Aston Villa v Manchester City: Premier League – as it happened
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http://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2014/oct/04/aston-villa-manchester-city-premier-league-live Version 0 of 1. 7.23pm BST19:23 Villa defended well and, in the first half at least, pressed well and could have scored one or two themselves, but one of the benefits of having players like Toure and Aguero is they’re always likely to produce a moment such as the ones they did. City second in the table, two back from Chelsea who play Arsenal tomorrow. Cheers for reading, and chipping in, for those that did. Night. 7.21pm BST19:21 Full-time: Aston Villa 0-2 Manchester City The whistle goes, and what a splendid game of football that was. 7.19pm BST19:19 90 mins + 3: Zabaleta lines up a big shot, and it’s blocked by Delph’s rump. That’ll sting. 7.18pm BST19:18 90 mins + 2: Pass... pass... pass... pass... pass... pass... pass... 7.17pm BST19:17 90 mins: Four minutes of added time, and suddenly Villa look a bit more lively again. Bit late now, lads. 7.16pm BST19:16 88 mins: Brilliant from City, who pass and pass and pass until they find a chink of light, eventually finding Aguero on the edge of the box. He shifts to find himself a yard of space, and in a mirror image of Toure’s strike, he slams it right-footed inside Guzan’s near post. Updated at 7.29pm BST 7.14pm BST19:14 GOAL! Aston Villa 0-2 Manchester City (Aguero 88) And that’s that. 7.13pm BST19:13 86 mins: City are just knocking it around now, trying to run down the clock. Villa have worked so hard that they look pooped, unable to press sufficiently to force a mistake or create a chance. 7.10pm BST19:10 83 mins: Switch for City - the brilliant Silva is replaced by Jesus Navas. 7.10pm BST19:10 82 mins: Milner plays in Silva in the area, his effort is scuffed and falls to Lampard, but he doesn’t get hold of the shot and it’s saved. City reset their attack, the ball falls to Toure at the edge of the area, the Villa defence stand off a little which allows Toure to measure a left-footed shot, taking Guzan slightly off-guard, and it goes in. Superb finish. Updated at 7.27pm BST 7.09pm BST19:09 GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Manchester City (Toure 82) And there, finally, it is. 7.08pm BST19:08 81 mins: More frustration for City, as Milner’s low cross from the right hits the first man. Time running out now... 7.06pm BST19:06 79 mins: City finding it difficult to get through an excellent Villa defence. Lampard makes a bit of space but his shot is blocked. Cissokho then clears off Zabaleta, but bafflingly the throw goes to Villa. Updated at 7.23pm BST 7.03pm BST19:03 76 mins: Milner is perhaps a bit lucky not to get a booking after going in late on Senderos, as the Swiss defender clears from the edge of his own area. In truth there wasn’t a huge amount in it, but those are the sort of challenges that seem to be yellow-worthy these days. Updated at 7.10pm BST 7.01pm BST19:01 74 mins: Kolarov outmuscles Bacuna on the left, but his low cross is put behind by Senderos. From the corner Mangala rises to head towards goal, but Baker just manages to take the zip from the effort, and Guzan still makes a smart save. 6.59pm BST18:59 72 mins: More neat work by Silva and Aguero, carving out a chance for the latter, but he hits it straight at Guzan again. Silva has been superb all game, but particularly in the last 15 minutes or so. 6.57pm BST18:57 71 mins: Double change for Villa - N’Zogbia and Richardson go off, and they’re replaced by Leandro Bacuna and Jack Grealish. 6.57pm BST18:57 70 mins: City close again. Silva plays a delightful flick out to Milner on the right, the England man crosses low and there’s Silva again to use the pace of the cross to divert the thing towards goal, but it goes just wide of the far post. 6.54pm BST18:54 68 mins: City pressing now, but Villa’s massed ranks around the edge of the area make it difficult to punch through. Silva eventually finds enough space to shoot from the right side of the box, but it’s straight at Guzan. 6.53pm BST18:53 65 mins: Lampard plays a nice ball down the right for Milner, but Delph does brilliantly to get back and tackle him. “Was there any reception of any sort for Mr. Milner? Or does nobody care?” asks Elliot. A few half-hearted boos, but it didn’t really sound like they could be bothered. 6.51pm BST18:51 64 mins: Silva takes the kick himself, but it goes just over the bar. Interesting sub from City - Dzeko comes off, and Fernando comes on. Presumably that’ll be either/both of Lampard and Toure moving forwards, then. Updated at 7.23pm BST 6.50pm BST18:50 63 mins: While Villa have generally at least held their own in this game, Silva just ran at Cissokho and...well, it wasn’t pretty for the full-back. Silva goes down on the right edge of the box, and it’s a free-kick. 6.48pm BST18:48 61 mins: And that’s Weimann’s last involvement - he’s the man to make way for Benteke. Updated at 6.57pm BST 6.47pm BST18:47 60 mins: Eesh, big chance for Villa. For some reason City completely stand off N’Zogbia and Hutton as they pass it back and forth on the right, and eventually the latter crosses to Weimann at the near post, but he misses the head and it sort of skims across his hair, and goes out. 6.45pm BST18:45 59 mins: The Villa fans are more excited than they have been at any point in the game, and it’s because Christian Benteke is about to come on. Bless them being so giddy. 6.44pm BST18:44 57 mins: STAT: 13 - Frank Lampard has scored 13 Premier League goals against Aston Villa, more than he has netted against any other opponent. Villain. 6.42pm BST18:42 56 mins: And here is Lampard, greeted by chants of ‘Super Frankie Lampard’ from the City support. Oh, the fickle world of the football fan, eh? 6.41pm BST18:41 55 mins: Fernandinho is down and requires treatment after landing bloody heavily after going up for a header. Looks like Frank Lampard will be coming on. 6.40pm BST18:40 52 mins: Brilliance followed by stupidity by N’Zogbia. He makes a superb run from the right, skipping past two City players with almost embarrassing ease, but instead of passing either right or left where options lay, he tried a shot which was easily blocked. Silly Chas. 6.38pm BST18:38 51 mins: Wonder if Kolarov has ever done anything delicately? Not from the looks of that low, fizzing cross, which is too powerful even for the men it was intended for. Just take a bit off it every now and then, kid. 6.36pm BST18:36 48 mins: City close again - Silva gets the ball with his back to goal in the area, he twists and shoots but it takes a big deflection, meaning Guzan has to stop mid-dive and change direction, which he does well to push the ball clear. Frantic start to the half so far. 6.35pm BST18:35 47 mins: GOA....oh, no, how did that not go in? Milner slides the ball through for Aguero, who is clean in on goal, has time to measure the shot and he slips it past Guzan, the City fans start to celebrate but it hits the post. Villa then immediately counter with some gusto, Richardson finds himself in on goal but Zabaleta does well to get back and take the sting out of the shot, which Hart saves. Updated at 6.53pm BST 6.33pm BST18:33 46 mins: The second 45 gets underway, so here’s some insight from our man Steinberg: I predict that Edin Dzeko will score the winner. Could be someone else, though. It's up for grabs. 6.32pm BST18:32 There’s been some fairly enthusiastic warming up from the Villa subs at half-time, but no changes are made just yet. The teams are back out... 6.29pm BST18:29 Meanwhile, at the football... "Is that a mosque behind that stand?" "No, it's a Morrisons." #overheardconversationatthefootball 6.18pm BST18:18 Half-time: Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester City Well, it was becoming something of a siege towards the end of that half, which isn’t quite representative of the game as a whole, but City have certainly been much the better side. They should be ahead, but the doughtiness that Villa have displayed this season is keeping them in it. Updated at 6.42pm BST 6.17pm BST18:17 45 mins + 1: Again Villa don’t pay attention from the corner, it’s played short to Silva who gets to the byline and chips a cross to the far post. Dzeko arches his back, winds up his neck and powers a header at goal, but it’s blocked before it can reach the net, and Villa just about survive once more. 6.15pm BST18:15 45 mins: Milner lines up a shot from the left side of the area which just flicks off Westwood and goes wide. Villa go to sleep from the corner and allow Kolarov lots of space on the edge of the box to shoot, but a poor first touch means he has to eventually rush the shot and it’s deflected wide for another corner. 6.14pm BST18:14 44 mins: A cross from the left finds Aguero in the box, he chests down but the ball is just whipped away from him by Baker. Meanwhile, Jonathan Mason writes: “Should I believe your commentary or your match statistics which say Villa have had no shots either on or off target ?” Always believe me. About this, and everything else. Updated at 6.23pm BST 6.13pm BST18:13 43 mins: Dzeko finds himself out of the right wing, and apparently baffled by the idea of having to pick out a cross, just whacks the thing into the shins of the first defender. Not successful. 6.11pm BST18:11 41 mins: Good stuff from City. Silva drifts across from left to right and plays in Milner, who reaches the byline and cuts back to Dzeko. The Bosnian tries to create enough room to shoot, but can’t quite manage it and his efforts are snuffed. 6.09pm BST18:09 38 mins: Chance for Weimann - Delph does well to close down Kompany in the right-back position, and the Belgian takes a touch too many, is dispossessed and the ball breaks to Weimann. He powers towards goal, but scuffs his shot and Kompany gets away with one. 6.07pm BST18:07 37 mins: Kolarov goes for subtlety (ish) and curls the ball over the wall, but curls it too far and it just keeps on keepin’ on, past the post. 6.06pm BST18:06 36 mins: City have a free-kick from about 30 yards, which Kolarov is eyeing up. Meanwhile... pic.twitter.com/qjWMvMisGD 6.05pm BST18:05 34 mins: Close for City again, as the ball breaks to Dzeko in the area, but he puts it over the bar. Pellegrini reacts like he’s just seen someone hit over the head by a ladder, carelessly carried over the shoulder of a hapless workman. Updated at 6.14pm BST 6.02pm BST18:02 32 mins: Terrific defending from Kompany, who slides one of those occasionally ungainly looking legs to intercept a smashing through pass by Westwood. Were it not for the City skipper’s intervention, Weimann would’ve been through on goal there. 6.01pm BST18:01 31 mins: The City goal is vaguely, briefly in danger, but only from an overhit cross by Hutton, deep on the right, that drifts just over the bar and causes a moment’s pause for Hart. 5.59pm BST17:59 29 mins: Yeesh, that was close. When Kolarov is bad he’s horrid, but when he’s good he whips in crosses like the one he just whipped in, out from the left at pace and directly onto the bonce of Aguero in the middle. He gets his head to the ball, but it flashes just - just - wide of the far post. 5.58pm BST17:58 27 mins: Curious free-kick from City deep in Villa territory. It eventually moves out to James Milner on the right, but he dithers for too long and passes back, the ball eventually ending up with Zabaleta, which seems a waste. 5.56pm BST17:56 25 mins: N’Zogbia does well to fashion a chance for himself, skipping past Fernandinho in the Villa half before advancing at pace towards the City goal. He has options left and right, but instead he chooses to shoot from about 25 yards out, and although Hart puts in the full dive, that went comfortably wide. Updated at 7.24pm BST 5.54pm BST17:54 24 mins: First booking of the day, and it’s perhaps not a galloping shock that it’s Kolarov. He hacks down Alan Hutton on the Villa right and the yellow is flashed. 5.53pm BST17:53 23 mins: City nearly in again, but once more Guzan advances rapidly from his line and smothers the ball before Aguero can get there. Unrelated, but the Argentinean seems to be limping a little. 5.52pm BST17:52 22 mins: First half-chance for Villa, as Charles N’Zogbia inswings a cross from the right looking for Weimann and he gets a toe to it, but the Austrian is just offside. 5.51pm BST17:51 21 mins: Aly Cissokho gives the ball away and City launch a counter-attack. Aguero breaks through the middle then feeds Dzeko on the right side of the penalty area, but just as he pulls his foot back to shoot Nathan Baker appears to put in a hefty, but fair challenge to snuff out the danger. 5.50pm BST17:50 19 mins: The hungry dog tactic works again for Villa, as City try to build an attack which is firstly stopped by the home pressing, forcing their one-touch passing back, back, back, and eventually possession is conceded. Solid, unspectacular stuff from Paul Lambert’s men so far, even if they are playing like an away team. 5.47pm BST17:47 17 mins: The sense that Touré isn’t quite at it this season isn’t helped by a pass that, in theory was meant for Aguero on the right, but the midfielder didn’t spot the forward’s run infield, and the ball heads sadly out towards the touchline. 5.45pm BST17:45 14 mins: Aguero plays Kolarov in down the left side of the area, Edin Dzeko makes the run to the near post but the cross is propelled high, high and higher over the far post. Chance wasted by City there. 5.43pm BST17:43 13 mins: Cleverley winds up for a shot like an old-fashioned comedy boxer winding up for a haymaker, but nippy little David Silva nips in to nip the ball off his toes before he can connect. 5.42pm BST17:42 12 mins: City nearly have another chance, as Yaya Toure delays a pass and finally threads one through the Villa defence, but Brad Guzan is alert enough to dash out and get there before Aguero and, curiously, Pablo Zabaleta. Updated at 5.52pm BST 5.41pm BST17:41 11 mins: Oooh - that’ll do. Sergio Aguero roams across the edge of the box looking for a shooting chance, which he eventually finds but his effort is blocked, blocked into the path of Kolarov. He does what Kolarov does and belts the thing goalwards, but it takes a deflection and pings off the outside of the post. 5.40pm BST17:40 10 mins: That the last update concerned itself with something that nearly happened should probably tell you that this game hasn’t quite got going yet. 5.39pm BST17:39 9 mins: City engage in some, to use a technical term, ‘dicking about’ with the ball in defence, but eventually just give it a good old-fashioned hoy upfield to clear the danger. Danger that they nearly created for themselves. 5.37pm BST17:37 6 mins: Aleksandr Kolarov, the man with eyes that suggest he could kill you seven different ways with his belt, puts in a late, hard challenge that leaves Tom Cleverley vexed, to say the least. No booking though, which is a slight surprise. 5.36pm BST17:36 5 mins: City haven’t really had a chance to put their foot on the thing yet, largely because Villa are closing them down like hungry dogs. Really hungry dogs. Dogs who have eaten a single sandwich and realise that isn’t enough, so they want a bag of crisps or a banana or something. 5.33pm BST17:33 3 mins: Weimann has the first sort-of chance of the game, shooting from just outside the area, but it’s fairly easily blocked and nowt comes of the chance. 5.30pm BST17:30 1 min: And we’re off. City are wearing a dark blue number with a lighter blue bit at the bottom of their shirts. Just so you know. 5.26pm BST17:26 Update: Ashley Westwood leads Villa out. You can relax now this vital knowledge is yours. 5.24pm BST17:24 See. Wasn’t fibbing. Late change to the Villa line-up. Gabby Agbonlahor felt unwell in the warm-up and has been replaced by @AndiWeimann. #AVFCLIVE #AVFC #MCFC 5.23pm BST17:23 Uh oh. Carlos Tighe writes in: “Not only have you got my knickers in a twist over your defence faux pas, but you seem to think Vincent Kompany is captain of the whole game. Villa too small a club to have their own captain?” This is unravelling before the game has even begun. Profound apologies. Although, as it happens Agbonlahor was supposed to be Villa skipper, so that’s one’s a bit up in the air. Guzan? England’s Fabian Delph? 5.13pm BST17:13 Breaking team news update STOP EVERYTHING! STUFF HAS CHANGED! IT’S ALL DIFFERENT NOW! Word reaches us that Gaby Agbonlahor has done himself a boo-boo in the warm-up and thus won’t be playing today. Andi Weimann will take his place in the Villa attack. 5.06pm BST17:06 Just spotted a possible faux pas in the team news. The Manchester City defence was presented as one might offer them in traditional number order, which is to say 2, 3, 5, 6, whereas the Villa players were reported left to right, thus 2, 5, 6, 3. Doing this sort of thing incorrectly can make some people rather cross (although it is the sort of thing that might annoy George Costanza if he was a football fan), but it’s arguably worse to mix and match, to not take a side, and instead confuse matters. For this, accept the Guardian’s profuse apologies. 4.51pm BST16:51 Roy Keane’s got a book out shortly, and he’ll thump you if you don’t read it. Here’s Emma John to take a look at an autumn of guilty pleasures in the sporting literature world. Eighty-one shopping days to Christmas, and pins are silently being pulled from hand grenades. On Thursday, Pietersen’s offering will jostle territorially in the bookshops with Roy Keane’s new autobiography, The Second Half. It will surprise no one, of course, that Keane found he had too much to get off his chest for a single volume. The man still has bridges, not to mention people, that he’s keen to burn. Updated at 6.08pm BST 4.47pm BST16:47 Have you got room at your place for a 1650mm long x 1500mm wide x 950mm high and 115kg heavy football table? Would you like it to be signed by the Chelsea squad? Are you free on November 20 to take part in a ‘Chelsea FC Training Experience’ at Chelsea’s Cobham Training Ground? If so, this competition might be just the thing for you. 4.42pm BST16:42 Bit of a weird Villa team, there. Sure, keep things tight against a team like City, but to play one up front at home, with that one being Gaby Agbonlahor, the man who is perhaps the human embodiment of the phrase ‘willing runner’, seems...hmmm. Still, the big news for Villa might be on the bench, where Christian Benteke is, involved for the first time since March after banjaxing his Achilles in a big way. 4.33pm BST16:33 Team news Aston Villa Guzan; Hutton, Senderos, Baker, Cissokho; Delph, Westwood, Cleverley, Richardson, N’Zogbia; Agbonlahor. Subs: Given, Bacuna, Clark, Sanchez, Bent, Weimann, Benteke. Manchester City Hart; Zabaleta, Kolarov, Kompany (C), Mangala; Milner, Fernandinho, Toure, Silva; Dzeko, Aguero. Subs: Caballero, Demichelis, Sagna, Lampard, Navas, Jovetic Fernando. Referee: Chris Foy. 4.30pm BST16:30 Preamble Rubén Cousillas seems like a nice enough bloke. Just like the man to whom he is assistant, Manuel Pellegrini, Cousillas looks as if he’d be splendid company over a nice glass of red, discussing highbrow entertainment of some description and possibly a spot of light philosophy. However, if for some reason there was an assistant managers’ Royal Rumble, in which all the No.2s in the land are thrown into a ring and made to duke it out for the title of Premier League’s Hardest Right-Hand Man, then only a fool or his mother would stake significant currency on him emerging victorious. Particularly if his opposite number this evening has a significant say in matters. Roy Keane’s beard has become a character in itself this season, people apparently thoroughly confused at the concept of a man’s chin, being left to its own devices, could spontaneously sprout hair, hair that will remain until either clippers or razor is applied. Still, if it’s the beard that is making Aston Villa play quite well so far this season, then hats off to the facial hair, because at the start of the season it looked like their ragtag bunch of no-hopers would somehow be made worse with the addition of an even more ragtag bunch of bigger no-hopers. Joe Cole, Kieran Richardson and Phillipe Senderos reads like a list of ‘Oh, are they still playing?’ rather than a collection of players who would help revive the fortunes of an underperforming team. Still, their start to the season hasn’t been that good. They’ve only actually scored four goals in six games, and they’re in the middle of an absolutely frightful run of fixtures, their last two games having been versus Arsenal and Chelsea, and then of course there’s today, when Manchester City are welcomed to Villa Park, their coats taken and asked to remove their shoes so as to not get muck on the new carpet. City themselves aren’t exactly whooping it up as one might have assumed they would, having made heavy weather of beating Hull last weekend, and left themselves firmly behind the black in the Champions League. It’s the defending that seems to be the problem, with Eliaquim Mangala’s performances at present resembling Tyler Durden-levels of split personality, if instead of forming an underground boxing club Tyler Durden wore a beret and hurtled down a hill at high speed on rollerskates, as well as the customary rarely-mentioned ricks by Vincent Kompany. Pellegrini at least seems aware of the problem: One of the things we did last year was improving clean sheets. We had a second half of the season with a lot of clean sheets but the same thing as I said about other things, at this moment last year we conceded more goals. But of course we cannot concede five goals in three [Premier League] games. We scored seven and we draw two games and won one, but it’s too much. Quite so, Manuel. No flies on this lad. We shall see if he’s got that nailed in the time to come. Teams to follow presently. |