we have on the pitch and on the bench we should be able to break down showers of shit like Villa.
They were fucking rubbish,makes me feel ill to see us get beat by that.

[Beefymcfc]

I thought we should've took Edin off, and Jerome. I may get slaughtered for this but this is where I think Mancio fails. He obviously wanted to put faith into his players but to keep them playing when there were options made no sense at all. Zab would've given us a lot more on the right, and the earlier inclusion of AJ would've at least given us a better chance. Saying that, as he kept Edin on, why not play Silva and AJ in the positions where they can most effect the play.

Overall, a poor attacking performance. Carlos was non-descript.

[Manx Blue]

I thought we should've took Edin off, and Jerome. I may get slaughtered for this but this is where I think Mancio fails. He obviously wanted to put faith into his players but to keep them playing when there were options made no sense at all. Zab would've given us a lot more on the right, and the earlier inclusion of AJ would've at least given us a better chance. Saying that, as he kept Edin on, why not play Silva and AJ in the positions where they can most effect the play.

Overall, a poor attacking performance. Carlos was non-descript.

I think Carlos' play was part of the problem, coming far too deep to look for and receive the ball, leaving Dzeko as the only target. Even when he was forced wide, Tevez and midfielders were far too sluggish and cumbersome in getting forward, and Villa's defence got back in numbers quickly.