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Ricardo's report v Villa

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Another stupid kick off time but at least we timed our arrival better and were in our seats with a little over five minutes to spare. After a grey, mild morning the sun began to break through just as we kicked off, bathing the stadium in light. Farke decided to continue with the four at the back but the inclusion of Alex Tetty, gave things a more solid look.City bossed the early possession and although it was very neat and tidy it was mostly sideways and backwards with little action in either final third. Murphy galloped away a couple of times down the left and did at least register a shot on target although Johnstone had little trouble in fielding it. At our end, Gunn had to punch away a cross when Villa finally exerted a bit of pressure but in all truth both keepers could have been sitting in the pub for all the action that was required from them. Vrancic won a free kick in a central position but Maddison''s radar was well off as his kick whizzed yards over.The opening half hour was almost entirely bereft of goalmouth action and although City dominated there was little to raise the blood pressure. Tim Klose eventually decided to make a foray into the opposition box on thirty six minutes and his presence was enough for a loose Villa clearance to fall to Marco Vrancic only for a sliced shot to fly high and wide. As we moved into time added Murphy, who had switched wings, cut in from the right and loosed off a screamer from twenty five yards that bent into the top corner off the far post. Johnstone could have had arm extensions and a step ladder and still not reached it. A goal of the season in my opinion and totally out of keeping with the rest of the game.At the half we discussed the goal and my son thought it on a par with Justin Fashanu''s against Liverpool until I reminded him that Fash had received the ball with his back to goal before swiveling and smashing it in. All the same, I have to agree that Murph''s was one hell of a strike.It must have given the boy confidence because he was at the heart of things in the early moments of the second half as City continued to come forward. Villa struggled to clear a corner and were second best as the home side won most of the mid field battles. It was now a much better game as Villa tried to push up but City caught them again on fifty four minutes as Murphy sped away down the right and cut the ball inside to the industrious Harrison Reed who had made good ground to the edge of the box. A neat clip over a defender found Srbeny open at the far post and for a second I thought he was offside. No flag was raised and the big man netted into the far corner off the keepers legs.At last we had a very noisy Carrow Road and a game that was a complete contrast to the first half boredom. Predictably City fell back a bit as Villa got more possession going forward. Snodgrass went off and Grabban came on, one to generous applause and one to a storm of boo''s. I will leave you to decide which was which. In any event most of the action was now at the City end. The ball flew across the area a couple of times but there seemed little danger until on sixty seven minutes Grealish found the corner of the net with a low shot through a crowded penalty area. At this stage I thought we needed some fresh legs and Srbeny for one, was looking a bit leggy.Thankfully City still had plenty in the tank and broke forward at every opportunity. Within five minutes of the Villa goal it was Murphy again who bustled the ball through from the right as Vrancic coolly held off two two defenders as he ran into the box before sliding the ball sideways to Maddison, who gave Johnstone no chance with a firm shot into the corner.Sensible play from here should seal the points and over the next ten minutes Zimmers came on for Madders, then Wes for Reed and finally Olly for the tiring Srbeny.. Villa continued to push up and pinged two or three wild long range shots in but it was City who looked more like extending their lead. Murphy again outpaced his marker and Olly nicely found Wes in the clear only for the little maestro to over-reach for the ball and sky a good opportunity. Then Olly completely missed a volley after being set up by Pinto. There was still time for him to bang in another good effort that Johnstone had to go full length to punch away before the final whistle called time on a long overdue clear victory.I thought Murphy was at his best today but I''m giving my MOM to the bloke who stopped his car and helped me up after I buggered off my bike on Dereham Road. Pride damaged more than anything although Mrs Ricardo insisted on attending to my grazed knee whilst I sipped a cup of tea, laced with Jameson''s[:D]. The worst of it was I didn''t realise that my glasses had fallen off until I got home and had to go back and look for them. Luckily I found them, they were in the gravel of someones drive. No sympathy from my son when I texted him just an insistence that I share this piece of comedy gold.[:D]Oh well, an eventful day[Y]

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Thanks for that Ricardo, I will wait until city 1st has proof read it though just in case you were bending the truth ;)

Sounds like you need some stabilisers :)

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Nice report. Murphy was excellent today.

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Great performance - whatever anyone’s views on Webber, Farke, Delia, Bonds and Academies - tonight for once we can all surely give credit where it’s due.

Can’t believe anyone can complain about today’s match.

Have a Good Evening everyone!

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Superb report as ever ricardo. Many thanks.

I have to say I don''t understand the comments about the first half though; it would be untrue to say I saw Murphy''s goal coming (nobody saw that coming) but we had so much quality I wasn''t that surprised. When I compare our quality to the utter rubbish dished up by Wolves & Cardiff yesterday we look different class.

I honestly think we are close to being title contenders. We need confidence more than anything - look at Josh today, look at how Jacob''s goal against Blackburn set him up for last season - which I''m convinced would mean better finishing all round & more players committing forward to get those elusive goals. A bit more luck with injuries would help too.

It''s a funny old game. Too late for this season, but I think the signs are good for the next one.

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[quote user="ron obvious"]Superb report as ever ricardo. Many thanks.

I have to say I don''t understand the comments about the first half though; it would be untrue to say I saw Murphy''s goal coming (nobody saw that coming) but we had so much quality I wasn''t that surprised. When I compare our quality to the utter rubbish dished up by Wolves & Cardiff yesterday we look different class.

I honestly think we are close to being title contenders. We need confidence more than anything - look at Josh today, look at how Jacob''s goal against Blackburn set him up for last season - which I''m convinced would mean better finishing all round & more players committing forward to get those elusive goals. A bit more luck with injuries would help too.

It''s a funny old game. Too late for this season, but I think the signs are good for the next one.[/quote]Spot on

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Title contenders Ron. You could not have been at Loftus Rd on Monday. Consistency is a key ingredient to winning titles, and we have yet to see that.

But let''s take nothing away from a good performance today against a side that was eyeing the automatics. And a welcome return of a good atmosphere at Carrow Rd in the second half.

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Thanks for the report as ever Ricardo.Are you sure that you didn''t have the medicinal Jameson''s before you fell off the bike rather than afterwards? [:D]For those that say that Farke never changes things during the game, there was quite a lot of evidence against this today.

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[quote user=" Badger"]Thanks for the report as ever Ricardo.Are you sure that you didn''t have the medicinal Jameson''s before you fell off the bike rather than afterwards? [:D]For those that say that Farke never changes things during the game, there was quite a lot of evidence against this today.[/quote]A bit late with Srbeny I thought. The boy was looking at the bench from just after the hour. We could all see he was pretty much done.No, I never drink before the game Badger, and occasionally a nip at half time when its cold. No excuses for the accident, I just tried to bump up the curb and didn''t make it. Luckily not much damage done.[Y]

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Sussexyellow, I said ''close to'', & I was talking about today''s performance specifically, & our progress generally.

We are not consistent. But I believe our performances have consistently improved, in the sense that the peaks are getting higher & the troughs not so low. There is an improvement in cohesion & awareness within the squad despite annoying injuries occurring just when players get used to each other & the tactics.

I''ve said before that you could compare it to learning music; you start off slowly & pick up the pace as co-ordination improves.

There are so many factors in such a simple game, it''s one of the reasons for its endless fascination. Sometimes you can play brilliantly & be undone by one opposition piece of skill, or players having off days, or sheer bad luck. You have to try & see through those things & look at the direction of travel, & I firmly believe it''s in the right direction. OTBC!

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[quote user="ricardo"][quote user=" Badger"]Thanks for the report as ever Ricardo.Are you sure that you didn''t have the medicinal Jameson''s before you fell off the bike rather than afterwards? [:D]For those that say that Farke never changes things during the game, there was quite a lot of evidence against this today.[/quote]A bit late with Srbeny I thought. The boy was looking at the bench from just after the hour. We could all see he was pretty much done.No, I never drink before the game Badger, and occasionally a nip at half time when its cold. No excuses for the accident, I just tried to bump up the curb and didn''t make it. Luckily not much damage done.[Y][/quote]glad to hear it old chapyou survived the bad weather then take a tumble when it warms up

ps you might give yourself another couple of ''nips'' to help you over the shock ....... us scoring three that is

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Ron, I hope you are right on the trend.

I remember commenting to a friend in August after the Fulham game that this would take more than a year. I sort of settled for a mid table season after our start and the evidence of our eyes. A point regularly made by Ricardo.

However I was hoping to see steady improvement in the second half of the season, which we started to get before dropping into another trough and a big low at QPR. We now need to see if today’s much improved performance can be sustained through the last few games to provide a base and give supporters optimism for next season.

I agree injuries have not helped, particularly to Trybull and Leitner. My optimism would be enhanced if we signed Leitner on a permanent.

COYY

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I think a big reason for optimism is that everything about the situation this year is new, thus there is the possibility of change - it obviously could go wrong just as easily as go right, but from what I''ve seen the trend is upwards. Vrancic is a textbook example of the way players have progressed & are coming to terms with the Champs.

Last year we had players who, though decent enough, were not going to progress. Typical examples would be Howson & Dorrans.

One thing about how injuries have affected us: how much better would we have been if Pritchard hadn''t been injured? He would have been ours for half a season & I reckon would have made a big difference, particularly in the goals for column.

But who can really say? That''s football & "... it is what it is .... yeeeaahhh ..."

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Ricardo I thought the Vrancic tackle on John Terry had a big bearing on the outcome of the match.

Giving the big feller the sort of treatment he has dished out to others over the years slowed him down somewhat and kerbed his enthusiasm.

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Thought Vrancic was brilliant yesterday, put a real shift in and was a complete nuisance, loved seeing him take no stick from Terry. Played with fire and passion.

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Gunn was at fault for the Villa goal. His positioning is wrong, virtually on his goal-line, so that even though he gets a hand to the ball it only gets diverted into the corner of the goal.My one football post of the season. Now back to Brexit...[;)]

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There were three Villa players standing in offside positions directly in front of him. The new interpretation of the law is ridiculous.

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[quote user="ricardo"]There were three Villa players standing in offside positions directly in front of him. The new interpretation of the law is ridiculous.[/quote]I agree. It is absurd. The offside rule should be changed anyway, to reflect the way the game is played now, as opposed to how it was played in the 19th century, so it should require one outfield defender, as opposed to two defenders.Back then it was assumed one of the defenders would always be the goalie, because they stayed where they were, but nowadays they come out more and even act as outfielders, in extreme examples going up for corners. But in that case they can get saved because if there is only one outfield defender back what normally would be an onside pass is offside.This happened at Carrow Road years ago,when we were leading Palace 1-0 going into added time. Nigel Martyn went up for a corner, we broke against the lone Palace defender and seemed to score, except that as soon as a forward pass was made in their half, even though the defender was further back, that was offside.In a World Cup match some years ago the goalie came out to try to punch away a corner, but the ball got headed on by a forward to another forward who had only one defender between him and the goal. He headed home and then could not understand why the linesman flagged - correctly - for offside. And we conceded a late equaliser at Millwall in our Lambert promotion season win similar circumstances when Ruddy was stranded out of his goal and a Millwall players scored past the one defender. In that case the linesman missed that it was offside and the goal stood.

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[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="ricardo"]There were three Villa players standing in offside positions directly in front of him. The new interpretation of the law is ridiculous.[/quote]I agree. It is absurd. The offside rule should be changed anyway, to reflect the way the game is played now, as opposed to how it was played in the 19th century, so it should require one outfield defender, as opposed to two defenders.Back then it was assumed one of the defenders would always be the goalie, because they stayed where they were, but nowadays they come out more and even act as outfielders, in extreme examples going up for corners. But in that case they can get saved because if there is only one outfield defender back what normally would be an onside pass is offside.This happened at Carrow Road years ago,when we were leading Palace 1-0 going into added time. Nigel Martyn went up for a corner, we broke against the lone Palace defender and seemed to score, except that as soon as a forward pass was made in their half, even though the defender was further back, that was offside.In a World Cup match some years ago the goalie came out to try to punch away a corner, but the ball got headed on by a forward to another forward who had only one defender between him and the goal. He headed home and then could not understand why the linesman flagged - correctly - for offside. And we conceded a late equaliser at Millwall in our Lambert promotion season win similar circumstances when Ruddy was stranded out of his goal and a Millwall players scored past the one defender. In that case the linesman missed that it was offside and the goal stood.[/quote]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK9OvAlAUVE

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If teams stand off us I think we can compete on football terms with the best.

Lambert used to say we had to earn the right to play. That remains a concern for this team. The Cardiff game will be interesting, as they are a good traditional style Championship team. Is this squad developing, mentally and physically, into one that is strong enough to win the battles required in this league?

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bee away a few days visiting family in Windsor (Duke too ill to take visitors) so only seen the goals.

I rely on your reports Ricardo Cavendish so I am relieved that we performed better than a highly rated Villa side.

Any match that has a goal like that in it is memorable and as we haven''t had too many of those this season so I am delighted for the home support.

And delighted for Josh who we have criticised a lot recently but showed us why we did criticise him with a return to form.

Was it a pot hole that caused your crash Ricardo? Are they bad in Norwich? They are like mine shafts here in Cornwall.

But you will be pleased to know, they are spending lots of money on filling them in in Windsor so that the Royal wedding doesn''t suffer from a horse stumbling or an overseas visitor falling over.

And there are either still a lot of homeless street people in Windsor or people are already queuing for a good vantage point. That councillor who said he would clear them out must be seething.

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Pedantic I know but the second goal came from a run by Murphy down the left,not the right

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[quote user="FCC"]If teams stand off us I think we can compete on football terms with the best.

Lambert used to say we had to earn the right to play. That remains a concern for this team. The Cardiff game will be interesting, as they are a good traditional style Championship team. Is this squad developing, mentally and physically, into one that is strong enough to win the battles required in this league?[/quote]err noit was that Villa pushed forward for a win that allowed the space for us to attacktoo often players have funneled back to almost their 18 yard box so leaving us with little opportunityit was the ability and intent to get the ball into their box quickly that saw us score and create a chance (Wes) that should have been the 4th goaltonight should see the same as Sunderland will be out for a win, a draw will not be enough so when we break it should be into ''open'' space  and with Murphy and Lewis we have the pace to exploit that space

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