FOOTBALL Live

Wednesday March 4, 2009 Finished City of Manchester Stadium

2 - 0

Manchester City

  • Elano 24’ (pen.)
  • Wright-Phillips 89’

Aston Villa

225 comments | Write your comment

  1. City cruise past Villa

    City cruise past Villa

    Manchester City beat Aston Villa 2-0 in the Premier League thanks to an Elano penalty and an 89th minute goal from Shaun Wright-Phillips. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Manchester City
    • Aston Villa
    • 90'+2 THAT'S IT!!! THE WHISTLE GOES!!! A very good win from an extremely impressive City side - barring a poor spell at the start of the second half - while Villa will be left wondering where it's all gone wrong. Many thanks for joining us, and we'll see you next time!
    • 90'+1 Stepehen Ireland tries to get in on the actin now, coming in to hit a near-post shot that Friedel saves well.
    • 89' GOAL FOR CITY!!!!! SHAUN WRIGHT-PHILLIPS!!!! Stephen Ireland's ball finds the winger in acres of space, and Friedel has no chance at saving a ball buried perfectly in to the far bottom corner of the net. Three points safe for City - and that's a horrendous result for Villa...
    • 88' There's been a clash of heads, and Cuellar has to come off to be looked at... He's being replaced by Craig Gardner.
    • 85' GREAT CHANCE FOR VILLA! Ashley Young makes a break in from the left, beating three men in order to put in a cross for three waiting claret shirts... but he overhits it past them all!! What a waste after a superb run!
    • 83' Odd substitution, as Elano comes off for Bojinov. Elano has been one of several City candidates for Man of the Match and looked like he was still full of running.
    • 82' Another great push up from City leads Elano to cross in, but nobody can quite get on the end of it. It's end-to-end now, but can either team find a way past two of the best keepers in the Premier League?
    • 80' Corner for Villa, headed by Ashley Young on target, but Given holds it easily.
    • 79' An Ashley Young special from 30 yards rockets towards goal - but it's a great save by Given!!! The ensuing melee sees a couple of other Villa players have pot shots before City attack on the break, only for Wright-Phillips - in support with a great postition - to shoot high.
    • 77' City push forward again - their blood is back up now - but Villa defend well from a Wayne Bridge long throw.
    • 75' GREAT CHANCE FOR CITY - BRIDGE CROSSES - AND ELANO VOLLEYS BRILLIANTLY... BUT FRIEDEL SAVES!!!!! An incredible, full-length dive to his left stops what would have been a goal against almost any other keeper in the world. Friedel has literally just kept Villa's hopes alive with that incredible stop.
    • 74' Wright-Phillips chases down a long ball up the left and wins a throw from Milner. Caicedo - who's been largely anonymous in an otherwise excellent City side - is coming off for Ched Evans.
    • 72' Another great chance for Villa as Young's ball straight across the six-yard box misses Agbonlahor by just a few feet. The England striker is furious at having missed the chance, and is trying to claim that he was impeded. As he does so, his nose is seen to grow perceptibly.
    • 71' Villa come back at their hosts, with Gareth Barry taking an opportunity to strike with a left-foot volley from Agbonlahor's aerial pass - and forcing a terrific save from Given.
    • 70' Caicedo comes again, making a run through the middle but being outpaced and dispossessed. He falls over to try and win a penalty, but it's so laughable a dive he doesn't even get booked.
    • 69' Great chance for City!!! Elano charges up the right on to the end of a long ball from Wayne Bridge, and crosses for Caicedo, who is charging unmarked in to the box. The dreadlocked striker makes contact, but his volley goes just wide.
    • 67' Good half-chance for City, hitting on the break and Wright-Phillips passing well for Caicedo... but he's ruled offside as the ball comes across.
    • 64' City start trying to fight back, but there's no way through - and Villa keep pressing tirelessly. Other than one long ball - which Wright-Phillips nearly chases down - the home side have been starved of chances in this second half.
    • 61' Things tighten up on either side now, with City having plenty of men behind the ball. New entrant John Carew - on for Davies - gets on to the end of a header but it goes over.
    • 59' GREAT CHANCE FOR VILLA! Ashley Young picks up the ball on the left of the box and beats Cullar to make time for a shot. It looks good, but catches a defender's foot and bounces harmlessly across the goal.
    • 58' Villa create another good move, finished when Milner hits a pass for Heskey to chase to the corner. The veteran striker looks back at his team-mate as if to say, er, no thanks mate, I'm not paid to run you know.
    • 56' Ashley Young gets in to the action for Villa, making a good run down the left and winning a corner - or at least, he thinks he has. It's actually a throw-in, which he protests in vain and gets booked for his whingeing. Quite right too! Give him the cane next time!
    • 54' Villa press forward again - amazing, it's like watching two different teams. Actually, that's not true: it's as if it's the same teams, but they've swapped shirts at half-time.
    • 52' Barry's corner finds Agbonlahor's head, the striker nodding back across the six-yard box... but nobody can get on to it, and both attack and defence - including Given - stand around wondering what to do before Given finally picks it up.
    • 51' Villa have won a corner - Barry to take...
    • 49' Villa are getting stuck in as bit here. They've clearly had a rocket from O'Neill at half-time, because the fear of God - or maybe just the Irishman - is in their eyes.
    • 47' There's a change for City, as De Jong comes off and Gelson Fernades comes on. He's wincing - there must be some sort of injury that he decided to give a couple of minutes after half-time.
    • 46' We're back in action at the City of Manchester Stadium. Can Villa improve on what was, frankly, a pretty bloody awful first-half performance?
    • 45'+ GREAT CHANCE FOR CITY!!! The lively Wright-Phillips slides a lovely ball in to the six-yard box for Stephen Ireland, but the midfielder-cum-attacker's sliding leg misses the ball by mere inches. That was a great chance for the hosts to double their lead the stroke of half-time - the whistle blows straight afterwards, and that's it for a few minutes.
    • 45'+1 Agbonlahor shoves Ireland over in mid-air. Not very sporting, and the ref does not approve.
    • 45' Final minute of a half that's been good for the home team. I'm surprised that the Villa players aren't throwing everything at their hosts to avoid a half-time ear-bashing from Martin O'Neill. Teacups may be broken, that's all I'm saying.
    • 43' Injury worry for Villa, as Ashley Young hobbles off to be looked at. He fell badly trying to win that penalty - his fault, it was one of those where he basically aimed his run at Dunne's outstretched leg.
    • 42' Long free kick in for City almost finds the head of Wright-Phillips in the six-yard box. But instead it finds the arms of Friedel.
    • 39' Agbonlahor makes a run up the left wing - and Dunne clobbers him all over the shop with a very clumsy tackle. It's a free kick in a dangerous spot, from where Ashley Young tries to dribble past the defence. He outruns himself, falls over looking for the penalty, but the ref is having none of it.
    • 37' The game slows down as we approach half-time, and City's lead is well-deserved indeed. It's very difficult to see Villa scoring now.
    • 35' Great chance for City as Wright-Phillips runs up the right and passes in for Caicedo - who gets absolutely clobbered by Cuellar. It's a clean win of the ball, but Seal-lookalike Caicedo is hobbling off for pitchside treatment. That's Seal the singer rather than the arctic mammal, by the way.
    • 34' City keep pressing, keep putting in balls through the middle or via the wings - they really are all over Villa - and now win a corner. Elano finds Petrov, but his header is weak.
    • 32' Villa get the ball into the City box - courtesy of a Milner cross from the right - for the first time in 20 minutes or so. But the ball goes straight to Given. Whoops.
    • 31' A bizarre incident as City's Caicedo is yellow carded for attempting a deliberate handball - and one that fails to make contact.
    • 30' Beautiful move by Zabaleta to find space in the right corner, but just as it looks like he'll be free to put in a very dangerous cross the flag goes for offside against Ireland.
    • 28' Replays of the penalty incident show that Wright-Phillips did go down fairly easily, but Milner ran in to his back in the box, tangling feet to put the man over - and you know you're open to a spot kick when that happens.
    • 26' City come forward again, and Elano lines up a free kick to cross in from the right... It curls in well but is headed clear by Knight.
    • 24' ...AND ELANO SCORES FROM THE SPOT!!! That's a well-deserved lead for City, and Milner gets booked for his careless trip. It was more careless than cyncial, but there can be no real argument with the decision.
    • 23' Wright-Phillips tripped from behind by Milner in the box - AND PENALTY TO CITY!!!!!
    • 22' Great pass from Zabaleta puts Wright-Phillips through - JUST THE KEEPER TO BEAT - HE MUST SCORE - BUT NO!!!!! He pauses perhaps a little too long and then pulls the shot just wide of the left-hand post. That's a very poor miss....
    • 21' More pressure from City, with first Elano trying to create something on the left and then Zabaleta firing in a cross from the right side that nearly finds Wright-Phillips.
    • 20' A long throw for Villa forced by Agbonlahor, but it's well looked after by a pretty solid-looking City back four.
    • 18' Bit of pressure ffrmo City as they push forwards yet again; Villa keep swatting them away, but seem unable to hang on to the ball this evening.
    • 17' Quick update on the managers: Mark Hughes is chewing a piece of gum to within an inch of its life, while Marin O'Neill has given up trying to look cool sitting in the stands and has come down to the side of the pitch to start shouting.
    • 16' Kompany has a long-range crack from 30 yards, but slices badly into the crowd.
    • 15' First corner of the match falls to City, but it's cleared with ease by Villa's defence.
    • 14' The game slows right down at the moment, an eeries sight as it almost looks like the players have forgotten what to do. Kick it up field lads! Get in in other fellas' net!
    • 12' Villa charge up field now and try to get something going, City's defence are too quick.
    • 11' From the clearance City win the ball, and Ireland has an almost copycat chance - but this time he's tackled more quickly, and his shot blocked off the pitch by Knight.
    • 10' First proper chance of the match - and it falls for City! Stephen Ireland runs in to the box on the right hand side and has a bit of space and time, but can't decide whether to shoot or pass and his half-way effort is taken easily by Friedel.
    • 9' Villa start pushing up nicely through the centre of the pitch, with Heskey and Milner trying to link up, but the big striker can't get on the end.
    • 8' Shay Given boots the ball from a goal kick straight in to the Villa box - which is impressive, if not all that useful. No danger.
    • 6' Half-chance for Wright-Phillips, who runs through three players to earn space to shoot - but it's low, left and way off target.
    • 5' First good move up the pitch for Villa as Agbonlahor chases a ball in to the box. He's cut off by Zabaleta, however, and nothing comes of the move.
    • 4' City push up once more, and even if they can't find a gap they've started better than Villa.
    • 2' Wright-Phillips gets in to the action early, chasing down a ball in to the Villa box but being well blocked off it by Davies.
    • 1' The match kicks off, and already the zip in the players' feet says it all: both sides are really in the mood for this one.
    • - Martin O'Neill is in the stands at the moment, and is looking fairly harrassed. He really could do with a result tonight.
    • - The players are out on the pitch now, and just getting ready for kick-off....
    • - City, meanwhile, have been much improved since Christmas, having won four Premiership matches since Boxing Day to get themselves in a decent position. They've been very patchy in the last month or so, however, and their last league win was on February 7.
    • - Villa are in need of a boost to their attempt to nab one of the Champions League qualifying spots, having not won a match in nearly a month.
    • - For City, Shaun Wright-Phillips starts on the right, with Zabaleta playing behind him in what will presumably be an interchangeable right-flank. Man City: Given, Zabaleta, Onuoha, Dunne, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Kompany, De Jong, Elano, Caicedo. Subs: Hart, Bojinov, Vassell, Garrido, Fernandes, Evans, Berti
    • - The teams are in, and the big news for Aston Villa is that Emile Heskey has shaken off the injury which threatened to keep him out. Carew is on the bench. Aston Villa: Friedel, Cuellar, Davies, Knight, Luke Young, Milner, Petrov, Barry, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor, Heskey. Subs: Guzan, Harewood, Carew, Delfouneso, Reo-Coker, Shorey, Gardner.
    • - Welcome to our LIVE coverage of Manchester City's clash with Aston Villa.

  • Team Stats

    Manchester City Stats Aston Villa
    47% Possession 52%
    16 Shots 10
    4 Shots on target 3
    2 Saves 1
    6 Corners 5
    11 Fouls 8
    2 Offsides 3
    1 Yellow cards 2
    0 Red cards 0
    27 Tackles 28
    239 Accurate passes 257
    32 Bad passes 43

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Manchester City
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      37 Shay Given 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 2 0
      4 Nedum Onuoha 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 0 2
      22 Richard Dunne 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 16 1 2
      5 Pablo Zabaleta 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 12 0 7
      33 Vincent Kompany 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 30 4 5
      25 Wayne Bridge 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 19 5 1
      11 Blumer Elano 1 2 2 2 0 0 0 23 4 2
      7 Stephen Ireland 0 3 1 1 0 2 1 39 11 4
      8 Shaun Wright-Phillips 1 4 1 0 3 0 0 18 1 1
      34 Nigel de Jong 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 24 2 0
      20 Felipe Caicedo 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 11 0 0
      36 Leandro Gláuber 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      15 Javier Garrido 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      1 Joe Hart 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      19 Gelson Fernandes 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 2
      9 Valeri Bojinov 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0
      24 Ched Evans 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 6 2 1
      12 Darius Vassell 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    • Aston Villa
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Brad Friedel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 0
      16 Zatyiah Knight 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 28 2 5
      15 Curtis Davies 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 1 0
      24 Carlos Cuéllar 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 24 1 5
      2 Luke Young 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 12 7 2
      7 Ashley Young 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 11 7 0
      8 James Milner 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 29 2 2
      6 Gareth Barry 0 2 1 1 3 0 0 36 11 5
      19 Stilian Petrov 0 3 0 2 2 0 0 30 1 7
      11 Gabriel Agbonlahor 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 22 3 1
      18 Emile Heskey 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 27 6 0
      26 Craig Gardner 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      14 Nathan Delfouneso 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      20 Nigel Reo-Coker 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      21 Nicky Shorey 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      9 Marlon Harewood 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      22 Brad Guzan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      10 John Carew 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 15 1 1

  • Summary

    • 90'+1 Stepehen Ireland tries to get in on the actin now, coming in to hit a near-post shot that Friedel saves well.
    • 89' GOAL FOR CITY!!!!! SHAUN WRIGHT-PHILLIPS!!!! Stephen Ireland's ball finds the winger in acres of space, and Friedel has no chance at saving a ball buried perfectly in to the far bottom corner of the net. Three points safe for City - and that's a horrendous result for Villa...
    • 85' GREAT CHANCE FOR VILLA! Ashley Young makes a break in from the left, beating three men in order to put in a cross for three waiting claret shirts... but he overhits it past them all!! What a waste after a superb run!
    • 79' An Ashley Young special from 30 yards rockets towards goal - but it's a great save by Given!!! The ensuing melee sees a couple of other Villa players have pot shots before City attack on the break, only for Wright-Phillips - in support with a great postition - to shoot high.
    • 75' GREAT CHANCE FOR CITY - BRIDGE CROSSES - AND ELANO VOLLEYS BRILLIANTLY... BUT FRIEDEL SAVES!!!!! An incredible, full-length dive to his left stops what would have been a goal against almost any other keeper in the world. Friedel has literally just kept Villa's hopes alive with that incredible stop.
    • 72' Another great chance for Villa as Young's ball straight across the six-yard box misses Agbonlahor by just a few feet. The England striker is furious at having missed the chance, and is trying to claim that he was impeded. As he does so, his nose is seen to grow perceptibly.
    • 71' Villa come back at their hosts, with Gareth Barry taking an opportunity to strike with a left-foot volley from Agbonlahor's aerial pass - and forcing a terrific save from Given.
    • 69' Great chance for City!!! Elano charges up the right on to the end of a long ball from Wayne Bridge, and crosses for Caicedo, who is charging unmarked in to the box. The dreadlocked striker makes contact, but his volley goes just wide.
    • 59' GREAT CHANCE FOR VILLA! Ashley Young picks up the ball on the left of the box and beats Cullar to make time for a shot. It looks good, but catches a defender's foot and bounces harmlessly across the goal.
    • 45'+ GREAT CHANCE FOR CITY!!! The lively Wright-Phillips slides a lovely ball in to the six-yard box for Stephen Ireland, but the midfielder-cum-attacker's sliding leg misses the ball by mere inches. That was a great chance for the hosts to double their lead the stroke of half-time - the whistle blows straight afterwards, and that's it for a few minutes.
    • 35' Great chance for City as Wright-Phillips runs up the right and passes in for Caicedo - who gets absolutely clobbered by Cuellar. It's a clean win of the ball, but Seal-lookalike Caicedo is hobbling off for pitchside treatment. That's Seal the singer rather than the arctic mammal, by the way.
    • 24' ...AND ELANO SCORES FROM THE SPOT!!! That's a well-deserved lead for City, and Milner gets booked for his careless trip. It was more careless than cyncial, but there can be no real argument with the decision.
    • 23' Wright-Phillips tripped from behind by Milner in the box - AND PENALTY TO CITY!!!!!
    • 22' Great pass from Zabaleta puts Wright-Phillips through - JUST THE KEEPER TO BEAT - HE MUST SCORE - BUT NO!!!!! He pauses perhaps a little too long and then pulls the shot just wide of the left-hand post. That's a very poor miss....
    • 10' First proper chance of the match - and it falls for City! Stephen Ireland runs in to the box on the right hand side and has a bit of space and time, but can't decide whether to shoot or pass and his half-way effort is taken easily by Friedel.

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: Chris Foy

  • Manchester City

    Manager: Mark Hughes

    Captain: Richard Dunne

    Starting line-up

    • S. Given
    • P. Zabaleta
    • N. Onuoha
    • R. Dunne
    • W. Bridge
    • S. Wright-Phillips Goal
    • S. Ireland
    • N. De Jong Substitution Out (47′)
    • B. Elano Substitution Out (83′)
    • V. Kompany
    • V. Bojinov Substitution In (83′)
    • F. Caicedo Yellow Card Substitution Out (74′)

    Subs

    • D. Vassell
    • J. Garrido
    • J. Hart
    • G. Fernandes Substitution In47′
    • C. Evans Substitution In74′
    • G. Berti

    Injured

    • C. Bellamy
    • .. Robinho

    Suspended

    None

  • Aston Villa

    Manager: Martin O'Neill

    Captain: Gareth Barry

    Starting line-up

    • B. Friedel
    • C. Cuellar Substitution Out (88′)
    • Z. Knight
    • C. Davies Substitution Out (46′)
    • L. Young
    • J. Milner Yellow Card
    • S. Petrov
    • G. Barry Yellow Card
    • A. Young
    • E. Heskey
    • G. Agbonlahor

    Subs

    • J. Carew Substitution In46′
    • M. Harewood
    • N. Shorey
    • N. Reo-Coker
    • C. Gardner Substitution In88′
    • B. Guzan
    • N. Delfouneso

    Injured

    • W. Bouma

    Suspended

    None

Comment 206 - 225 of 225

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. yayatoure78 @#$% YOU @#$% YOU @#$% YOU @#$% YOU

    From otto.liverpool, on Tue 10 Mar 8:59AM

  2. is you girl otto.liverpool

    From yayatoure78, on Fri 6 Mar 4:46PM

  3. are you gey otto.liverpool

    From yayatoure78, on Fri 6 Mar 4:46PM

  4. Villa are rubbbbbbbbbish!
    they cant even beat my gran

    From kcdc486, on Thu 5 Mar 7:52PM

  5. no no pooo
    astom villa an man city

    From Babul, on Thu 5 Mar 4:30PM

  6. Stevieg, I'm sure u talk about ure lame Villa­ counpond of ridicoulous and stupid team. We Arsenal are­ undifeated this year and in Champions League are­ undifeated 20 games now and continue to not be beaten­ by anybody and that is without a lot of our main­ players beeing on the bench and out cause of injuries­ trough all last year, and this 2 months from this one.­
    You probably think at the crapy Villa side when u say­ Everton is gonna surpass it in the end, but don't­ fret, at the stype it plays and the quality of­ menthality Villa playewrs have, u don't deserve­ evan the middle of the table but u still will probably­ take the Uefa Cup spot, the one just beelow Everton,­ allthough I do not garantee it. ;]

    From Johnny D, on Thu 5 Mar 11:56AM

  7. someones droping there arse

    From jc, on Thu 5 Mar 10:27AM

  8. ha hah ha ha you lot av blown it, probly finish 6 now­ below everton,peep peep? you ve run out of steam,never­ mind brum skanks its normal 4 u to win nought ha ha hah

    From MARIEANNE, on Thu 5 Mar 10:04AM

  9. Trojan Horse, GET A LIFE!

    From otto.liverpool, on Thu 5 Mar 8:14AM

  10. Trojan Horse, screw you

    From otto.liverpool, on Thu 5 Mar 8:12AM

  11. stupid Trojan Horse,

    From otto.liverpool, on Thu 5 Mar 8:12AM

  12. JÄVLAR

    From otto.liverpool, on Thu 5 Mar 8:11AM

  13. Agbonlahor plays like $%#
    Aston Villa has wonderful­ midfield players but @#$% attackers

    From Trojan Horse, on Thu 5 Mar 3:23AM

  14. Arsenal fans get a grip, there is more chance of­ Everton climbing above Villa than you lot. Is it not­ embaressing to hav a team with no strikers and there­ best player Areta sniffing behind you. Arsenal a team­ who are lucky to play one home grown talent in Walcott­ who is as good as ma gran! You have gone out and hand­ picked from the continent and as still struggling. Your­ manager clutching at straws these days.

    From Stevieg, on Thu 5 Mar 1:49AM

  15. The English Leauge has became boring this year, Man U­ obvious winners. Where the challenge from the rest!?­ Well done alex again. A starting squad with 5/6 of UK­ grown stars and still walking over the high priced­ selective forign "star" teams.

    From Stevieg, on Thu 5 Mar 1:37AM

  16. why bojinov is not on the list of the subs?

    From Pavel P, on Thu 5 Mar 12:13AM

  17. If Arsenal deafeat Blackburn then they are gonna be 4th­ GO GUNNERS

    From Tancrede, on Thu 5 Mar 12:09AM

  18. check the current FIFA ranking of world/ european­ clubs. then you can see where Arsenal, Villa, Fulham­ and Stoke are ranked. anyday,,anytime ARSENAL is­ better.

    From ralph_obasi, on Wed 4 Mar 10:31PM

  19. Delabb your a delusional idiot your asking me if I­ understand english when your the one writing gibberish

    From dunriabhach, on Wed 4 Mar 10:31PM

  20. Finnaly BS aston villa show the real potencial, just­ for UEFA cup, but this year they will go normal, not­ trought intertoto cup. Advice for Oneill:"If you­ don't want to try to win Uefa cup, in september­ 2009 you can put a kindergarder players in first round­ and get out from it". Maybe you will hope next­ season that 4 place is posible, but only in your­ dreams. Go Arsenal,go!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From kuzmarin, on Wed 4 Mar 10:27PM
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