*** Aston Villa v Champions - Official Match Thread ***

[Pretty Boy Lee]

There was a chance before that where I was screaming for him to go at them in the box yet he cut it way back for dzeko almost to pay back for the earlier assist.

When Tevez is greedy and running at teams he's brilliant. When he's low on confidence (subbed every fucking game) and timid he's far less effective.

[Spurge]

If it wasnt for Guzan,s fingertips it would have been a cosy 3 nil jobbie .

Still , a "few" on here would still be moaning like fuck !

One sane post at last. Not our best performance I know but some seriosly depressing postson here. We won but didn't play overly well, Kolo and Nasty did a goo job on Benteke (who I'd still have at City next season in a heartbeat btw).

It was a gritty performance, we hit the post twice and tevez both had one cleared and cleared one himself off the line, some selfish play in the last third probably cost us another couple.

Not so long ago this would have ended in a last minute equaliser or a draw - it didn't, sometimes you have to win a bit dirty!

[carl_feedthegoat]

I think I will stick with the "it was a pile of fuckign shite" angle and moan about it for a few days more.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I think I will stick with the "it was a pile of fuckign shite" angle and moan about it for a few days more.

haha I was another who couldn't watch it at the time but just finished now and I had no clue what had happened.We were poor weren't we and if that had been against a decent side we would have lost. BUT looking at it another way we did come close to scoring 4 as we did make much the better chances.

Nah I think I will go with the winning while not playing well argument and move onto the next one. And for me Tevez was excellent.Maybe just maybe he should have passed to Silva but like me he sees him in training all the time and I would not have backed him to get a shot on target.

[phips]

Zaba and Kolo were absolutely stellar. Let Kompany rest more, Kolo is playing out of his mind.

[MilnersJaw]

Christ villa are shite are they in the last chance!

Love how my last chance has caught on.

But seriously how many chances will nasri get, when will one more poor performance be enough for the saloon?

To be fair he did ok got involved straight away and linked up play ok

you joking? his shot was pathetic and he was missing simple passes and kicking it out of play.

[aaron bond]

I disagree with a lot of the comments here. It was by no means our finest performance, but it was a solid performance and we restricted Villa to few chances. Villa are fighting for their lives and they made it very difficult for us at times, but we held firm.

We created plenty of good chances and Guzan made some great saves, particularly the 2 he tipped onto the post.

Silva was disappointing by his own standards, and it was a great shame to lose Rodwell to injury again. He really looks like a good player but I'm not sure if he'll ever be able to shrug off these injuries. I really hope he can.

Another excellent performance by Kolo - he really has come into the side and performed well. And (as usual) Milner played well. I thought Tevez worked hard and didn't think he deserved to be taken off (Mancini showing him who's boss again!), and he took his goal very well.

Nasri did ok when he came on but I really just want him gone in the summer. I wish Sinclair would get these cameos instead of Nasri.

All in all, a hard-fought 3 points and that's 3 wins on the trot now. We have some key games coming up so it's good to have a bit of momentum.

[Socrates]

Missed the game, managed to not see the score, so decided to read through this thread to see how it went... we must've been crap as when I was reading the Tevez goal I thought that was us making it 1-1, especially considering all the mentions of 'dire' first 25 mins, I wasn't even sure on the result until I read 3 points at the end.

Experiencing a game that way was a first for me, not easy reading but at least I got a gist of the flow of the match lol

Years of experience has taught me to largely steer clear of these threads. Negative moaning minnies completely dominate them and I just end up wanting to shove someone's left leg up their arse. (Yes it is often you Carl but not always) As an anti-violence person that feeling doesn't do anything for me. So best advice: never judge the team by the match threads...

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I disagree with a lot of the comments here. It was by no means our finest performance, but it was a solid performance and we restricted Villa to few chances. Villa are fighting for their lives and they made it very difficult for us at times, but we held firm.

We created plenty of good chances and Guzan made some great saves, particularly the 2 he tipped onto the post.

Silva was disappointing by his own standards, and it was a great shame to lose Rodwell to injury again. He really looks like a good player but I'm not sure if he'll ever be able to shrug off these injuries. I really hope he can.

Another excellent performance by Kolo - he really has come into the side and performed well. And (as usual) Milner played well. I thought Tevez worked hard and didn't think he deserved to be taken off (Mancini showing him who's boss again!), and he took his goal very well.

Nasri did ok when he came on but I really just want him gone in the summer. I wish Sinclair would get these cameos instead of Nasri.

All in all, a hard-fought 3 points and that's 3 wins on the trot now. We have some key games coming up so it's good to have a bit of momentum.

Good summing up. Some are far too negative on here.

Just one thing, I thought the Nasri for Tevez sub was a good call. Tevez had ran himself ragged and at that stage we needed to retain possession to run down the clock, Nasri provided this.

[Goaters 103]

Patchy performance but we will take the points thank you.

Win our 5 remaining games at home, all very winnable, and that puts us on a minimum 74 points which Arse and Chelsea wont reach, meaning an automatic CL spot is clinched.

Kolo excellent, Tevez did the job when required. We still painfully lack pace and width in the final third, and as usually struggled away from home to break a bum team down, but Villa decided to gift us a goal, so thanks very much for that.

Press take on that type of City win - "Unconvincing from City, struggled at times." Press take when United sneak that sort of game - "Thats what good teams do, grind out results when they arent at their best."

Song of the night - "Gareth Barry thinks you're shit, thinks you're shit, thinks you're shit, Gareth Barry thinks you're shit, so does Milner"

[Cocacolajojo1]

Patchy performance but we will take the points thank you.

Win our 5 remianing games at home, all very winnable, and that puts us on a minimum 74 points which Arse and Chelsea wont reach, meaning an automatic CL spot is clinched.

Kolo excellent, Tevez did the job when required. We still painfully lack pace and width in the final third, and as usually struggled away from home to break a bum team down, but Villa decided to gift us a goal, so thanks very much for that.

Press take on that type of City win - "Unconvincing from City, struggled at times." Press take when United sneak that sort of game - "Thats what good teams do, grind out results when they arent at their best."

Song of the night - "Gareth Barry thinks you're shit, thinks you're shit, thinks you're shit, Gareth Barry thinks you're shit, so does Milner"

Great song. I don't understand why they STILL bother to bo Barry. Did he say something bad about them or what? What happened when he went to us?

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Patchy performance but we will take the points thank you.

Win our 5 remianing games at home, all very winnable, and that puts us on a minimum 74 points which Arse and Chelsea wont reach, meaning an automatic CL spot is clinched.

Kolo excellent, Tevez did the job when required. We still painfully lack pace and width in the final third, and as usually struggled away from home to break a bum team down, but Villa decided to gift us a goal, so thanks very much for that.

Press take on that type of City win - "Unconvincing from City, struggled at times." Press take when United sneak that sort of game - "Thats what good teams do, grind out results when they arent at their best."

Song of the night - "Gareth Barry thinks you're shit, thinks you're shit, thinks you're shit, Gareth Barry thinks you're shit, so does Milner"

Great song. I don't understand why they STILL bother to bo Barry. Did he say something bad about them or what? What happened when he went to us?

They're just twats. You'd think that someone that has given their club over ten years service would be wished well when he decided he wanted to move on to have a couple of medals to show for his career.

It's for this reason that I don't have the sympathy for Villa that a lot seem to have for them in their current position.

[MilnersJaw]

milner was good but i think he was being abit too greedy, sometimes shooting when he had no chance of scoring. also his free kick was shit.

[DoomMerchant]

Missed the game, managed to not see the score, so decided to read through this thread to see how it went... we must've been crap as when I was reading the Tevez goal I thought that was us making it 1-1, especially considering all the mentions of 'dire' first 25 mins, I wasn't even sure on the result until I read 3 points at the end.

Experiencing a game that way was a first for me, not easy reading but at least I got a gist of the flow of the match lol

Years of experience has taught me to largely steer clear of these threads. Negative moaning minnies completely dominate them and I just end up wanting to shove someone's left leg up their arse. (Yes it is often you Carl but not always) As an anti-violence person that feeling doesn't do anything for me. So best advice: never judge the team by the match threads...

i dunno...i just got back from a business trip and watched the match on my DVR and i can tell you that the playing was mostly crap. Your interest in hearing something more positive can't change that.

Did you watch the match?

cheers

[patrickblue]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I 'm a bit puzzled why no-one remarked on Dzeko,s disallowed goal. As far as I've always seen it, to be offside a player needs to be nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent (generally the last defender as the keeper's usually the second). Seeing it came back to him off the post, on that definition he would be onside. I'm sure someone with some reffing experience can give a reason why that's not the case, and I'm just interpreting in the way I read the rules. What I'm surprised about is that it's not been mentioned. I'm only posting this now as I've just got back from New Orleans, where I watched the game in a bar, so there wasn't going to be any sort of discussion there, seeing all they ever do is watch basketball, in fact my missus who was pissed as a fart is an expert in comparison.
Any views?

[zuricity]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I 'm a bit puzzled why no-one remarked on Dzeko,s disallowed goal. As far as I've always seen it, to be offside a player needs to be nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent (generally the last defender as the keeper's usually the second). Seeing it came back to him off the post, on that definition he would be onside. I'm sure someone with some reffing experience can give a reason why that's not the case, and I'm just interpreting in the way I read the rules. What I'm surprised about is that it's not been mentioned. I'm only posting this now as I've just got back from New Orleans, where I watched the game in a bar, so there wasn't going to be any sort of discussion there, seeing all they ever do is watch basketball, in fact my missus who was pissed as a fart is an expert in comparison.
Any views?

I think it goes like this. At the time the shot came in, Edin was in an offside position. Old world rules , linesman would flag. Modern rules he is passive offside. The ball did not get played back to him by any another player. At which time he received it, there had been player movement and he looked on side. Since no other player touched the ball, his passive becomes active and he is offside.

[patrickblue]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I 'm a bit puzzled why no-one remarked on Dzeko,s disallowed goal. As far as I've always seen it, to be offside a player needs to be nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent (generally the last defender as the keeper's usually the second). Seeing it came back to him off the post, on that definition he would be onside. I'm sure someone with some reffing experience can give a reason why that's not the case, and I'm just interpreting in the way I read the rules. What I'm surprised about is that it's not been mentioned. I'm only posting this now as I've just got back from New Orleans, where I watched the game in a bar, so there wasn't going to be any sort of discussion there, seeing all they ever do is watch basketball, in fact my missus who was pissed as a fart is an expert in comparison.
Any views?

I think it goes like this. At the time the shot came in, Edin was in an offside position. Old world rules , linesman would flag. Modern rules he is passive offside. The ball did not get played back to him by any another player. At which time he received it, there had been player movement and he looked on side. Since no other player touched the ball, his passive becomes active and he is offside.

See where you're going, I would certainly agree with old world rules. and that would have been that. It's the fact that it came back to him not forward makes me look at it the other way, He was still a mile O/S when it came back to him.
Still, not really arguing the point, just really surprised no-one else did at the time.

[zuricity]

See where you're going, I would certainly agree with old world rules. and that would have been that. It's the fact that it came back to him not forward makes me look at it the other way, He was still a mile O/S when it came back to him.
Still, not really arguing the point, just really surprised no-one else did at the time.

i think it's a garbage change, this passive stuff. It was clearly shot at goal that hit the woodwork.
there was never any intention to pass to Edin.