Top Stories

Manchester City 3, Aston Villa 0: Match Highlights

Comments

  1. I agree, and this is something no one is talking about here: on the third goal Ciaran Clark fails to clear, heading it directly to Silva. That’s where the responsibility lies; directly with Clark. The substitution was coming anyway (as Bradley’s characteristic hustle was all too infrequent) but the fact that the goal happened right before is merely coincidence in my book.

    Reply
  2. I wasn’t able to catch the game, but from these highlights, I’d say Bradley’s first start with Villa wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t impressive either. I disagree that Bradley should shoulder most of the blame for any of the goals. On the third, however, I was surprised to see him stop short on challenging Silva, especially since the Mikey I know and love is usually all about hustle. I don’t think he had much of a chance of stopping the shot, but it would have been nice to see him try.

    I think the move to the EPL will pay off for Bradley in the long run, and look forward to seeing how he performs in the future for Villa.

    Reply
  3. Yeah I thought that as soon as it happened. He wasn’t pressuring Toure which lead to that amazing pass that set up Balotelli for the 2nd. Bradley looked good at times but completely lost and slow at other crucial times.

    Reply
  4. I mean Bradley should not have had to do anything for that third goal. What a terrible pass out of the back. Who passes right to the middle of the park just at the edge of the 18 yd box? I will agree though that Bradley was partially at fault since he didn’t track his man, but that was bad by the defender as well.

    Reply
  5. That would be good. We’ll see if Houllier agrees. Since he pulled Bradley right after the third gaol, he must’ve been none too pleased, with or without the benefit of tape to review. I’m with Dancy above..in that I think Bradley could have done a lot to prevent both the the 2nd and the 3rd goals. My guess is Houllier felt that way, too.

    Reply
  6. If anything the second gaol is worst than the third for MB. On the third, he turns and loses track of Silva. He doesn’t exactly hustle over there, but he didn’t have a chance once he let him get away like that. On the second goal, he just jogs in Toure’s direction, allegedly playing some defense — never appreciating the danger.

    Dude’s gotta start doing some running. He’s famous for his hustle, but it’s mostly absent in his defending yesterday. Actually, though, I noticed the same thing with Jermaine Jones when he went to Blackburn, Maybe it’s a Bundesliga to EPL thing?

    Reply
  7. Some spellbinding analysis of the Bradley-Zapruder film . . . was there a second man on the grassy pitch for the 3rd goal?

    Happy he finally got some burn, Petrov’s days are numbered and if Makoun was that complete a player, he would have been in the premiership a few years ago, he has been looked off by most teams but Houllier knew him from his time at O Lyon.

    Bradley will break through, and there will be hours of tape to analyze.

    Reply
  8. Not seeing it. There were two men going to the ball and a third sitting back next to Friedel. One of those three guys could have stepped out on Silva also. The defense wasn’t well organized so you can’t blame Bradley for that entirely.

    No one blamed him for the second goal because it was a 30 pass over the top to a guy who should have been marked better by three guys.

    Bradley looked lost and lethargic but you all make it sound like he played like Bornstein.

    Reply
  9. Ahmm….watch the third goal again from the 2:35 mark. Bradley is a few feet from the goal scorer, Silva, when the ball is played into the corner. Silva runs by him and Mikey doesn’t react at all. There is no one else for Bradley to cover and he absolutely should have been following. It is a big mistake and leads to a goal. The fact that he let Silva run wide open into the box on a cross is not negated by the fact that the cross didn’t go directly to Silva.

    If anything I was surprised so many people thought he deserved no blame at all for the third goal. Plus no one mentioned that he was the closest player to the assist giver on the second. The build up isn’t clear, so it very likely wasn’t his fault at all. Still, I am surprised I didn’t see it mentioned elsewhere.

    It was a nice overlapping run early in the highlights.

    Reply
  10. I was thinking the exact same thing. Lots of comments about him and the third goal, he was way too far away to make an impact on that goal and there were other Villa players who were near enough to have done better.

    Reply
  11. first!

    After reading some comments on the last post I figured I would see some horrible mistakes by Bradley, but that didn’t happen. I enjoyed the announcers praising his run off the ball and also seeing his bald head shine around the field. I am excited. I think this is a good move for him and I think given time he can really shine in the EPL.

    Reply

Leave a Comment