Game #5020
Aston Villa
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Lost
4th (-)
Last 5: 🟨 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟥
Premier League
Attendance: 40,137
Manchester City
City of Manchester Stadium
State of Abu Dhabi
2-0
Aston Villa
Assist(s) | None
MATCH SUMMARY
Villa lose for the second time in three League games as Martin O'Neill's European gamble continues to spectacularly fail as Villa lose to a Mark Hughes led Manchester City featuring 'talents' of the likes of Ched Evans. As a result Villa remain in 4th but are now six points behind joint second placed Chelsea and Liverpool and thirteen behind leaders Manchester United further placing O'Neill's decision making in the spotlight.
KEY MAN
Ashley Young, added width but to no avail.
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Copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission.
MATCH TIMELINE
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
🟨 | 23’ Booking, James Milner
🥅 | 24’ Goal, (Manchester City, pen), Elano
🕒 | HT Manchester City 1-0 Aston Villa
🔁 | 46’ Sub off, Curtis Davies, Sub on, John Carew
🟨 | 56’ Booking, Gareth Barry
🔁 | 88’ Sub off, Carlos Cuéllar, Sub on, Craig Gardner
🥅 | 89’ Goal, (Manchester City), Shaun Wright-Phillips
🕒 | FT Manchester City 2-0 Aston Villa
ON THIS DAY
Villa's wobble becomes a wave as Martin O'Neill's team are without a win in six, losing four, out of the UEFA Cup and with one point of a possible nine in the Premier League having come off a run of nine wins in thirteen League games unbeaten. Villa had now played 45 games and perhaps inevitably, a small squad, with only 12 genuine first team quality players, was struggling under the demands of such an extended campaign.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96
Manchester City
European Cup / Champions League: ❌
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1975-76
FIXTURE HISTORY
Manchester City
Previous 5 vs. Abu Dhabi: 🟥 🟩 🟥 🟨 🟩
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 2008-09 |
Matchday | #45 |
League Game | #28 |
Manager Game | #128 |
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: Martin O’Neill | 🇬🇧 | County Londonderry, 2006-2010
Referee: Chris Foy | 🏴 | St. Helens, 1996-2015
Kick off: 7.45pm
HT Score: 🟥 0-1
FT Score: 🟥 0-2
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
Last 5: 🟨 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟥
MANAGERIAL RECORD
Martin O'Neill | 🇬🇧 |
GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME
🕒 128 | 🟩 | 52 🟨 | 41 🟥 35 | 1.54
Villa Career Form:
Top 8
ALL THE MATCHES LED BY:
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Chris Foy | 🏴 | St. Helens, 1996-2015
Previous 5: 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟨
Last Match: 🟨 22 Nov 08, Villa 0-0 United (h)
Cards: 🟨 🟨 🟨
Assistants: Michael Murphy, Bob Pollock
ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:
CARDS
Villa
🟨 🟨
Manchester City
🟨
TEAM NEWS
Martin O'Neill names an unchanged line up.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 27.82 |
Oldest Player |
GK Brad Friedel | 🇺🇸 | 37.82 |
Youngest Player |
F Gabriel Agbonlahor | 🏴 | 22.41 |
MANAGER
Martin O'Neill | 🇬🇧 |
Aston Villa
GK Brad Friedel | 🇺🇸 |
CB Carlos Cuéllar | 🇪🇸 | 🔁 |
CB Curtis Davies | 🏴 | 🔁 |
CB Zat Knight | 🏴 |
RB Luke Young | 🏴 |
M Stiliyan Petrov | 🇧🇬 |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴 | 🟨 |
W Ashley Young | 🏴 |
W James Milner | 🏴 | 🟨 |
CF Emile Heskey | 🏴 |
F Gabriel Agbonlahor | 🏴 |
MANAGER
Mark Hughes | 🏴 |
Manchester City
GK Shay Given | 🇮🇪 |
RB Pablo Zabaleta | 🇦🇷 |
CB Nedum Onuoha | 🏴 |
CB Richard Dunne | 🇮🇪 |
CB Vincent Kompany | 🇧🇪 |
LB Wayne Bridge | 🏴 |
M Elano | 🇧🇷 | ⚽ | 🔁 |
M Nigel de Jong | 🇳🇱 | 🔁 |
M Stephen Ireland | 🇮🇪 |
W Shaun Wright-Phillips | 🏴 | ⚽ |
CF Felipe Calcedo | 🇪🇨 | 🟨 | 🔁 |
Not necessarily indicative of the actual matchday formation
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 CF John Carew | 🇳🇴 | for CB Curtis Davies | 🏴 | 46’ |
🔁 M Craig Gardner | 🏴 | for CB Carlos Cuéllar | 🇪🇸 | 88’ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | M Elano | 🇧🇷 | ⚽ | (CF Valeri Bozhinov | 🇧🇬 |)
🔁 | M Nigel de Jong | 🇳🇱 | (M Gelson Fernandes |🇨🇭|)
🔁 | CF Felipe Calcedo | 🇪🇨 | 🟨 | (CF Ched Evans | 🏴 |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Brad Guzan | 🇺🇸 |
LB Nicky Shorey | 🏴 |
M Nigel Reo-Coker | 🏴 |
CF Marlon Harewood | 🏴 |
F Nathan Delfouneso | 🏴 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Joe Hart | 🏴 |
CB Gláuber | 🇧🇷 |
LB Javier Garrido | 🇪🇸 |
CF Darius Vassell (ex) | 🏴 |
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 8/11
Homegrown: 2/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 13/18
Homegrown: 4/18
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
Abu Dhabi - six months into their project to create a football club from nothing - field a team featuring just one of the side that faced Villa in August.
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 3/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 6/18
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Not recorded
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
Player Positions:
GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half
M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward
Match Symbols:
⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution
🟨 | Booking
🟥 | Sending off
🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game
DEBUT APPEARANCES
FINAL APPEARANCES
MATCH STATS
Possession F | 52%
Possession A | 48%
Shots F | 6
Shots A | 12
Shots on Target F | 3
Shots on Target A | 4
Corners F | 5
Corners A | 6
Fouls F | 11
Fouls A | 9
LEAGUE TABLE
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
MATCHDAY QUOTES
"We didn't play well enough in the first half. We just did not get to grips with the game early on.
"We came out with determination and we had plenty of the ball in the second half. We were camped around their area but we couldn't break through.
"It is disappointing but we are still in the fight. It has been a bad few days - but that cannot be helped now."
Martin O'Neill.
*Sky Sports*
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
*City extend Villa’s wobble*
Manchester City ensured Aston Villa continue to wobble in the battle for a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League with a 2-0 win at Eastlands on Wednesday night.
Villa began the campaign with sights firmly set on breaking the stranglehold of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal in the Premier League and, for the majority, Martin O’Neill’s men have looked ready to disrupt the ‘Big Four’.
However, a penalty from Elano and a late strike from Shaun Wright-Phillips, on the back of Sunday’s home surrender of a two-goal lead against relegation-fighting Stoke, stretched Villa’s winless run to six games in all competitions and further nudged the door open for fifth-placed Arsenal and chasing Everton.
The gap between Villa and the Gunners is now only three points, and the former - who had arrived at City hoping to notch a club-record eighth successive away win in the league - never truly looked like extending their narrow advantage.
So fragile on their travels, yet contrastingly creative and assured in the east of Manchester, City, who racked up their ninth home win, dominated the first half and were rewarded in the 24th minute when Elano converted from the penalty spot after James Milner had felled Wright-Phillips.
Villa came to life after the interval, but City delivered a hammer blow with 60 seconds left on the clock as Wright-Phillips slotted past Brad Friedel following an excellent give-and-go with Stephen Ireland.
Ever since his ill-advised TV interview earlier in the season in which he questioned why Mark Hughes kept leaving him out, Elano has maintained an uneasy public truce with his manager.
There are plenty who suggest the Brazilian remains a disruptive influence behind the scenes and there have certainly been times when he has appeared something short of a consummate team man.
*Consistent*
Yet, should Hughes somehow find the formula for getting consistent performances from the former Shakhtar Donetsk player, City could really start a surge up the table.
After all, Elano was one of the main reasons why the Blues found themselves in the Champions League slots last December, an honour that now belongs to their latest opponents.
With Robinho and Craig Bellamy both missing through injury, Hughes was able to offer Elano the kind of free role behind a lone frontman - in this case the ineffective Felipe Caicedo - that he craves.
The response, if not exactly energetic, was certainly enthusiastic and it was his pass to Wright-Phillips that brought the hosts their penalty in the first place.
Wright-Phillips had found himself in a similar position moments earlier, when Ireland was the provider.
Amazingly, with just Friedel to beat, the England international slipped his shot wide.
Wright-Phillips did not get that far on the second occasion. Having been caught the wrong side of his man, Milner attempted the tackle and succeeded only in tripping his opponent.
Friedel almost made amends with a flying dive to his right. Unfortunately for Villa, Elano’s spot-kick was just too good.
Hughes was convinced City should have had a second spot-kick when Caicedo went down under Carlos Cuellar’s challenge but referee Chris Foy did not quite see it the same way.
*Commitment*
Unlike Elano, Wright-Phillips’ commitment has never been questioned and the England international kept the Villa defence on their toes with a succession of mazy runs on his return from a three-match ban.
Yet it also had to be said it was a pale imitation of the Villa side who have impressed so many this season.
Their poor run of form seemed to have drained O’Neill’s men of confidence.
The response to a tepid first-half performance was for O’Neill to introduce John Carew for Curtis Davies, a substitution that triggered a number of positional changes, including Gabriel Agbonlahor taking up a wider position.
It suggested an aerial bombardment, but instead it brought more width, which Ashley Young relished.
After seizing the initiative without managing to put Shay Given under any pressure, Agbonlahor finally created a chance for Villa with a superb pass to Gareth Barry, whose first-time volley would have crept in if Given had not got down by his post to bundle it away.
The visitors’ offensive forced City - expertly marshalled at the back by the outstanding Richard Dunne - to play on the counter-attack. Crucially though, it gave them space to exploit.
Substitute Ched Evans’ magnificent first touch was a chested lay-off, which Elano struck sweetly, only for Friedel to make a superb save.
On this evidence, it was perfectly simple to work out why Sven Goran Eriksson paid £8million for Elano - and why Hughes felt he needed to splash out slightly less to get Given from Newcastle.
The Republic of Ireland international produced another blinding stop to deny Young. It was the last chance Villa created. And to rub salt into their wounds, Wright-Phillips capitalised on Ireland’s pass at the end to seal the win for City.