V Villa

[gavin]

CITY XI | Ederson, Walker (C), Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol, Stones, Lewis, Foden, Bernardo, Alvarez, Haaland

Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Phillips, Ake, Kovacic, Gomez, Nunes, Bobb

Doku must still be injured.  Looks like Stones relaxin Rodri.

[Hesperus]

Very sloppy from City so far. I can't think of a player who hasn't given the ball away this half.

[gavin]

Yep, poor half from City. Far too many mistakes. McGinn's foul on Stones was much worse than Stone's on McGinn and who got booked?

[Hesperus]

16 shots to Villa vs 2 for us so far.

Amazing. Lucky to still be in this game.

[Hesperus]

Luck run out. Deserve to be losing. Being dominated by Villa.

[sir cliff]

BOB

[gavin]

Piss poor performance. No getting away from that. The goal itself was a typical 'relegation' goal where it deflected in. That shit happens when nothing is going for you but then Luiz could have scored when he hit the post. It was only a point lost though however they scored because we were never going to score. Such an utterly toothless display from City in the second half. We didn't threaten much in the first but in the second half the 'attackers' might as well have not bothered.

[KunDB]

Painful to watch. We were not coordinated as a team, 11 strangers. Every player underperformed. It has been coming down the line. The balance in the team is just not there.

Not the end of the world but piss poor tonight. With no signs of improvement for the immediate future.

[Hesperus]

Worst run in 4 years apparently. We deserved nothing from that game.

Something really not right in the team. The quality has gone. Mistakes by everyone and the new signings look very poor replacements.

For the last 4 games I've thought Foden and Alvarez have been very poor upfront.

Wonder what Pep is thinks of it all?

[KunDB]

I think we have to many lightweight players, easily pushed around and Sue fire to lose 50/50 battles. That combined with Villa players out working us to win the ball cost us any hope of winning the game.

[reddishblue]

We were lucky to get nil.

[Stephen Paul]

Poor performance

Interesting to see Peps response

[KunDB]

After a night sleep and reflection, well done Aston Villa they were superb. Our defence was much better but why we let Bailey run the whole pitch from half way twist and turn and shoot, that was poor.

The players need a wake up call they were awful and not near good enough to win.

[Hesperus]

Gvardiol has been bobbins at LB. Teams are starting to see him as a week link and concentrate their attacks down that flank.

I feel sorry for him cos he's a CB not a LB, he's being exposed on a regular basis and that will affect his confidence. He was one of the most sort after young CBs in Europe.

It still baffles me that despite all the money we've spent we've still never signed a decent LB.

[sir cliff]

Gvardiol has been bobbins at LB. Teams are starting to see him as a week link and concentrate their attacks down that flank.

I feel sorry for him cos he's a CB not a LB, he's being exposed on a regular basis and that will affect his confidence. He was one of the most sort after young CBs in Europe.

It still baffles me that despite all the money we've spent we've still never signed a decent LB.

Couldn't agree with you more...watched him in the Euro's and he impressed me...brilliant CH just what we need... then we sign him and stick him in this hybrid LB-Mid role and he looks completely out of his depth...feel sorry for the lad. Maybee he will get it together and make that position his own soon but it sure makes him look bad at the moment.

[jingoe]

Despite the dire display did anyone else think that the kits were too similar? Surely the red and black would have been a better choice

[gavin]

I did think that that kit was a slightly odd choice but both the shirts are shorts were completely different. The red and black might have been more of a clash shirt wise.

The match itself doesn't seem any better the day after. Still a long way to go though.

[gavin]

A bit of relief with Spuds and Newcastle both getting beat tonight. Though ponder this, Spuds have lost four out of their last five matches and only managed their single point in those matches at the Etihad. That doesn't sound good at all. Back to depression.