I think that’s definitely true, we covered a lot of ground pressing in the first half and I don’t recall us actually winning the ball high off them that much. They sucked in our entire midfield and were drilling balls in to the feet of Watkins as he made deeper runs in to the large space in the midfield. They played our press well

Trossard’s miss in the first half was the moment. If we get the lead I think we’d be good enough to sit in deeper and defend it

.
Let's face it second half Villa were the much better team , they passed the ball with greater zip , took up better positions , looked as if they had a game plan .
whereas we seemed to be pushing the ball here there everywhere hoping something might happen .

Must admit I felt ominous forebodings when I saw the teams in the tunnel and Martinez was opposite Raya ... Raya looked like a midget .

Should he have been that far out for the second goal ...?

We’ve done ok with injuries this year but even so losing timber and Partey for virtually the entire season has meant we lacked the ability to rotate as much. City lost de Bruyne for 2/3 of this season and didn’t really miss a beat.
Everyone knows our spine, Saliba, Gabriel, Rice, Ødegaard, Saka and White to an extent - we haven’t really been able to have the confidence to rotate any of them this season. They play every game

We created a higher xG than Villa today. Certainly didn’t feel like it. Villa were more clinical with what they created and the chances that were very nearly goals that hit the woodwork would have been quite low on the xG

I think we need to get Tomiyasu back in to left back for the next game, or Kiwior again. Then bring Jorginho back in to control the play in the middle

Something has changed this season where we’ve moved on from 3 of our most important cogs last year, Zinchenko, Partey and Jesus.

We can all talk about tiredness and lack of rotation as one of the defining issues but let's be honest we don't have the game changers that City have, especially with the balls to do something exceptional when it is needed the most. De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Rodrigo, Foden to name but a few. How many crucial passes and goals have that quarter come up with over the years, especially in big games. Our only player of a similar ilk is Saka.

Martinelli has not been the same player this season and so so much of our attacking play has had to go though Saka.

You can't play brilliantly in every match but if you have enough game changers you always have a chance.

City beat this Villa team 4-1 at home recently, except it wasn’t THIS Villa team. Martinez and Watkins were ruled out with 1 game injuries and Emery left other key players on the bench, he kind of threw the game. Then went full strength here.
No blame to him, he did what was best for Villa and it worked. He would probably lose to city at full strength but felt he could beat us. No less frustrating though

Agreed with this. We don’t have the player(s) who dog you out of tro now with a moment of individual brilliance and against the run of play. Who in our team gets the ball and just smacks it in the top corner from 25 yards? Or burns past 2-3 defenders cuts inside and slams it home? It’s no disgrace to not have those players - there aren’t many of them in the world. But those players have dug City out of holes when the rest of the team isn’t playing well. The sort of thing Henry used to do for us all to e time

We still have not overcome the mental issues we have in these pressure games. We've seen it europe, even in the Porto games, and today for the first time in a while we saw it in the PL.

Hope that doesn’t mess with their heads for Wednesday.

Yep, people forget that even the Invincibles we were crap in some games but quite often Henry or Pires or Bergkamp dug them out of a hole with a moment of genius.

So so gutted.
Should have been clear in the first half but second half we just seemed to have no answer to villa. Almost like we ran out of ideas and steam.
Not sure if I despise a player more than Martinez and his cocky little *%^@*** face.
Just typical he has come back and probably ruined our title hopes.
We have to win every game simple as that.
The only way I can see city dropping points is away to Brighton or spurs.
Just hope it stays as top 4 and not top 5 so spurs will be forced to go for it in their battle with villa.

I think a big thing for this team, Martinelli aside, is the lack of pace up front. Saka doesn’t have separation pace and to be honest I can’t actually tell how fast he is.

I’ve seen Trossard Jesus and Havertz go clear so many times recently, including this game, only to get caught each time.

We played on Tuesday, whereas Villa played on Thursday. As far as I know, they have played more games than us this season. To my eyes, this was a performance like those in the second half of last season. Zinchenko making the backline less secure and Jesus huffing and puffing up front but not particularly dangerous. What has been so impressive for the last few months is our fantastic team defence. Our centre backs are great but also get plenty of protection. Put Zinchenko in there and Gabriel is having to cover the left back position and that defence is considerably less secure.

However many excuses you try to make for that 2nd half no show there really are none. We should have been fresher and we were at home. It was like somebody flicked a switch at half-time and all our desire and hunger to win a title just left the pitch.

Hmmm not sure on this. There are countless examples of us doing very well in pressure games - the 4 fixtures v Liverpool and City yielded 4 more points this year and the draw at Anfield was far more controlled than last years draw.
The press will go in to overdrive about the mental fragility but I don’t see it that way. Sometimes you just don’t play well and you lose a game. I think for some people they will always look for the weak mentality explanation until you win something. Last season have more credibility to that theory because we led and led a few games comfortably before being pegged back - we panicked a bit. This season hasn’t been that, we just haven’t played well enough in some games and have dropped points

Priorities for summer transfer window:

1. A proper striker
2. More pace up front

A problem we have is that the ‘depth’ whilst all talented players seemingly aren’t trusted by Mikel, and probably rightly so based on what we’ve seen. So we are carrying kind of passengers on the bench who can’t step in to the first 11 and rarely make a difference from the bench, rotation is massively risky.
Nketiah, Nelsen, Vieira, Smith-Rowe - there is a case for all of them moving on in the summer. Partey could easily be moved on as well, plus players like Ramsdale and the guys on loan.
Take them all out and you’re left with
Raya
Timber, white, Tomiyasu, gabriel, Saliba, Kiwior, Zinchenko
Rice, Jorginho, Ødegaard, Havertz
Saka, Martinelli, Jesus, Trossard

Other than the obvious back up gk I think it’s clear that another 2 midfielders are required, plus a centre forward and a winger. And i think we need another top centre half to be able to rotate our main pair.

And I’d say I would have thought all of this before todays match

Indeed. Watkins was fantastic today as he has been all season. Yet I still think he’s a tier below the elite. Shows what we’re missing.
Watching Isak recently shows what he could add to our attack. There really is something about him.

City won the treble and spent £200m on Gvardiol, Nunes, Kovacic and Doku. I’m not sure any of them are first 11 when everyone is fit but they all come in and just do a job enough to go and let the likes of Foden, de Bruyne, Bernardo and haaland to do the business.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they won the treble again

We play twice before City play again in the league. We must win them both and at least put some pressure back on them. Something we failed to do last season after it felt like we’d thrown it away, we let them canter to the title. 1 draw for City and we still have a chance.

I do think that the run-in, as Ferguson famously said, is squeaky bum time.

It separates the men from the boys. You have to find a way to handle the pressure and find a way to win. Today we found a way to lose the game.

Another issue is that we have three players playing the no.9 role, two of whom are neither clinical or prolific (Jesus and Havertz) and one of whom is quite clinical but lacking in other parts of his game such that he doesn't get much playing time (Nketiah).

Trossard as a false 9 is a possibility and Martinelli as a 9 is still an unproven option.

You might argue that scoring goals is not an issue for us but there comes a point in the really, really high class games where an elite finisher is the difference maker.

I get that but I think it’s too black and white. Win the title and you’re mentally perfect. Don’t win it and you’re mentally weak. Liverpool under Klopp have only ever lost the title on a tight run in. The one time they won the league they were 20 points ahead coming in to the run in. They could cruise it under no pressure, would people consider Klopp’s Liverpool teams mentally weak?
Ultimately too many people give it a binary importance. Win and you’re brilliant lose and you’re a failure

Obviously I’m gutted by today’s result even though I didn’t think we were going to win all our remaining games. It’s more the 2nd half performance which was so disappointing as Villa just took control and we were unable to wrestle it back. Is it a case of not having the squad when we needed to rotate because I thought we lacked energy and sharpness in the 2nd half.

Losing at home to Villa on a perfect day on a perfect pitch in the manner we did, with two extra days rest as well, does not inspire confidence that our mental issues are behind us.

Infact, I'd say the last few games of the season in a title run-in are almost more of a mental challenge than they are a physical challenge.

If we bounce back with a top display against Bayern I might revisit my argument but at this point it looks like a mentally weak second half display today.

I'm not taking anything away from Villa who were superb.

I don't think Arteta trusts his back-ups enough to give them the playing time during the season that would make them viable options now. We needed a goal but Nketiah never got a sniff, Martinelli isn't firing on all cyclinders but Nelson isn't an option it seems.

For the second season in a row we have overplayed our key players and they look mentally and physically exhausted just when we need them at their best levels.

True ... because there is this perception , that no matter how many points Arsenal are in front there will be a mini collapse that will derail our title challenge .

With the disaster mid week and todays ; every bloke and his dog can start sniggering BOTTLERS and it does appear that way .

An optimistic view might be to say .... "Okay we've done bloody well this season but the title was a "Bridge too Far " without a proper out and out striker , rectify that in the summer and next year will be our year .

Still seething from the loss

Too gutted to post yesterday. That one hurt.

Got to the ground 30 minutes before kick off and when I entered block 133 nearly everyone in the lower tier was focussed on the TVs. Almost went to turn right to go up the stairs but thought hang on I’ll check. To my amazement palace we’re beating the scousers. Such an opportunity.

I can’t really add much to what has already been said apart from it was such an energy less performance in the 2nd half and how we didn’t score in the first I don’t know.

It's not about mentality stop that silliness because we have that we just don’t have enough firepower within the squad to maintain the pace we need. Highlighted the obvious need for a striker but for me we need a 2nd playmaker in the mix as too much burden is placed on Ødegaard. We also just haven’t got enough off the bench. Eddie, Emile Smith Rowe and vieira. Just not good enough to win titles and where does that leave you. With several players dead on their feet.

I think if the club intend on maintaining a title push next year some difficult decisions may need to be made on certain players and I’m not talking about the obvious departures of Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie but those who have featured heavily and not really produced

Bollocks nevermind.

He’s been playing with 12 stitches in a bad laceration in his foot. The stitches were still in for the last game he played even. Must have an impact

But overplaying the best players had got us to 1st place with 7 games to go. Where in the season could we have rested players for a significant period and still have got all the results we have? Bernardo Silva has been rested for 9 league games this season by Pep.

Tthe trusting back ups also goes hand in hand with the other point made about not having enough match winners who have those moments of brilliance from nowhere. You can afford to trust your back ups if you have de Bruyne smashing one in the top corner from 30 yards to bail you out. When people say winning when not playing well is the sign of champions it’s often because a special player has done something special to bail them out. We don’t have that. Liverpool have it but they don’t have the ability to control games like we do. City have both the individuals and the control

The prem is becoming the bundesliga. Bayern/City win every year. Leverkusen have had to go unbeaten all season to win there, Liverpool got 82 points out of 87 in the first 29 games to win the title here.
City haven’t even been on their best form this season!

The sooner those charges are bought the better. It’s a farce how long it’s taken for them to be heard considering how quickly Everton and Forest were dealt with. People say they were quicker because they complied with the process, well not complying should carry an automatic points deduction in itself. Everton got 6 points for 1 breach. City have 115 breaches.

No matter what happens to City the league has been tainted since they and Chelsea ‘arrived’. Even if the charges are massive and titles are stripped it’s like being given the Olympic gold after a drugs cheat failed their test. You didn’t get to celebrate your win to feel like you did win it.

The continued City thing has me so frustrated. You can play how we have for so long and 1 bad 45 minutes possibly loses you the title to those cheats. We obviously can only control 2 of City’s results, but if the rest of the league really want to do something about it I would love to see something ridiculously outrageous like every single team declared they will forfeit their matches v City each year as a form of protest. City win every game 3-0 but never get to take the field. Of course this never happens but it would spark action! The league would become a laughing stock

Well done to Xhaka and his teammates.

https://www.football365.com/news/emery- ... la-watkins

So the media decided Emery was a laughing stock during his time at Arsenal, they constantly ridiculed and belittled him, now he comes back and is doing well for Villa and the same media delight in telling people he’s proven them wrong.

If the season lasted 30 games we'd be back to back champions. We were either too tired, felt too much pressured or both.

Not to make excuses but I think the CL had a huge impact on us. To what extent, is hard to know. I also will say had Timber stayed healthy, we'd be a much different side. From what I saw in the Charity Shield I think the defense would have been even better. He can play all across the back line and he's better than even Ben White going forward. Far more two footed than White. With him healthy next year, a different story.

Arteta had a mid table showing. I think had we stuck with Emery we'd be fairly close to where we are now, but the problem would have been how long it would have taken. It would have taken longer.