Villa vs City: Reaction

Performance

Playing so well and still tasting defeat is always a bitter pill to swallow. I’d argue that our performance on Saturday evening was better than the one that recently saw us win handsomely against the same opposition by four goals to nil.

In many ways it was reminiscent of watching Arsenal. Crisp passing in the final 3^rd of the pitch without it actually going anywhere. There was a real hesitancy to shoot when the opportunity presented itself. I wish somebody would sit down and take the effort to work out how many goals are a result of a tame shot that is either deflected directly in or the deflection falls kindly to somebody in space closer to goal – see Villa’s goal as a prime example of this. Mancini isn’t daft and he saw the same game as everybody else. I hope that’s one thing he drills into the squad this week is that we have to sometimes force the issue instead of taking a pass or touch too many.

Bent

In a previous article in the build up to the game I simply put ‘will score’, unfortunately this proved true, although the goals was easily preventable. Unlike just about everybody else I'm not laying the blame with Hart. As far as I’m concerned Hart did everything that could be asked of him. He got a strong hand to the ball and pushed it away from the six yard box. Bent, however, was much quicker to react than Kolarov (who, in my opinion, had his best game in a City shirt yet) and finished with aplomb.

Dunne

Dunne, along with Collins, were my man of the match. Both were absolutely stellar in an otherwise ordinary Villa team and kept us at bay for the majority of the game. I’d like to have seen more balls whipped into the box in the final 3^rd though, instead of trying to walk it in as that was one area I thought we could have really hurt Villa; especially with Yaya and Barry running from deep as Dzeko’s aerial prowess showed glimpses of causing Villa trouble. Alas, Johnson was shown onto his right all night though, Villa had his number.

Dzeko

I was impressed by Edin once again and I’m confident that he’ll have at least one goal to his name before the 12^th of February. If Cuellar had not been playing at right back I think he’d have taken his chance at the far post against a right back of lesser aerial and physical ability. Alas, it was not too be. He’s still a couple of yards off full match fitness which is evident in his acceleration, hopefully with another weeks training under his bet he should be well up-to-speed come the game against Notts County on Sunday.

Frustratingly his partnership with Tevez seems well off the boil, far too often it was Dzeko who found himself in the channels when it should have been Tevez making that run. It does make much more sense for Tevez trying to pick Dzeko out with a cross than the other way round but continually that’s where Dzeko found himself.

The Ref

The age-old barometer of whether or not a referee has had a game or not is simple; if you’ve mentioned his name throughout the game he’s had a bad one, if you haven’t he’s done well. I didn’t mention Howard Webb’s name once during the game and that’s a good sign as I see it. I can’t remember any incidents of note but Webb appeared to keep the game flowing and didn’t create any talking points of note.

ESPN

Being in the UK I watched the match on ESPN, paying an extra subscription for the privilege. There’s times I wish I didn’t as their coverage is beyond appalling. Without stepping into the remits of libel Chris Waddell sounded intoxicated. I hope he was, as it would go someway to explain his unusual commentary, the best of which was his suggestion to keep the full backs in our own half whilst chasing a goal.

Another thing that really irks me is why the production editor at ESPN thinks it’s appropriate to switch up the volume of opposition fans singing crude songs that invariably contain an amount of profanity (which is obviously the norm) but why does this individual insist on doing this?

I’ve watched every televised game this season on ESPN and there’s only three occasions I can recall this happening, and on each occasion the songs have been aimed at Manchester City. I hope OFCOM review this and take appropriate action, I don’t appreciate paying for a television channel only for a mong that resides in the Kent that wears a Salford Reds top and an ESPN gimp mask to ‘pump up the volume’ at every opportunity to wind up those viewing at home whilst screaming “I’m beeeingg pawper nawwwty Citeh! United, United, United!”.

The Future

The next two games will shape the rest of our season, or could at least lead to the season’s final targets being set. Should we pick up maximum points away to Birmingham and then follow that up at home against West Brom we going into the Derby with an outside shot of still being able to challenge for the title. Less than 6 points and I think the title is beyond us but we then have to consolidate an ensure we keep a significant gap between ourselves Chelsea and Spurs.

Hopefully things will go our way tonight and Bolton will get back on track with a result of some kind against a Lampard-less Chelsea at the Reebok. Should that happen we have a good a chance as we’re ever likely to get to finish in the top 3 of the league and guarantee ourselves a spot in next years Champion’s League group stage.