City 1-1 Villa - Post Match

[Steve Earle]

Unusually a deal of consensus on FT this morning!

 

I thought Hamza & Nacho were excellent and Hamza should be set for a decent run now until Wilf's back. Ricardo, Perez & Maddison were very good too; Tielemans, Chilwell and Praet all below par.

 

Fancy us away against anybody that's not Liverpool or Man C! 

[Guest]

10 hours ago, MPH said:

 

 

 

 

you just love making yourself look daft don’t you?

If you mean that I don't mind disagreeing with the the follish masses - yeah. 

 

Better midfielders than our record signing this season:

 

Maddison

N'Didi

Choudhury

Praet

Mendy

Gray

Barnes

probably Albrighton too.

 

Tielemans was great last season but anyone who thinks he hasn't been substandard this season is fooling themselves. He has been the weak link in the team. With his performances of last season we'd be challenging Liverpool and 4 up in the League cup semis.

[Ricey]

Rodgers is right to say we were lacking aggression and that it was a mistake to pick Praet over Choudhury, however that was only part of the problem. Tactically it was very strange. I couldn't see what we were trying to achieve with a back 3/5 at the start of the game and I was equally unsure at the end of it.

 

Villa did a great job at congesting the middle, which meant we were forced out wide and backwards constantly. The problem then was that we were relying too much on the likes of Chilwell, Evans and Soyuncu for creativity. Chilwell in particular was totally isolated out on the wing, which is a big problem when all he can do is run forward in a straight line and he has no right foot. I couldn't believe that we didn't bring on Barnes or Albrighton in the second half, moved Perez out wide and offered help to Chilwell and Ricardo. That would also have meant that Villa midfielders would have to come across to close down the extra players we'd then have out wide, thus freeing up the middle area of the pitch.

 

Another big game to add to the list where we've tried something clever tactically and it just hasn't worked.

 

 

[Matt]

Villa came to park the bus and succeeded, they were solid.

 

Annoying and frustrating as we and every other team know we can’t break that down and it makes for a hell of a boring game.

 

On our part too slow, too passive and too much sideways passing - where have we seen that before?!

 

Obviously there an element where we must ‘keep ball’ and whilst it’s in our possession it limits the oppositions opportunities but I bloody hate this ‘the way football should be played’ pissing about with it at the back, side to side not pushing forward or even trying to play it forward. As I say it makes for one hell of a boring game.

Unfortunately I think it’s the way football is going, cheers Pep. 
 

Edited 9 January 2020 by Matt

[CosbehFox]

I thought the tactics were clear to be honest - Villa play 3-4-3 like Newcastle. 

 

You occupy their two wide midfielders with your wing-backs and then having a central midfielder come wide. You then have two options - overload on the flanks or pockets of space for Perez to pick up in. Equally you then have their back three exposed with balls in the channels. On paper it worked but maybe it was just unfamiliar for the players to play it. 

 

We never utilised it by on countless occasion a ball in the channel to Vardy would have worked as their defensive line was high. 

 

This has been a tactic Rodgers used early on in the season to break down teams when in our 4-1-4-1 shape. Anyone noticed how Maddison takes possession a lot on the wing? 

Edited 9 January 2020 by Cardiff_Fox

[AKCJ]

I just think Rodgers got it completely wrong last night.

 

There was absolutely no need to go with 5 at the back against a side without a striker.

 

The game was absolutely desperate for two wingers to come on and shake it up and get at their fullbacks. Ricardo is good enough to play anywhere down the right hand side but Chilwell's total lack of attacking intent is becoming more and more worrying. Beginning of last season near enough every time he got on the ball his intent was to drive at the opposition, it's like he's completely lost his confidence.

 

One thing that is abundantly clear is that Hamza has to play if Wilf is out for a long time, Tielemans cannot play that role. Against a good midfield we would have struggled.

 

I'm still confident we'll go to Villa park and get through, but last night feels like a big opportunity wasted.

[Xen]

Thought Perez was one of our brightest players yesterday, really seemed up for it and was trying to make things happen. Choudhury was excellent when he came on and Iheanacho did well, especially for the goal.

 

Chilwell seemed majorly out of sorts. Don't recall him even attempting to beat his man. Very surprised he wasn't hooked earlier and someone like Justin put on in his place - think we would've done well with his energy and pace. 

 

Youri still isn't hitting the heights we know he's capable of, but at least he was trying some more creative passes and through-balls. Still poor, though, and the sheer volume of misplaced passes was concerning. Probably needs a few games out the side to get out of the funk.

 

 

Generally speaking we're a better side than Villa, so taking a 1-1 into the away leg isn't a disaster, but we'll need to come out the blocks a lot quicker next time and put them on the back foot. It was far too easy for them to shut up shop after their goal, and if they'd got the second that hit the bar then we could've struggled to get anywhere.

Edited 9 January 2020 by Xen

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Found the line up very strange. Unfortunately Brendan got it quite badly wrong and not for the first time in a big game. Getting a bit frustrated with seemingly trying to nullify the opposition when the stakes are high, rather than trying to impose our game on them. 

[Stephen Hughes]

Chilwell ain’t a wingback.

 

1v1 so many times for him to pass backwards. Their right back must have had one of the easiest games he can remember.

[Ricey]

33 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

I thought the tactics were clear to be honest - Villa play 3-4-3 like Newcastle. 

 

You occupy their two wide midfielders with your wing-backs and then having a central midfielder come wide. You then have two options - overload on the flanks or pockets of space for Perez to pick up in. Equally you then have their back three exposed with balls in the channels. On paper it worked but maybe it was just unfamiliar for the players to play it. 

 

We never utilised it by on countless occasion a ball in the channel to Vardy would have worked as their defensive line was high. 

 

This has been a tactic Rodgers used early on in the season to break down teams when in our 4-1-4-1 shape. Anyone noticed how Maddison takes possession a lot on the wing? 

Possibly a good strategy pre-match, but at half-time it was 1) not really working and 2) obvious that Villa had camped themselves in their own half.

[burleighfox]

4 hours ago, Vacamion said:

 

The Vardy booking last night was really harsh, too.

 

 

That Vardy booking was beyond ridiculous! I didn't see any malice or intent in it, just desire to go for the ball and not the man. Don't recall any actual contact!

Edited 9 January 2020 by burleighfox

[ARTY_FOX]

Man grealish goes down under 0 contact like no player I've ever seen and gets the foul every single time. 

 

Dominated, they defended well. Is what it is now batter them at their place. 

[BlueBoy1]

Simple for me. If playing the same formation. 

 

Choudhary in for Tielemans who has been poor recently.

 

Justin in for chillwell. Again, very poor. Justin shows no fear and has a go at full backs. 

 

thought Perez did well yesterday but iheanacho seems to be more clinical. 

[Sunbury Fox]

10 hours ago, Dan LCFC said:

Chris Kavanagh shouldn't be allowed to referee our games either. Absolutely nobody can convince me he is impartial when it comes to us.

Does anyone know if the ref is the same for the second leg? If so, you can guarantee that he'll give a penalty for Grealish falling over in the box at the Holte End after no contact.

[HighPeakFox]

1 hour ago, David Hankey said:

We should have taken our first half chances. 

Why didn't I think of that? 

[whoareyaaa]

1 hour ago, Ricey said:

Rodgers is right to say we were lacking aggression and that it was a mistake to pick Praet over Choudhury, however that was only part of the problem. Tactically it was very strange. I couldn't see what we were trying to achieve with a back 3/5 at the start of the game and I was equally unsure at the end of it.

 

Villa did a great job at congesting the middle, which meant we were forced out wide and backwards constantly. The problem then was that we were relying too much on the likes of Chilwell, Evans and Soyuncu for creativity. Chilwell in particular was totally isolated out on the wing, which is a big problem when all he can do is run forward in a straight line and he has no right foot. I couldn't believe that we didn't bring on Barnes or Albrighton in the second half, moved Perez out wide and offered help to Chilwell and Ricardo. That would also have meant that Villa midfielders would have to come across to close down the extra players we'd then have out wide, thus freeing up the middle area of the pitch.

 

Another big game to add to the list where we've tried something clever tactically and it just hasn't worked.

 

 

agree we should have stuck to our usual game plan, no idea why he was playing Fuchs and Chilwell in the same team bizzare decision from Rodgers

[grumpy old git]

Why do we always seem to struggle when the opponents have 10 behind the bus?

 

When I played we were always told “not try to pass your way through 10 players because you will lose it”… try and mix it up a bit with few longer shots and you may get lucky with a blinder or even a defection or two they all count!

 

Also not sure why Tielemans passing has been so poor recently but last night he passed straight to a Villa player 11 times that I saw in the first half alone!

 

He was having another bad time maybe Rogers should have taken him off and left Praet on as he was looking comfortable on the ball.

[Sunbury Fox]

10 hours ago, Paddy. said:

We'll win the second leg. They will know they've got away with one here. They are a poor side and we absolutely dominated despite being well below par. We'll get through.

Interestingly, their players were all shaking their heads at the end like they couldn't believe they'd not won. Very odd given the balance of play and chances. I suppose they will feel they made a bad mistake on our goal but we had plenty of other chances and openings to win comfortably.

[Bob Hazels shorts]

Ndidi, or that style of player is essential to the balance of our team. Hamza is the nearest we have.

 

Tielemans has not been great lately but totally bombed last night without Ndidi

 

Pre game i considered our two left sided players were our best and I was wrong. Obvious early doors that Chilwells game wasn't working and it needed to change. Fuchs didn't deserve to come off so what do you do with Chillwell?

[whoareyaaa]

one more thing to add Grelish was on the floor every time one of our players put a finger on him and the ref bought it every time, was frustrating.

 

 

[Deeg67]

Kelechi looks very confident and very dangerous.  I'd be starting him against all the bus-parking sides at this point.

[Dahnsouff]

Got the match replay on in the background. How the actual **** did VAR not even look at Konsa doing the conga with Jonny at the start of the 2nd half?

[DerbyshireFox]

3 hours ago, burleighfox said:

Bit of a wet fart of a performance in the end. All the possession and shots we had don't really tell the story as Villa did plenty to stay in the game. Chilwell didn't go down the line once, confirming that he is most definitely a fullback, Maddison did his normal trick of going missing in an important game and Tielemans was lucky to last eighty minutes as he was well off the pace. Good to see Hamza come on and stand out above his midfield counterparts and I never thought I'd say this but thank god for Nacho coming on and saving us. Should make for a much better second leg all round though!

Got lost at times, but was by far our most attacking outlet 

[CosbehFox]

And everyone is wanking off Grealish. 

[burleighfox]

18 minutes ago, DerbyshireFox said:

Got lost at times, but was by far our most attacking outlet 

Yeah I saw that, but I still personally didn't see him battling a bit more when we needed it or making one or two questionable decisions. Just an opinion.