Full-time: Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester City
An excellent display from Villa, who were organised, focused and confident. Their speed on the break meant that City could never simply pile forward, and they never panicked, even when under significant pressure.
City, on the other hand, wasted the first half getting into the game, and though they created enough chances to win, only three or four of them were noteworthily good. Or, put another way, missing Aguero and Silva was going to tell eventually.
So, Villa stay bottom and City stay top - but will be overtaken by Arsenal should they beat Tottenham in the North London derby. You can join Nick Miller for that - it will at no stage be referred to as the NLD, I promise.
Otherwise, thanks all for your company and comments.
Updated
90+4 min Again, City get down the right, De Bruyne clipping over with Delph waiting on the back post ... but Guzan strains every sinew to claw it away, and Kolarov’s follow-up thud is blocked clear.
90+3 min Matt Richman emails thusly: “Surely that corner was Hart’s fault? He could have just let it go for the goal kick as the thrower intended.”
Yes - seeing it again Gestede didn’t mean it, which is rather disappointing.
90+1 min Navas wins a corner for City, taken short to Ihenacho. He crosses sharply, and Fernando, four yards, out, viciously headbutts against the bar. But city aren’t finished, working the ball out to Delph, who, with Guzan unsighted, thunks a low shot just wide of the right-hand post.
Updated
90 min There shall be four added minutes.
89 min “According to the radio commentary grown men were waving rubber snakes at Delph, grown men!!! What is the world coming to?” wonders Mark Judd.
<This is me being speechless>
Updated
88 min Gestede nearly completes the tic-tac-toe! Veretout swings the corner out low, a version of the old Anderton-Sheringham routine, and Gestede sweeps it goalwards, only just clearing the bar.
87 min Spectacular behaviours from Rudy Gestede! Returning the ball kicked out by City, he hurls a throw at Hart, makes to close him down, and forces a corner. Outrage abounds!
Updated
85 min Sagna catches N’Zogbia with a stray hand, so there’s a pause in play.
85 min “Do you think Delph would run to the Holte End and do an Adebayor, were he to score?” emails Thabo Mokaleng.
I think every player should do that or its equivalent after every goal.
83 min A change apiece: for Villa, Gestede replaces Ayew; for City, Iheanacho replaces Sterling.
82 min Navas rinses Amavi again, again on the outside, and slides over another low cross. This time, it’s Sterling who attempts a backheel, either at goal or for De Bruyne behind him. Makes no odds, because it’s naewhere near either.
81 min Good possession from Villa - if they play like this every week, they’ll trouble whoever happens to be against them. I wonder if Garde will start his next game with the eleven that finish this one.
79 min De Bruyne sends Kolarov clear on the left, but looking for a cross, he zetzes over the bar instead.
78 min Boo and hiss. Delph replaces Toure - on the face of it, a curious change. City need another striker, not another midfield general.
Updated
76 min Lovely interplay down the City left, Kolarov into De Bruyne, whose return flick perfectly met his stride. So Gueye fouled him, and the free-kick was overhit, resulting in a mass Villa break. Again, the passing wasn’t quite precise enough, but the intention was there. Garde’s changes have made a difference - Bacuna and N’Zogbia offer pace and movement that wasn’t there before.
74 min Toure gives the ball away and Villa swarm forward. Otamendi manages to quell the wave, but this is a proper contest now, after the phoney war of the first half.
73 min City win a throw on the right, deep in the City half, and Sagna finds Sterling in space. There’s consternation when the whistle goes, until it’s revealed that in fact it was a Villa throw in the first place. What larks, dear old Pip, dear old chap.
72 min Bacuna replaces Sinclair.
70 min Lovely ball from Hutton in between Kolarov and Fernando, finding N’Zogbia on the move. Taking it away from Otamendi, he then drills a cross at neck-height, that Sinclair almost reaches, Kompany forced to concede the corner. It comes to nothing, but that was Villa’s best bit of play in a while.
Updated
69 min I wonder if City might send Toure up front. I know he likes to come from deep, but they’re getting so much joy wide, they might benefit from his presence in the box.
68 min Ayew takes a bash off Sagna and there’s a short pause while he gathers himself.
66 min Sagna lifts an excellent pass over Sinclair, putting Navas in a race with Amavi. There’s only one winner there, and the eventuating near-post cross looks to have given De Bruyne a tap-in. But, flush with dexterity, he attempts a flick when a sidefoot would’ve sufficed, finding his other shin instead of the net and the ball goes behind.
Updated
65 min Gil is replaced by N’Zogbia.
64 min Fernandinho sweeps a long, low ball out to the left flank, and Steling nashes after it. He can’t find a decisive pass, so eventually De Bruyne pings right to Navas, whose cross is blocked behind. The corner is cleared, eventually.
63 min Toure rumbles into the box and finds De Bruyne to his left, but his cross is blocked and Sanchez hooks clear.
62 min Sanchez wriggles free of Fernando, Fernandinho and Toure, the ball eventually ending up with Amavi, via Veretout. He can’t find a cross, so goes backwards, and Sinclair competes will to win a throw off Sagna in the City half. It comes to nothing, but releases some of the pressure.
59 min City come down the left again and Villa can’t clear the cross, but neither will the ball drop for De Bruyne or Toure. Then, Sagna nashes down the left and tries another low cross - it makes sense, given the diddiness of his forward line - and it’s blocked behind. The corner comes to nowt, or, put another way, Villa defend the box well again.
Updated
58 min Kolarov finds space down the left and attempts a pull-back, well blocked by Hutton. The pressure is building.
56 min End to end now, and Villa will need to do something about this. Again, Navas is the outlet, and again he crosses well - this time low - but the ball skids behind De Bruyne and Sterling, and is cleared.
Updated
56 min Scott Sinclair tries a stepover.
54 min What a save! Navas skates around Amavi and clips a cross into the middle, where Sterling wait in splendid isolation. He rises and crunches a header at goal from four yards, only to pick out Guzan’s prodigious coupon!
Updated
52 min Idrissa piles into Toure just outside the box, on its right - the rain’s hammering down now, which probably didn’t help his control. Kolarov stands over the free-kick and slams it at goal in a low arc, but Guzan can only fumble it into his face and away. He’s lucky that it misses all those following up.
51 min Amavi, who looks a good player, flips one over Sagna from the right touchline, finding Sinclair inside the box. But his touch is heavy, and the ball skids off his toes and behind.
50 min “Is it too off-beam to suggest that by the World Cup 2018, Raheem Sterling will be England’s centre-forward?” asks Gary Naylor.
Depends who the manager is, I guess, and what happens with Sturridge and Kane. You’d hope they could have three blokes running around, rather than the current rigidity.
48 min Nice interplay between Sinclair and Amavi ends when the latter is muscled off the ball by Sagna. But a decent start to the half from Villa.
Updated
47 min Delph is warming up, to consequent opprobrium.
46 min Off we go again.
Graeme Souness is rattling about the going-over that should’ve been handed out in the City dressing room. I wonder if likes Mr Tickle.
Apparently, Famous Grouse is “famous for a reason”. Yes, and so is tinnitus.
Er, Robert Savage, esq. agrees with me.
At a loose end? Why not go on holiday to Birmingham?
@DanielHarris they do it in ice hockey. both go to the box. one for the foul and the other for embellishment.
— smittens. (@smittensbh9) November 8, 2015
Half-time: Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester City
Basically, City are a lot better than Villa, but City aren’t playing all that well and Villa are trying hard.
Updated
45 min There shall be one additional minute. Once it’s over, Chelsea will concede a goal.
44 min Not sure if the laws of the game permit this, but I’d be in favour of referees awarding penalties and booking players for diving in the same incident.
Updated
42 min “Why wasn’t Sterling booked for the dive?” emails Tom Harp.
I’d say that in general, there can be a falling over that is neither foul nor dive, and specifically, that was closer to foul than dive. Or, at least, if it was a dive, it was also a foul. Or something.
Updated
41 min Hill shmices over the bar - he was probably too close to get the ball up and down.
40 min And yet more space! Gil in it, swerving past Otamendi just outside the box and hurdling the consequent foul tackle. There’s no contact, but it’s still a free-kick, and four men stand behind the ball...
37 min And there’s more space! A delicious lay-off from De Bruyne - he really does understand football - allows Toure to send Sterling scampering through the middle. But, as he tries to transfer the ball onto his right foot, a little nick and a large body come between him and it. That’s close to being a penalty - Sterling thinks it is - but Ciaran Clark escapes.
Updated
35 min De Bruyne takes a horrific corner, so when the ball ends up at the feet of Gueye, just outside his own box on the right, he slings forward a long pass for Gil. But a lack of pace means that Fernandinho and Kolarov can dash over to crowd him out.
Updated
35 min Garde does indeed seems to have done some work on shape - Villa’s back four and midfield are operating in precise lines. But can he open a door with his foot, first go.
33 min Yaya Toure makes trying hard look easy.
Updated
31 min “What is it with the tricksy free kicks?” asks Mark Thomas. “Do the groaning fans not give them a clue that they’re wasting everyone’s time?”
I agree entirely - my personal gears are currently being ground watching Wayne Rooney stand behind a ball he’s never crossing, part of a brilliant subterfuge that ends with him not heading in the imminent cross.
29 min Veretout snaps in a low ball to Ayew’s feet - the kind that Michael Carrick play well and often - but Otamendi is in on him right away, and Villa are forced back. They’re struggling to get any offence going, though on the flip-side, have eded few decent chances themselves.
27 min Kolarov rolls to De Bruyne, who rolls back, and a cross-kick follows, looking for Kompany on the far side of the box. He can only head straight up, and after a little more prevarication, Villa end up with a goal-kick.
27 min De Bruyne gambols past Hutton, who yanks him down - City have a free-kick 40 yards out, left of centre...
Updated
25 min Navas replaces Bony, so De Bruyne goes to centre-forward and Navas takes his spot on the right. I wonder if this might help City, as winning this game is more likely to be about movement than a fixed point up front.
24 min Sinclair pops up and inside-right and brushes studs over the ball as he attempts to pass Otamendi. Of it he is having not a single iota.
Updated
23 min Bony pulls up and clutches his hamstring, so wanders off for inspection. I’m not sure he’ll be returning.
Updated
23 min “Why was Brendan Rodgers (or anyone else it seemed) not in contention for the Aston Villa job?” asks Ian Copestake. “Is Brendan truly unemployable now? Perhaps Fulham might be a project he could take forward.”
I’m guessing that Garde was deemed a good fit for the players and might well have been cheaper.
21 min All City now. De Bruyne flicks back to Fernando, just outside the box, and races onto a clever return, scooped over the defensive line. His shot is deflected behind and the corner comes to nowt, but Villa are asking for it.
Updated
19 min City find Sterling in space again and Hutton more or less gives up as he speeds away with a meep, meep. The ball’s overrun on this occasion, but too much more of this and Villa will be behind.
17 min Toure finds space and rolls gently to Sterling, pacing on his outside. He twinkles infield, Hutton collapsing to the turf in the excitement, then finds Kolarov on his left. The shot is drilled and tipped around the post, earning City a corner, and when it’s not cleared properly, it arrives at Fernando, left of goal and eight yards out. The ball’s bouncing, so hard to control, but that only partially explains the vicious hoik he contrives that sends the ball hurtling towards Uranus.
15 min Otamendi is wearing extra-short, extra-tight sleeves, so that we might all enjoy his decorated biceps. He’s good like that.
14 min Sinclair shimmies past two in centrefield, finds HIll, and the ball is sent wide to Hutton. But when he might cross, instead he shuffles back inside, Villa works it left, right, then back left, and Gueye accelerates past Fernando that smashes a shot miles over the top from 25 yards.
Updated
12 min Villa are starting to press City’s back four a little more, which is hurrying the game up. Kompany’s forced to go long, Toure heads on, and Amavi hustles Sagna into ceding a throw-in.
Updated
11 min “I had forgotten about the existence of Fabian Delph,” emails Ian Copestake. “I feel reminded.”
It’s an interesting one. He can play, and based on what we saw last season, better than Fernando. It’s fair that he fancied testing himself at City, but the role earmarked for him seemed pretty clear too.
9 min Spell of possession for City, and it’s fairly similar to that recently enjoyed by Villa. It’s a curiosity of the Premier League that the better it gets, the more boring the games get - every team backs itself on the break, and its players to pass short and sideways, so often, that’s what happens.
7 min Villa are mainly sitting off City, and showing good patience in possession, going backwards, forwards and side to side. Louis van Gaal would be deeply impressed.
6 min Fabian Delph is getting stick from the home fans for his audacity in joining a better team who presumably pay him more. Not that he shouldn’t be getting it - it’s football after all, that’s part of the fun - but the rationale seems off. He’s getting it because he’s getting it because it can be given to him would be my summation of things.
4 min Sterling invites Kolarov down the left, and he snaps a low, hard cross across the face of goal. But no one gambles, so it races away and Villa escape.
2 min Sinclair is already scooting off his left wing to join Ayew “up top”. City are wearing fluorescent yellowgreen like it’s good old 1989.
1 min Affecting nonchalance, Villa knock the ball across the back four.
1 min Villa get the DVD underway*.
*Darius Vassell Derby.
There will now be a minute’s silence.
Updated
Little-known fact: the inspiration for Villa’s training ground.
Updated
Apparently, Garde is “more cerebral” than Sherwood. Not having that, not for one second.
Updated
The ball is deplinthed! Yes!
It’s very hard to see a way for Villa today, but the return from suspension of Micah Richards might help. He’s not necessarily as savvy as you’d like a centre-back to be, but his enthusiasm, presence and leadership will be crucial.
Updated
And here’s more on that Symons story.
But former players managing their clubs always works so well...
Symons sacked. 'Get your Kit out for the lads.' #ffc
— Eddie Fremantle (@eddietheshoe) November 8, 2015
Updated
From the - ok, a - vault: City travel to title-chasing Villa in April 1990 - without a win in 42 Division One away games, stretching back to January 1986...
There seems to be an awful lot of certainty as to the quality of player signed by Villa in the summer. People must watch even more of Nantes and Lorient than I supposed.
“Togetherness and everyone sticking together, really” - that’s what Garde’s been inculcating this week, according to Scott Sinclair. Plus some work on shape, so “boys, this is a trapezium”, and the like.
Updated
“He is like a Wenger-clone”, says Thierry Henry of Remi Garde. He’ll try and play good football, and he’ll conduct himself with calmness.
So, Remi Garde is more sherwoodist than mcdonaldite - he makes six changes from the team that faced Spurs on Monday night, which shouldn’t detract from what was a quite majestic presentation of the V.
City make one change - De Bruyne replaces Navas.
Updated
Teams!
Aston Villa (4-5-1): Guzan; Hutton, Richards, Clark, Amavi; Idrissa, Veretout, Sanchez, Gil, Sinclair; Ayew.
Subs: Bunn, Bacuna, Lescott, Richardson, N’Zogbia, Gestede, Grealish.
Manchester City (4-3-3): Hart, Sagna, Kompany, Otamendi, Kolarov; Fernando, Fernandinho, Toure; De Bruyne, Bony, Sterling.
Subs: Caballero, Demichelis, Mangala, Clichy, Delph, Navas, Iheanacho.
Updated
However, there’s always a however. This afternoon, Villa play Manchester City - the country’s best side and perhaps one on its way to becoming one of Europe’s too. City’s midweek performance in Seville, without their two best players, was perhaps their best since returning to the European Cup, and the chances are they’ll attack today’s game in similar vein.
Updated
Preamble
Participating in football is a taxing experience, forcing grown adults to suspend ego and disbelief in order to argue about who claps louder, which seats are emptier, and whose parents cohabited closest to a particular ground. Awkward or what?
Another frequently debated topic is “history” - as defined, of course, by the parameters set out in E.H. Carr’s seminal work. To save you the bother of reading it, he concludes that generations of joy, disappointment, excitement and community count for nothing, with meaning measured solely in silverware.
Not really. But, as it happens, Aston Villa have plenty: seven league titles, seven FA Cups, five League Cups and one European Cup, or, put another way, as many as London, Rome and Paris combined. So their current status, as a synonym for ennui, is not in keeping with a culture established over 141 years of toil, and accordingly, the people are not happy.
Much of the blame for this can be directed at Randy Lerner, for it was he who allowed Martin O’Neill to leave at a time when things were going well. Shortly afterwards, he learned that the Premier League is not like the National Football League (the clue’s in the name), and the upshot might have been described by Geoffrey Howe as “managed decline”.
If he was being kind. With transfer funds restricted, O’Neil was replaced by Gerard Houllier, with predictable results; Houllier was replaced by Alex McLeish, with predictable results; Paul Lambert, fair enough; Lambert was replaced by Tim Sherwood, with predictable results.
But, at least, there’s now a but. The appointment of Remi Garde is, if nothing else, interesting. He’s young, he’s enterprising, and perhaps most importantly of all, no one is absolutely certain what’s going to happen next. It’s a start.
Updated
