Reply With QuoteAs always a good write up and an accurate assessment of my view of the game. Long may the positivity continue.
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As always a good write up and an accurate assessment of my view of the game. Long may the positivity continue.
Thanks Bob.
Every one of our players put in an excellent shift yesterday & were happy to work incredibly hard for the benefit of the team. Chatting to a few Villa fans afterwards their assessment was very basic - one team wanted it & one didn't. They were also of the opinion that they have a serious problem at their club & Bruce is proving that he is not the man to sort it out.
I thought that was Hoilett's best performance in a City shirt yesterday that I have seen & he formed a very effective attacking 3 with Zohore & Mendez-Laing. I have been critical about his goal-scoring & good to see that he got on the scoresheet yesterday although, like you, I think that Zohore's effort was on target.
I am not getting carried away about Mendez-Laing as I have read a few times that consistency is an issue for him & in the past his attitude may have been poor. However, if he can keep up what I have seen so far this season then he will undoubtedly be right up there as one of the bargains of the season. Damour has been a real plus too. Although his game is less flamboyant than some of his team mates, his link up play has been very good & he does not seem to stop running & closing down the opposition.
That was a big test for us yesterday & we can be very pleased about how we approached it & performed. An added bonus was that we had no yellow cards which was a pleasant surprise noting that the referee seems to dish our more than most.
I am also a keen Wales supporter so with one eye on September & October the performances of Chester & to a lesser extent Taylor were a cause for concern. Chester in particular had no answer to what was thrown at him & I hope that he can get this out of his system by the time he next visits CCS.
For the first time in a good few years, there are real goals in this side, got a feeling the front three could be banging them in for fun this season. Mendez-Laing has the touch of a young Jay Bothroyd, the bloke's going to be a star.
Thanks Bob nice write up..It was so nice to have pace back in the side something we ain't seen since Bellamy, who would run into spaces.
I thought Bennett was a bit dodgy at first he couldn't cope with the height of Ahmed Elmohamady so it was a result he went off early.
all in all a fantastic day down the CCS.
Do you not think you are selling Villa short with comments about their away form over the last few seasons. This may be a matter of fact, but Bruce has addressed this and on paper at least, their defence is both experienced and talented. We may well look back and acknowledge they are a much improved team this season, defensively.
To comment as you have sells the Cardiff attacking performance short. They totally dominated a very professional back five.
The acid test (as always with City) is whether we perform as well against the 'lesser' teams. Malkay's team were consistent against them in the promotion season. Possibly Tuesday's game will tell us more about our season to come than yesterday's match.
Villa didn't do too badly against Hull last week who were much better this week.
After reading many reports from yesterday the consensus seems to be that Villa had a terrible day, rather than us being great.
Which suits us fine, much happier being under the radar.
I'd say I was applying some realism, rather than selling our attackers short.Originally Posted by Cyclops
In every game they have played since they got relegated, Villa have had a team sheet which looked daunting, but, once you look past the reputations, there is less in the reality to be wary about. Yes, a back four made up of experienced internationals and featuring a serial winner at club level in John Terry, with someone like Glenn Whelan in front of them, looks good on paper. However, I wasn't the only City fan to point out beforehand that the average age of that back four was thirty one, Whelan was thirty three and so there had to be at least a chance that, with all of the attacking pace and mobility we have added to the squad since Neil Warnock arrived, there was a chance that we could run them ragged.
I'm hardly selling our front three short if I call their performance "sensational" and, similarly, I said the team as a whole were very, very good, but that Villa team looked like it could be vulnerable to a particular type of attacking play and that combined with a brittleness that has been in their squad for years now, meant that the possibility has to be acknowledged that Villa's awfulness could have been another factor in turning the game into one of the most memorable in the new ground.
Yes, your last paragraph centres on something which is a concern. I'd say Chester has been Wales' most consistent central defender since he broke into the team, but he must be having nightmares about Kenneth Zohore as he was made to look so vulnerable on Saturday - hopefully, it was just a one off.
Taylor might be different though. For years, I viewed him as a competent Premier League left back, but his performances have declined since Euro 2016 and I don't think he's the best we can play in that position any more. I like Ben Davies at centreback, so I'd keep him there, especially if we are playing three centrehalves, but Jazz Richards looks a better bet than Taylor to me now.
Thanks for that TOBW.
Excellent as always.
I think it suits us playing 3 at the back, as it protects the centre halves. Interesting to see many Villa fans saying that was Chester's worst game for them, so hopefully it is a one off. For Taylor, Euro 2016 was the pinnacle for him, and a number of the players have spoken about how hard it was to come to terms with everything and I think he's been the hardest hit. His performance levels have fallen off a cliff.
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