Aston Villa News 24/790 seconds was all it really took, but the dream of qualifying for the Champions League next year is finally over after we lost 3-1 at the the City of Manchester stadium today.
City dominated the first half, but we opened the scoring with the first attempt on goal to cap a quite beautiful passage of play. Stuart Downing cut in from the right and found just the right reverse ball to match Carew’s intelligent diagonal run. Carew shot early to the far post and temporary goal keeper Fulop was left helpless.
Villa were possibly fortunate not to have a penalty awarded against us after Tevez blasted a shot which clearly hit Stephen Warnock on the hand, although there was nothing deliberate about it, they’re often given. Perhaps that was an omen because minutes before the break Adam Johnson tricked Warnock into a desperate challenge with a deft touch and the penalty was inevitable as the youngster was brought down.
Tevez blasted his effort from the spot low and just to Friedel’s right. He guessed the correct direction, but actually dived over the ball.
Villa responded immediately and Carew found himself with the ball in the box before turning smartly and unleashing a thunderous effort that cannoned into the crossbar.
City countered, again picking out Adam Johnson in the right channel, this time he found himself shadowed by Stuart Downing who fell for his dummy cross a little too easily. With Downing out of the way Johnson calmly took his time at the byline as Dunne and Collins were unable to resist being drawn to the ball. Johnson picked out Adebayor in the centre who had the simple job of tapping in.
Sucker punched just before half time with two goal in 90 seconds. How these games hang on an knife edge. Carew was literally inches away from making it to 2-1 to Villa, instead City go up the other end and make it 2-1 themselves.
Villa didn’t come out of the blocks firing on all cylinders in the second half, but instead built the pressure up slowly always wary of City’s ability to fire back on the counter. Bellamy being the main outlet, but kudos has to be given to Carlos Cuellar who did what many a full back fails to achieve by keeping the Welshman in his pocket.
The game was eventually becoming a stalemate with Villa unable to find a way through so MON brought Heskey on for Carew and Delfouneso on for Warnock with 20 minutes left. Curiously, this wasn’t a 3-4-3 system though, Downing actually slotted in at left back.
However, the changes made a notable difference and City were forced to sit deeper and deeper as Ashley Young began to find some space and time to send some fine crosses into the box. Frustratingly though, nothing quite connected and the equaliser couldn’t be found.
City continued to give cause for concern as Villa committed more and more men forward and it was almost inevitable that City would find the killer blow in the final minute of normal time. Substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips broke down their left and managed to do what Bellamy had been unable to do in selling Cuellar short. With the Spaniard sent the wrong way, Phillips found Bellamy inside in space and he ruthlessly put the ball past a helpless Brad Friedel.
And so it finished 3-1 and City remain in the fight for 4th with Tottenham, who beat Bolton 1-0 at home today. 5th is still possible for us, but we need City to lose their last 2 games, which means Tottenham will get the Champions League place.
Whatever happens, we have the Europa League next season (which means I should get on with that piece entitled “Why The Europa League Matters” which has been on my list for a couple of weeks) and we have the best performance in the Premier League since 1992/93.
We have lots to be proud of with this team. It’s been a fantastic season, it really has. However, I can’t help feeling the need to go find somewhere quiet to sulk for a while.
UTV
[Photo: Fanfeedr]
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15 Comments to “Man City 3 Aston Villa 1”
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I was quite happy that we didn’t concede soon after we scored, as we seemed to have developed a habit of doing (or is that just me?).
But I didn’t expect us to concede 2 so quickly.
I knew it wasn’t our day when JC hit the post.
I thought he was great today, his hold up play and passing to our men was a lesson for Heskey imo.
Cuellar was outstanding and our MOM for me. As you say, Bellamy got very little out of him.
Warnock?
Hmm, I’ve said before I’m not convinced about him defensively, although he’s ok going forward, but there you go, I’m not going to slate him, as I thought the team played pretty well overall.
My head is held high, as we’ve had a good season, but I must admit to some disappointment in that we didn’t get the draw.
It was a bit of a dilemma, but I found myself wanting a point to help Spuds out.
I don’t like Spuds, but the thought of Citeh doing another Chelsea isn’t one I look forward to.
Oh well, onwards and upwards.
3 points next week and hopefully we improve the squad again in the summer with MON STILL AT THE HELM!!!!
warnock always gives 100% and would probably throw himself in front of a truck for the cause, but he has been a liability at the back more than once this season. that’s fair.
but then that’s the traditional buy off though, there’s very few full backs that are great going forward and equally good defensively.
i’m with you on what is almost a moral delema between spurs and city for 4th. it sticks in the throat either way.
i saw an interesting post from an arsenal blogger who hoped for city to get 4th place as they’re going to spend big and be a competitor in the league next season either way. the way they saw it, if either we or spurs made it, we’d also go spending big and would be a competitor for top 4 next season, meaning two extra threats.
i’m leaning towards spurs on the basis that they may struggle to cope with the demands of both CL and EPL next season as everton did when they finished 4th.
all i can say is if temtaton to concde is strong cuellar shoulftak it to daigh
all i can say is if temtaton to concde is strong cuellar shoulftak it to daigh ps dan is a bitch
I’m not interested in an Arse fan’s POV, as they’re looking at it from a different angle, but yes, I see what you’re saying.
The trouble is, you know if City do it, they’re going to spend even bigger than they would have imo, because their sights are set higher.
That’s not a nice thought.
And Spuds will probably exceed our spending, no doubt
of course they’re biased, so are we. still interesting that they fear a 6 or 7 way race. i’d say that betrays a true lack of confidence in their own team.
but yeah, City will go silly either way, but with CL it will probably get completely retarded. on the other hand, there will be decent players with their nose out of joint heading for the exit door at eastlands too.
what we spend isn’t all that important to me. pull off a richard dunne type of deal, maybe a carew/baros style swap or two and we’re laughing.
we’re no more than 2 players short of a real quality side, we don’t need to spend that much. which is just as well, because i don’t see it happening anyway.
“we’re no more than 2 players short of a real quality side, we don’t need to spend that much. which is just as well, because i don’t see it happening anyway.”
Fair point.
Now we don’t have to worry about CL, we can concentrate on the league.
Not sure that we can get improvements cheaply though.
I’m not convinced about Carlton Cole at £10 mill for instance, but suspect he might be on our list, as a JC replacement/backup.
We need better, imo, but I’ll trust MON on that one.
I’d like to see a concerted effort for the Europa next season.
I’m bloody envious of Fulham (fair play to them) getting to the first final, even though the competition is slated by most.
But I believe you’re going to do an article on that.
i hope not cole. he flatters to deceive. not convinced he’s that much better than when we had him on loan. not really interested at any price tbh.
i was looking forward to the europa league this season, i put a lot of work into setting up a whole section for content i was expecting to create during the season and had to take it back down before we even got going.
that said, my feelings about how to approach the competition are along the same lines as MON recently intimated. not sure everyone would agree, so i suspect i’ll need to put some thought into constructing a convincing argument.
At what positions are the “2 players short”? I was just wondering if you meant replacing solid players with even better ones, or are we looking to fix definite weaknesses? It has been pretty much the same 11 all year, so we should have a clear picture of each position.
My own sense is the primary targets for replacement would be Downing, and Petrov (after last week, I would have said Cuellar, but I thought he was outstanding today). I would be interested to see what more knowledgeable observers think.
As I said before, my hope would be primarily to counter the attempts to lure Young and Milner away – I think they should be the cornerstone, and have tremendous potential to improve with a little more support.
as far as a regular starting role goes, we need to replace petrov. quite happy with him as a squad player, but that’s a bit tricky with him as captain. awkward, but he’s not the midfield general we need.
we obviously need a top quality striker who wants to play all the time, not just when he can be bothered. heskey and/or carew can go.
with the kids we have coming through and hopefully being in 4 competitions for a while next season, i think we’re more or less OK otherwise. downing will be fine with a decent pre-season under the belt. he was very good today.
the real problem will be the players who haven’t played much this season wanting to head off somewhere new in the summer.
Interesting. I realize Heskey and Carew are not the future, and they probably need a big man somewhere in the mix, but I thought Delfouneso would be the likely immediate answer at striker. As for Downing, I certainly hope you are right – I have been hearing all year that his problems stem from the health issues and late start. He certainly has his moments, but he did not have a single assist this year – with his reputation for playmaking and crossing, that has to be a concern. He made a nice play on the goal today, but I thought he also made a few poor decisions, and looked gave up on the second City goal. But I hope he can reclaim the magic, and am gratified that he spells his first name correctly.
delfouneso looks extremely promising, but he won’t be the answer next season. expect to see him playing more in the europa league and domestic cup games.
you really want 4, possibly 5 strikers, although i’d be quite happy with 4 and use a 5 man midfield more often to provide the depth.
interesting about downing’s assists, or lack thereof. i hadn’t realised that. he does have 4 in the FA cup, but that is surprising still. over 20 games and no assists.
the second goal was a mess any way you look at it. everyone involved made questionable decisions. but downing did look like he’d given up behind the byline and was an observer. on the other hand, we had all 4 defenders and friedel against johnson and adebayor. he shouldn’t have scored.
Yes, it was a defensive breakdown and Downing should not be the last line of defense. But after he was beaten, he just stood there, when he could and should have covered the left post.
I suppose you are right about Delfouneso – you are indeed the voice of claret and blue – but I would like to see him get a chance in PL games next year. He certainly has some maturing to do, but so far he has done all that he has been given the opportunity to do.
I wasn’t very impressed with Petrov on Saturday…I felt like he just wasn’t very involved, and looked clumsy when he was.
Kind of feel like we need an upgrade in the midfield to play alongside Milner, and we need a striker alongside Gabby that we can rely on to stay healthy and get goals. Asking alot, I know…
i’m afraid i’m now completely of the opinion that petrov is not what we need in the middle and is the weakest member of our regular starting eleven.
that’s a problem when he’s the captain.
the thing is, he doesn’t make up for it through leadership. i would seriously rather see reo-coker in there…. if he could just improve his passing, just a little!