Aston Villa 1-0 Hull City

The countdown of Tigers Premier League games hit 4 this evening, with a trip to Aston Villa, looking to avenge an unlucky defeat in the last outing of 2008. Villa Park was impressive, a nice blend of old and new, terrific views and a beautiful playing surface. It's a pity the atmosphere in the home end didn't do the old place justice. They were as quiet a home support as we've seen anywhere this season while the Tigers' away following were noisy throughout and provided superb vocal support up to and following the final whistle. The story was a familiar one. City battled hard and well and finished strongly but conceded an awful goal which left us susceptible to the counter attack for the last hour of the game. That makes 3 good performances on the spin but zero points, which is the only thing that matters. Disappointingly, Browny chose to fiddle with the system that had served is so well against Liverpool. We only needed two changes, Ash for Marney and Cousin for Folan. PB made those switches and also brought back Dawson and Garcia, switching Kilbane, who's a solid left-back, to a wide position, where he's useless. It also meant a change to 4-4-1-1 and we lost some of the flexibility we had against the scousers. Villa enjoyed much more of the ball in the first half and despite the best efforts of Garcia, we were unable to put as much pressure on the ball as we had against Liverpool. In the last game, we pressed on as a team whereas tonight, we pressed individually and left pretty easy passes on. Villa were very adept at sliding the ball around the huge pitch and in Agbonlahor and Young, they had the threat of an outball which stopped any City defender venturing forward. The latest tale of woe in what is fast becoming a story of "War and Peace" proportions came on 9 minutes when Ash was injured in a crunching tackle with Milner and despite his best attempts to carry on, was subbed soon after, replaced by Marney. Our tough tackling defensive midfield was broken up and it would leave us looking a bit short in the middle for most of the game. Replacing Ash with Marney at this point is like swapping a bazooka for a super-soaker 200. Villa had a couple of decent efforts through out the half, Carew headed just wide while we were reorganising after Ash's departure, Myhill palmed a Milner free-kick over, a standard save and a Zayatte slip allowed Agbonlahor to force a fine save from Bo, diving to his left. Just after the half hour though, we'd been undone by another stupid goal. Boateng lost possession to Barry on the edge of their area and the England international strode towards half way, into space that would have been patrolled by Ash, who would've kicked Barry half way back to Brighton. Instead, Barry strode on, fed Ashley Young, one on one against Ricketts, who stood off him, let him come inside and curl a lovely ball in beyond our defence. Dawson was stood too deep and stupidly decided to try and play Carew offside instead of challenging him. Depending on which millisecond you stop the tape on the replay, Carew was either level or very marginally offside but the decision was nigh impossible for the human eye to see. The linesman correctly gave the benefit of the doubt to Aston Villa and we were one down. There wasn't much danger of us getting it back before half time as we'd struggled all half. Distribution from the back was utterly appalling and we hadn't been clam enough or creative enough in midfield to open up space. As a result, an ambitious Geo free-kick that sailed off towards Wolverhampton, an Ashbee shot that dropped a yard to two wide and two blocked shots were all we had to shout about. Just prior to half time, Geo finally came alive and ran at their defence, drawing them towards him and then scuffing a shot wide when Cousin was well placed for a pass. The two almost came to blows on the way off the pitch arguing about it. It's terrific to see two players who care enough to fight about it. Perhaps they might find a more constructive way to express themselves next time. The second half was much better. City withdrew Geo for Barmby. I'm not sure if the half time bust up was the reason, but there was certainly a good footballing reason for the change. Barmby's first involvement was a suicidal pass that almost cost us dear but from then on in, he showed just why he's head and shoulders above everyone in the squad in terms of performance this year. We conceded chances, we were always going too as we showed a bit more ambition but on the whole, we took the game to Villa after the break and steadily built momentum to the last 15, when we dominated them. Catcalls from the home fans and hopeful clearances into the smoggy night sky are a sign of a team under pressure. One of the reasons for our lack of creativity in the first 30 minutes of the half was an insistence on continuing to play ridiculous balls at Cousin. Chief offender was Andy Dawson who time and again conceded possession by playing awful high balls in that Zat Knight snaffled up every time. It was needless too. There was movement from Marney, Boateng and Barmby but Daws took the lazy option every time. If they were good diagonal balls aimed at isolating Shorey against Garcia, I could understand but they weren't, they were awful; heading practice for two solid centre halves. When we finally got the ball down, allowed Boateng to dictate and when Marney finally got himself involved, we looked a threat. We were still in the game thanks to Bo, who pulled off a fine save from a Barry right footer which was heading for the top corner. More worrying was that Barry had turned Marney three times before getting his shot in. It reminded me of an old terrace heckle "if he beats you once more, he gets to keep you!". Myhill also saves smartly from an Agbonlahor header. Had that gone in, the linesman might not have made it home in one piece. As a free-kick was floated in, Agbonlahor was 5 yards offside, in front of the City following, and the linesman. Knight won the flick on and the ball fell to Agbonlahor, now seriously interfering with play (and perhaps still offside from Knight's flick) but the linesman didn't flag. An appalling decision. Into the last 15, we stretched Villa, Manucho gave them somebody else to worry about (or at least that's what they thought, we know different) and we began picking up all the second balls that had so comfortably fallen to Barry and Petrov all game. We forced two free-kick's (the second one comically 'earned' by Cousin who messed up a pre-arranged plot with Kilbane and took a dive) from the centre and another from wide. Dawson's terrific delivery should've been buried by Cousin, who could only half connect, 5 yards out. We ended the game forcing three successive corners and with nothing to lose, sent forward Bo Myhill, who couldn't cap off a terrific display with a well deserved goal. He then ended up on the left wing, spannering a cross into the crowd to end a game that had been a non-contest for a while but had sparked to life when City did and finished with Villa on the ropes, nose bloody, eye swollen, but enough points in the bag from the early rounds to earn the judges verdict. Myhill had a terrific game. PB has made some great decisions this season and some poor ones. Leaving Bo out of the team was the worst of the lot. He flops at the odd cross and he doesn't shout a whole lot but he's the best and most reliable goalie we've ever had. He's got hands of steel, superb reflexes and incredible agility. He's quick off his line, he's confident with the ball at his feet, either one, and his handling is mainly very good. Mistakes are rare and excellent saves are plentiful. Dukey is a solid stand in, but when the team list if read out and I hear the words "At number one, Boaz Myhill", I feel far more confidence than I had moments before. Ricketts had a tough time against Young. He couldn't get close enough to him to stop crosses coming in. When the ball came from the other side, he did a good job at the far post and read their intentions well at times to cut the ball out. He needs to improve his decision making when he's one on one because he's beaten too easily at the moment. It took 78 minutes for him to cross the half way line. Going forward is his strength and he was a non-entity as an attacking force. Dawson equally failed to close down Milner though he often faced two opponents as Young (Luke) was far more ambitious on the right than Shorey was on the left. His distribution, as described, was woeful and he looked like a non-league player in possession. It's not acceptable and it undermines the entire team when you've got someone who's in a position to pick the ball up so often but is so wasteful with it. His inability to control the ball in one touch drive me crazy too, he's closed down far too often. There was no reason to remove Kilbane from the position and he'd better be back their on Saturday. Turner and Zayatte did a decent job against Carew, who's an absolute beast of a player, a terrific target man, and Agbonlahor, who as well as been lightening quickly, is intelligent in his running and great in possession. They won a good chunk of the ball against Carew, defended corners and set pieces well and read the game nicely on the floor. The attempts to play offside were worrying and eventually undone but we obviously identified an indiscipline in Agbonlahor's play because in the last game, we dropped off to cope with Torres each time whereas tonight, we pushed up and left Agbonlahor offside. Credit is deserved by whoever made that decision. Credit is not deserved by whichever member of our back four it was who should've been marking Carew. Midfield was disappointing. They worked incredibly hard but didn't put in the sort of high tempo, high pressure performance that troubled Liverpool. Marney is barely worth commenting on at the moment, he just looks devoid of any confidence, any ambition and any ability to affect the game positively. He's still putting himself in the positions but doesn't look to be screaming out for the ball like Boateng does and perhaps his team mates sense that. His set piece delivery was affected last night and wasn't up to his usual standard. Against proper midfielders and good athletes, Boateng looked very ponderous again and played himself into trouble too often. His desire though, is incredible. He never shirks a tackle, never fails to work, never misses a run. He can lose the ball a hundred times and he still wants the next pass, still makes the next run. He's got an uncanny ability to get into the right position to receive the ball and as Villa's legs tired, he was able to dictate the game. He's not a defensive midfielder like Ash is, he's got more about him and often turns up in good shooting positions around the box. He will score at some point, I'm sure of it. Garcia was the hardest working of the City 11 and wasn't wholly without quality. There were times when he could've done better and was slow to see an opponent or a pass but on the whole, he pressed, he turned up on good positions all over the pitch and he rang strongly from deep. What he isn't doing it finding some of the goalscoring positions he found last season, perhaps also because the service from the left is utter garbage. Kilbane had a poor outing. He made a few tackles but looked off the pace and the game passed him by. When he occasionally had the chance to deliver the ball, he failed. Cousin struggled up front. The poor service was a big factor but he was also slow to react to potential opportunities and while I don't think he's lazy, as some do, he's certainly not as willing as Folan to go and close down the oppos. Once again, we failed to deliver anything into the box for him to attack and so wasted his biggest strength. Geo worked off the ball but not to the level he did last game. On the ball, he was indecisive and uninventive. He needs to just get his head down and run at their defence because he's not providing any other decent option. His decision to shoot when Cousin had made a fine run was a poor one. Barmby couldn't get involved when he played up top but when he went wide left, he saw more of the ball and was able to bring Cousin and Dawson into play. I'm not sure if the decision not to start him was to ensure he could be involved at the end. If so, then it kind of worked. I'd like to see him given 90 minutes on Saturday. We can rest him for Bolton and play two battering rams if necessary but he should be involved on Saturday and we should squeeze every little drip of ability and know how out of him. The result was disappointing again because we might've nicked something but the performance was decent enough. We need to believe now that we can beat Stoke and then we can sit back and watch Newcastle and Middlesbrough relegate each other on Monday. I'm almost certain that one win will be enough. Newcastle, Boro and Sunderland look lost and disjointed. They have too many prima-donnas who don't give a stuff. Our players care, they want to perform and they have a togetherness. We've got a three point advantage, we've got a potentially rowdy support and a team of players who will give it their all. We can and we will do it. Turn up on Saturday and believe it! Ratings: Myhill 9, Ricketts 6, Dawson 5, Turner 7, Zayatte 7, Garcia 6, Kilbane 5, Ashbee (Marney 5), Boateng 6, Geovanni 5 (Barmby 7), Cousin 6.