Back from the game - City’s credibility Villa-fied

There’s a delicious sense of schadenfreude in that we punctured the egos and took the scalp of a second European Cup holder in the week of the 25th anniversary of our own European odyssey in Munich. The fact that we employed that well known tactic of going one down and letting you opponent hit the woodwork before coming back to win in both games was just served as the cherry on top of the Schwartzwald gateaux.

The recipe for this game was a healthy portion of Leitner, mixed with a liberal sprinkling of Aarons, Lewis and Bundia who, together, served up two chances for Rhodes to finish clinically. Two beautifully taken poacher’s goals, the second of which came after an 18-pass move which culminated with a great low driven cross from the increasingly influential Stiepermann.

For me Leitner was MOTM, a class act who has exquisite vision and can pick a pass effortlessly. They aren’t all 30 or 40 yarders, some look very simple, but they are all meaningful and carried out with a quiet confidence. Yes we missed Tettey, certainly early on, but Trybull did okay. Considering he’s been on the bench for some time and only found out he was playing today, he did pretty well.

Whilst Leitner and Rhodes will get the plaudits, I would pick out the two academy products at left and right back as one of the reasons why we’re finding such success thus season. Both Aarons and Lewis display confidence and skill far beyond their years or their first team experience. Both were tremendous going forward and got the better of their opponents defensively on numerous occasions. They will attract attention in the window come January, mark my words.

One black cloud was the dreadfully unfortunate injury to Thompson, only about 20 seconds after he came on! You’ve got to feel so sorry for the lad and I only hope his shoulder will mend quickly. Surely this must be the briefest of brief Canary appearances?

As for Villa, they huffed and puffed but only had one short on target... compared to our two 😉 If Tettey was playing, Grealish wouldn’t have had as much space, but it’s all irrelevant now.

Crowd and atmosphere was great, loved the ACN flags and the Barclay were in fine voice throughout. Long may it continue!

Over and out Wrathers, On The Ball City 💛💚

Posted By: Worthing Yellow, Oct 24, 02:42:51