Manchester City v Aston Villa, Sunday 22nd May | Page 29 | Vital Football

Manchester City v Aston Villa, Sunday 22nd May

Despite the disappointment and what might have been yet again I thought we gave a good show. Save the last 15 minutes but we are miles behind them in terms of squad. I thought Ollie worked well with Coutinho and we got midfield support around them. That was the tactics spot on. Regrettably Ollie couldn’t put his chances away or we could possibly have done it. I couldn’t blame Olson for any of the goals, looks a decent no 2. We gave them a massive scare - who thought we’d do that?

City could probably do that to anyone though couldn't they? It wasn't really that surprising and that says it all really.
 
It goes back to the spine. Kamara is hopefully a big step forward. Some say the likes of McGinn, Mings et al are the least of our worries but I disagree. These are mainstays in key positions in a team that firmly cemented as a bottom half club. To move on we need to upgrade these key positions. Centre half, central midfield, striker, we have to address these areas this summer.

For me there is no way we can turn down Suarez, the team is as soft and he'll definitely help solve some of that. I agree with you re: McGinn, Mings and Watkins. They're the definition of the problem because they are our leaders. I like them, I like them as people and I like them as players but they are simply no better than bench players.

Ings does have the athleticism, Watkins doest have the technical ability. Jonathan David and Suarez plus Archer would be brilliant.
 
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I genuinely think the root of our problem is an attitude thing as opposed to an ability thing. But we do need better quality across the pitch, that much is clear.

yep happy to be there and be plucky. good facilities, plenty of cash, no real need to win owt, indulged.

you'd hope that change would have already been afoot given the 'winner' coach we have but still I'm sure there'll be rakes of excuses to draw on as we need just one more full pre-season, time to gel, just this one extra striker, midfielder, etc etc

maybe one day
 
Chambers looks fine, all their goals today were fine. We need a finisher and although Suarez is minger - no worse than any of the teams dancing with the devil.
 
If SG didn’t change it when we went 0-2 up then he’d have been getting pelters as well 🤷🏼‍♂️

Can’t win with some.

Most of us expected a tonking today.
If we weren’t playing last game of the season and the title at stake, would we react like this?

It was terrible to do the sub straight away after the 2nd. Should have left it and seen how it panned out for 10 mins. We had them firing shots into row z.

And yes many would react like this . Because many are pig sick of games like this regardless of titles being at stake.
 
Chambers looks fine, all their goals today were fine. We need a finisher and although Suarez is minger - no worse than any of the teams dancing with the devil.

If I am being picky Chambers should have stuck his foot out for the 3rd goal, unsure why he let that go across the goal. McGinn and Emi2 too soft for the their second. Can't find much fault in the first, Digne has to stop the cross but both the keep and Cash with bad positioning. A big lofty floaty cross to the back post undid us.
 
Nakamba is not a top 6-8 player. Maybe not even top half.
Okay as a third in line backup perhaps.
Great that we've got Boubacar but we need another imo
There's no "maybe" about it, Nakamba is barely good enough to be a squad player for a team that just finished 14th so categorically he is not a top half player.

Maybe it's harsh to single him out, but he was brought on to stiffen things up in midfield and if anything it had the opposite effect, he contributed nothing defensively and that change only served to disrupt the rest of the midfield. It felt like that sub was a turning point in the match.

We just lack leadership and composure all over the pitch. Maybe Martinez in goal would have helped with some of that at the back (he'd probably have saved more shots, too). But despite keeping Man City contained for 70 minutes I didn't think any of the midfielders actually played well, all looked nervy, sloppy on the ball, struggled to make an impact, even when we were winning. When Man City started to get in to it our midfield were all like rabbits in the headlights.
 
Now I’ve calmed down a bit, I’m inclined to agree with the current Mrs JPA (for the love of God, don’t tell her though!).

City just woke up. A league title was on the line and better players just did what better players do. It just emphasised how much we need to do to bridge the gap.

Let’s just hope we learn something from this.

It was quite astonishing to get to the 75th minute 2-0 up to be fair, when most of us expected to be battered.

Anyway, I'm done with season, Kamara should be announced soon followed by more and I'm sure we can make a better stab at next season.
 
I agree they have much better players, but Ollie missed three gilt edged chances......
I like Ollie but he just lacks that ruthlessness. He was quoted in the press saying he wants to be a 20 goal a season striker, I just can't see it ever happening to be honest
 
Let's be honest Watkins runs about a lot Mings shouts a lot and McGinn sticks his ass into people a lot but they should not be fixtures in a Villa side with ambition

If we buy three players who push those three out of the starting line up next season then we are progressing. We will never push on past 11-12th if our sentiment gets in the way of progress. We have a starting line up of players where women fans like them, some fans don’t. We saw with Digne coming in for Targett what an upgrade will do, and as we upgrade around the pitch another area becomes our weakest link.

I’ve always thought Mings is overrated as a defender at this level, Ollie is a poor footballer technically so I’d cash in on him, and McGinn is starting to wind me up as much as I love him as a character with his lazy tracking defensively and sloppy passing.

I can’t make out if our weakest link is up top, in the middle or central defence. You could argue all three.
 
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