Phew, what a game.
It had the lot really, a good first half from us, a good second half from them and plenty to get the emotions going.
It’s a shame there weren’t any goals, but I suppose you can’t have everything.
Villa lined up with the sort of side we all wanted, with Westwood, Gabby and Lescott all out for whatever reasons.
And we started well, with the team knocking the ball around quite nicely, but not really showing any penetration or desire to get the ball in the box.
It was possibly a sensible tactic, keeping the ball and it seemed that Man city weren’t expecting a confident, reassured approach, which I felt is what we presented the opposition with.
We were holding it and not gifting them the constant stupid balls that we have done up to now.
And we looked a lot better for it.
Sterling had a chance around the quarter-hour, but I don’t really remember many other chances being created on both sides.
The first half panned out then and there was plenty to show that we’d possibly edged it, albeit we hadn’t really caused any threat on goal.
0-0 at half time and I’d had the feeling that City hadn’t really got into the game and Villa were trying much harder.
And when the two teams came out for the second half, there was an immediate change in the game.
City started to show some desire and duly stepped the pace up, as you’d expect.
And as they started making space and runs, so our game got worse.
It’s no surprise, as City are a powerful team, but I have to say I find it quite strange that we still seem to be suffering from major fitness problems this far into the season.
Duverne’s come in as the fitness trainer and let’s hope he sorts this out somewhat in the international break.
I mean, why is Veretout going down with cramp after an hour or so?
It makes you wonder what they’ve been doing in training. Or at least make you wonder if my previous assertion that they’re all just a bit too puny, was correct.
Anyway, as the game went on, so City’s strength and fitness came into it more.
They started to push up and we fell back.
Subs were rightly made on our part and it was interesting to see that Charles N’Zogbia achieved more in a few minutes than the rest of the midfield did all game. What that says, I’m not sure.
And as the game progressed, so things got increasingly desperate.
They hit the bar and had a few other chances, that would probably be regarded as sitters for a side of City’s quality. But they ultimately failed to score, which is what it’s all about.
I should probably say that in my opinion, bringing Delph on proved to be a major mistake on Pellegrini’s part.
The manager probably thought it would be good for Delph’s character or something, but I think it backfired.
The crowd were galvanized and while giving the snake plenty, they also gave more support to the club/team.
Hence I think the 12th man definitely played a major part today.
While perhaps we shouldn’t be shouting from the rooftops about a 0-0 home draw, I think this was a fantastic point; one that I suspect most of us didn’t expect.
And more importantly, it demonstrated that Remi Garde does at first glance, look like he knows what he’s doing.
I’m much more encouraged than I was after Monday night.
Great point that.
I can go into work tomorrow with a bit of pride 🙂
Top vs. bottom – and Vila’s home form having been so dire for so long…
A great result, even if we had to use the first few bits of luck we’ve had in ages.
Yes, some of the Villa players look a bit slow – but for me the most obvious feature was that the midfield looked so shocked when they had some space and time that they didn’t know what to do going forwards. While Citeh did boss the 2nd half, i felt that it took about 70+ minutes before our mids realised that they could actually start to attack as well – and giving N’zog some credit, he seemed to show the others that it wasn’t a crime to try and pass/run forwards, rather than just sideways or backwards.
The rot may have stopped today – it’s been a long time since Villa have played at VP and not been humilliated in front of their own fans.
That’s an interesting point Ardent.
A bit more cutting edge and who knows?
I think that a lot of Villa players had become so scared of making a mistake that they’ve tried too hard to always play the ‘safe’ option [even if that meant another pass back to Guzan].
If Garde can get the full backs to stop leaving the rest so exposed, and convince the midfield that they should be doing the forward runs, rather than [say] Hutton, then there’s still some hope for this team.
[Also agree that leaving Grealish on the bench was a sound move by Garde today]
What a surprise, those players who were a million miles from being ‘premier league ready’ are actually ready if given the chance and the right instructions. Totally agreed that grealish needed dropping and it paid off with terrific work rate in midfield.
A manager that sees problems during a game and makes changes accordingly? Who’d have thought it? No one gave us a snow ball in hell’s chance so a welcome bonus point. Had to give my season ticket away today too – maybe I should stay away!!
Hope this is a taste of things to come and not a flash in the pan!
I can’t argue with that SEB.
We had a much better shape and looked a lot more disciplined.
And that’s only after a few days.
It bodes well.
https://audioboom.com/boos/3789245-villa-0-0-man-city-jack-woodward-full-time-report
Clark and Richards were asked in the post game what was the biggest change Garde has done since arriving and both stated that he has made them more organized. Which I think only raises more questions concerning Sherwood’s training sessions and game preparations. Honestly did he manage at all or just show up occasionally to collect a check and/or for press conferences?
you can say the same about previous two managers
To Lambert’s defense he was manager who lost his way. Sherwood is a motivational speaker at best.
Or second hand car salesman.
Or just another ex-player who’d be better sticking to punditry on Sky.
Sherwood – motivational, as there ever a been a better example of an oxymoron?
yeah he got lost between Norwich and Aston
And it showed Marvin.
For the first time in ages, the defence didn’t look entirely clueless.
It’s not just Sherwood though.
What about Wilkins, Kmac, Parks et al?
Seems really strange that anyone can make that difference in a couple of days???
I agree – Managers are largely only as good as their staff, although with Sherwood’s recent comments in the press about once again not having final say in players (more or less throwing his toys out of the pram) – I have to think he was able to do enough damage without their help.
Look at Mourinho couldn’t have a Len open cheque book in summer and is a mere mortal like most of the other nanagers
Like I keep saying badger British managers are limited foreign managers have a bit more about them. It’s no coincidence that the best teams in our league our manager by foreign managers. Look at West Ham, Leicester and saints.
Sherwood was out if his depth. I said last season he would never sustain it once the razzmatazz wore off. This guy will I think he is potentially our best manager since Sir Ron tbh
Agree with all the positives and the best performance at VP since the back end of the Houllier ‘s time. What a difference a manager that picks 11 players good enough to play at this standard and organises them.
And all the signing were crap hey my Sherwood? Looked ok to me and Gill was a revelation, happy days (perhaps?).
Just arrived back home buzzing after watching 0-0 draw against a very good man city side.
Ok we rode our luck at the end but thought we were worthy of a point.
First half we looked a team, knocked the ball about we’ll and man city did not really cause any problems.
Starting Gill, no Westwood, Gabby or Lescot ( At last) I just hope in January we bring in a right back to replace Hutton ( tries hard but just cannot cross a ball ) possibly a proven goal scorer.
I must admit I don’t know much about the new manager but a least he knows the team to pick and obviously knew tactically how to get a result.
Time will obviously tell but more performances like today and I see us getting out of the relegation places.
Today’s result will put some confidence into the team, it’s just what we need. Villa have some good players, if the new manager can get them playing like we did first half we will beat the lower teams and possibly pick a few points up against the teams at the top.
Me too, any idea what happened in the lower Holte? Looked like there was bit of a kickoff.
Like Hutton or not Karl, he was organised and is always looking for the ball. The header from Sterling aside, we marked well and looked like people were taking responsibility. The protection the back four got from the midfield resulted in an increased confidence too – even Guzan didn’t look as bad as he has done!
Agree sick of villa fans slagging Hutton off just Coz Mckeish signed him. He is a decent right back and we need to get behind him
Problem is that he’s too keen to go forward [one of the few who isn’t scared of doing it] which leaves the back exposed, but his crossing isn’t exactly very precise, and he’s then not fast enough to get back and do his defensive work.
Garde needs to define Hutton’s exact role and make sure that the player sticks to it.
People don’t slag Hutton because AM signed him at all, imo Ooah.
People slagged him because they thought he was utter crap (myself included).
I’ve often given him credit over the last few months though, as have others.
And it all depends what sort of RB you’re talking about anyway.
He’s caught out of position way too much to be a marauding type and he can’t cross the road.
Why do you think he’s always left in acres of space on the right?
It’s because he carries little threat, imo.
He’s the best we have, but still a major priority to be replaced.
Nope. Hutton got slagged off from the start and was closely aligned to the hostility shown to McLeish. He is a decent enough RB but he is better defensively than attacking. I get the impression that he knows his limits but tries to help the team going forward. What he needs more than anything is a RM prepared to double up with him to defend. Gil won’t do that. Hutton is fully committed though so let’s at least recognise that.
Like McLeish he isn’t the antichrist, but he isn’t our RB solution. However, while everyone is praising Garde, the selection suggests he knew he needed a tougher tackling RB than Bacuna.
I think Amavi is probably (potentially) a good enough defender, but is certainly our best option there due to his pace and ability going forward.
As for today’s result…….fantastic but we must realise we rode our luck. Everton away is a tough game, and the same is true of a couple of matches following soon after. I don’t care if we grind out results and don’t look pretty. We just need to get back on track and work ourselves into a position where we have a decent chance of surviving. There is a long way to go here.
Agree DS like I said to Badger Hutton is unfairly treated by fans because Mckeish signed him. He’s not great but not that bad either
DSV – mostly agree with you, although I’d still point out that even if Citeh were firing blanks today, they’re probably going to win the league.
Reading Garde’s post-match comments on the B’Ham Mail website this evening, he also mentioned ‘luck’ – and acknowledged that we’d had some today, but that to a large extent you have to make your own!
Oh, and it was good to see that the Snake received the reception he deserved…!
Who cares if we had a bit of luck every team has some over the season even top teams ride their luck on occasions.
I disagree Badger Hutton isn’t world class but he’s not crap either. If you remember the fans were on his back from day one before the guy had a chance. Just like Mclown he was never given a fair chance. Lamberk got away with murder compared to Mckeish. Mckeish could if signed Messi and win the treble and fans still wouldn’t give him any credit.
Let’s bear in mind they were without silva augero and bony for most of match. But their team cost 10-20 times more than ours and will probably win league so can’t knock it
Reading between the lines it seems to me that what pleased fans most was the team picked and we appear (at last) to have a manager with real tactical nouse something Villa fans have been bemoaning the lack of since Houllier.
I remember early in Sir Ron’s reign we had a poor start to the season, Sir Ron bought Des Bremner and set out about organising the team to be more competitive by being hard to beat – it looks like Garde is starting from the same place and if we pick up another point 0-0 against Everton it will do for me.
H60 – it does lok as if in less than a week Garde has managed to get the team organised and working foor each other, something that had fallen apart apart soon after the Bournemouth game,
Let’s hope that with the international break now there’ll be time for him to work with the squad and bulid on today’s performance – hopefully looking at the creative options he might bring into play.
Agree it’s all about stopping the rot picking up a point here and there and keeping clean sheets at the moment. Then go to the next level of trying to pinch some 1.0 wins
I think you’re right about the importance of the clean sheets; no point in undoing 80 or 85 minutes’ decent effort with a couple of sloppy errors that always seem to lead to goals against us…
Exactly look at how many unforced errors we make that lead to goals in the last ten minutes. Take them out and we would probably have at least 3-4 more points on the board
Looking at fixtures up until end of December I would like to see us have between 18 – 20 points going into the new year. If we manage that I will start to believe we can stay up. It’s refreshing to actually have a tactically astute manager eventually. Could never understand how we went from Houllier to McLeish. His subs were spot on in my mind and very timely. For once the international break could work in our favor. Hopefully now we have a manager for the long term to get this club back on its feet. Will be interesting to see who he brings in come January window.
I thought we were excellent today, Micah Richards was superb and Veretout showed touches of real class, swallows and summers and all that, but 4 points from the next 6 is do-able – simply too good to go down, and I genuinely believe and mean that.
UTV
Evening Sasa.
Think we might’ve found the first manager since Houllier who actually could move the club in the right direction – but it’ll take time, and Lerner will have to back him in January!
Ardent, hi mate, I think you are spot on, I really like the way this guy comes over, the football for the first 20 mins really was Houllier-esque, and it will take time and Lerner will have to “show” in many different ways, but, and at risk of taking pelters, RG must believe in the chairman and the vision, because he really didn’t have to take this gig, and that’s why I think it will be a success.
Take good care chief.
Agree I think for once we have got the right man
Very pleased with the result, I thought in the small amount of time Garde managed to get some basics across to the team. What epitomized the desire today was Kieran Clarks tackle in the box on Jesus Navas.
UTV
Ha! Loved that too Rocky. That was Navas’s ball but he bottled it when he saw Clark charging in.
Better organised we need a new keeper and a striker who can score, the midfield looked really good today, tbf i cannot fault the performance of any of the players and all deserve MOTM
Agree though Guzan did make a great save from sterling like pat Jennings said dosnt matter what part of the body u stop it with as long as u stop it
Excellent first half, very promising. Committed and mostly calm and organised second half. If we can improve that much after a couple of days under Garde, I’m very excited to see how much better we’ll be in a few weeks!
So nice to see us play with shape and calmly possessing the ball. Ok, so we didn’t create many chances but that will come. Gil was magnificent until his lack of game time showed, Veretout grew as the game went on. Even Hutton looked decent after a shaky start. Very, very pleased with the point and the huge improvement in performance, organisation and desire.
Great point for us today and a performance we’ve been lacking since the season kicked off.
Just proves we can play some good football. The first half I think I can speak on behalf of most villa fans a say we looked comfortable.
The question now is where will Garde take us. Survival is the priority but what changes will he make and come January how much support will he get from Lerner.
I personally would like to see some one who can cross a ball. I’m not the biggest fan of Hutton although he does put in a good shift. If only he could deliver a good cross. Guzan had one of his better games today but the players seem to lack confidence in him and how many more mistakes will he make that could cost us games.
Westwood and Gabby can remain left out for me. The Spurs game said it all for me regards Gabby and I find Westwood to negative.
I don’t like slating players generally but as a die hard Villa fan I want to see us up the league and not in another relegation battle. I really hope and still believe we will get out of this mess we’re in.
Starting GIll makes a huge difference with a more attacking approach. The starting line up me seemed well organised with a lot more desire. Should be interesting to see where we’re at come xmas. Definitely won’t be bottom three if we perform like today.
Great result and about time we had a bit of luck. Hopefully he can build on this and work with the team over the next couple of weeks.
Much better balance and quality in the team selection today. Exactly the kind of team selection that the fans have been calling for all season!
Looking at the upcoming fixtures, we have a couple of tricky ones…Everton, Arsenal… but we also have 7 or 8 very winnable games in there if we can start performing.
So pleased we got Remi and not some ex-prem manager like Moyes, early days I know but I’m convinced we’ll stay up. Funny isn’t it how time changes how we view things, there seems to be a bit of a Houllier love-in on here at the moment, but I don’t forget being at the home game v Wolves which was apparently a ‘must win’, we played shockingly, lost 1-0 and were viciously booed off with shouts of ‘Houllier out’, and plenty of calls for him to be sacked on this page. That season we only put a string of results together under Gary Mac toward the end of the season after Houllier had to leave through health reasons, I’m not saying that Mac was better than Houllier but finishing 9th flattered us that season and only papered over cracks. Cracks that have grown into chasms since!
Although I too find the sudden outpouring of love for houllier a bit sudden – I don’t agree with your take on his reign.
I was very angry villa fan at the time, I seen us try to play some football but it was after 5 years of mon hoofball, or counter attack and James Collins was in his playmaker hey day of .( lol remember the classic Collins floated long ball to car park B 4/5 times a game?)
Houllier tried too much too soon – but I liked what he was trying – keeping it on the floor, he was throwing in youth players left right and centre.
And he persuaded Lerner to plump up 18m for Bent! But his health failed.
But I remember the banners in Villa park that season. And I was sickened – I usually came on to the forums and let rip Into the houllier out brigade.
And man did I have the perfect platform hammer that home when his replacement arrived.
We were spoiled before houllier with results but not football.
Looking at Garde’s approach. Building from the back. Starting with a very basic and sensible approach first.
– is he trying to be opposite to Sherwood ( like most new managers, contrast to last guy)
– is this his natural approach?
– is this houllier advising him of what he did wrong, don’t try too much too soon?
I really enjoyed the performance yesterday – everyone has already covered my reasons and synopsis.
– I particularly liked class assuredness, Veretouts nice touches, Gil being given game time and making hay,
The one thing I will say is we did have one very decent chance – that most are forgetting – bacuna more or less 1 on 1
But agree didn’t deserve 3 here. Rode it out for last 20 minutes
Very interested in our next game now!
I liked Houllier he was a breath of fresh air. The only thing I hated about him was his continual wank fest over Licerpool. At least Garde hasn’t rammed his love in with Arsenal down our throats not yet any way. If Garde does well for ya Ge will be next Arsenal manager of Wenger retires no doubt about it
IV been saying that for ages Dave C sick of these boring British managers they are crap. About time we thought outside the box and got a decent manager in. Btw Moyes could be getting sack this week another bullet dodged
A little early to start praising Garde too highly yet, I hadn’t heard of him other than being a bit part Arsenal player until a fortnight or so ago.
However, I have been impressed with his stature & demeanor. At Spurs he sat stony faced taking it all in, and in his press conferences he comes across as a bloke who fully understands the enormity of the task, but is not fazed by it.
It certainly looks like he can organise a defence, I still struggle to see where our goals will come from but I have a little hope that we can avoid the drop.
We should be cut adrift by now. We’re not.
No one had heard of pochetino or Wenger either. Means nothing. You can almost see the cogs in his brain turning. Seeks to have a lot of class and intelligence.
I didn’t mean to come across as critical of Houllier Colonius81, just the rewriting of history about him, I liked the way he was trying to get us to play, the way we got 2-0 up at home to UTD, playing some great stuff only to throw it away 2-3 is a bittersweet memory. He’s a good football man, but not a genius in my eyes.
Dave C – I think that’s the point – Houllier is recognised as a great football man with massive experience which is an influence sadly missed at Villa Park over the last five years or so. Garde worked his way up to managing Lyon by learning the trade and, by all accounts, he’s perfectly happy to seek advice from those managers he can learn from.
He is clearly thoughtful and intelligent and I really don’t think he would have taken the job without carefully condsidering his position and the roles behaviour of others such as Lerner and Fox. I have hope for the first time in a long time that being a laughing stock will soon be behind us.
Dave.C – I know what you mean about the re-writing of history regarding Houllier.
There were many on here at the time who simply wanted a ‘MON mk2’, or Moyes as next best choice, and never forgave Houllier for still talking about the bindippers from time to time – and yes, some of the comments here and elsewhere at the time were pretty sickening.
As Colonius81 says, Houllier probably tried too radical a change in the club philosophy for the players he had at his disposal, and of course the whole experiment went belly-up with his illness. It was all a bit reminiscent of when Deadly appointed Jo Venglos…
It looks to me as if we might have found a manager who’s trying to bring some real technical progress to the club again, only this time with the backroom transfer and scouting people bringing in players who could actually fit the model that Garde wants to build.
That was my only bug bear re Houllier his wank fest over Liverpool was cringe worthy other than that I liked him
Dave.c – no It wasn’t that I thought you were critical of Houllier, if anything I was agreeing with you and noting the amount of praise Houllier is getting on this article. Whilst at the club he was bannered out after 6 months in what was probably the biggest transition Villa have faced in the premier league.
Even now, I think Garde is under less pressure and less expectation with less footballing work than what Houllier was under when he first arrived
Don’t get me wrong he has a mountain to climb, and the stakes are higher in a real sense. But there are footballers there, who want to play football and have not been drilled consistently in one way or another for more than a season (under lambert we were a different team every 2 months) He has a chance to make them his team. all be it under a tight timeline with the biggest threat of failure hanging over him – relegation.
So if anything I was agreeing with you Dave!
I was just surprised to see the relative praise of Houllier now by us Villa fans when we vilified him when he was here
Good comments from you all, Ardent, Colonius and Hitchens, I really believe that Remi is the real deal. I listen to a lot of radio and was sick of hearing so many ex pros turned pundits criticising the appointment of Garde, saying that Villa should’ve gone for a tried and tested Moyes or Redknapp type. Think many were friends of Sherwood, would love to see Remi wipe the smirks off their faces by comfortably keeping us up.
Interesting to see N’Zogbia back in the fold, thought he was class at Wigan, this must be his final drink at the last chance saloon I think!
There’s something of an incestuous clique amongst all of these rent-a-quote pundits; they always stick up for the mates with whom they played a few years ago, or the managers who gave them their last big pay-day as players.
By all accounts Moyes is about to be fired in Spain within the next few days, and although I’ve nothing against the bloke personally, I’m really glad that Villa didn’t wait for him to become available.
Agree Ardent a bullet dodged he us another Lamberk or Mckeish imo maybe slightly better but not enough to make a difference
At the same time lads as some have pointed out, its just one game, first hurdle cleared, but if its far too early to write a manager off its still a bit too early to see if will improve enough under Garde and whether he can turn us around.
still though .. that result .. lolipoptastic
One game clean sheet and stopped the rot. Bear in mind it was against a team who are champions elect