Aston Villa 1 Manchester City 1

Aston Villa 1 Manchester City 1

Traditionally, we struggle against Man City so this was a good point earned, especially when you consider their form and the players they have purchased. Predictably, Gareth Barry's return was met with boos, but the Villa Park crowd wasn't united in its hostile front, which was good to see. Whatever people say, I believe he left not for money, but to play with genuinely world class players like Adabayor, Ireland, and Robinho and he was a good servant to our club.

Villa got off to a flying start, going straight at City from the off and coming close at the near post following a corner. On that occassion, Given was able to save with his feet, but shortly after he was left with no chance as Dunne outjumped Barry and powered a header into the top corner. But from that point on, it was mostly all Man City. Young threatened occassionally on the break and Agbonlahor held up the ball well, but we were out run and out thought in midfield and Carew did absolutely nothing up front. His replacement, Heskey, also failed to contribute in any way. This is our problem - with Petrov and Sidwell in central midfield we are too pedestrian and lacking quality in possession. While Petrov is useful at breaking up attacks, he fails to capitalise on winning the ball back and consistently moves the ball forward only to stop and turn back, giving the opposition the time to regroup. Other teams don't do that - they have the power, pace and precision to move forward and put you under pressure immediately. Sidwell is the better athlete of the two and works hard, but lacks that sharpness on the ball that we so desperately need. Up front, we are badly under strength. Carew seems to be disinterested, Heskey is rarely a goal threat anyway, and that leaves Agbonlahor with a lot of responsibility. If we can offload Harewood and Reo Coker in Jan, we should look at bringing in an athletic forward so that we can offload Heskey next summer.

On the plus side, the defence looked magnificent again - finally! Dunne and Collins make a formiddable pairing and Warnock looks assured at left back.

For city, Bellamy was outstanding, scoring their goal and causing us all sorts of problems. When Ireland came on in the second half, he changed the game, and it was City who looked the most likely winners at the end.

A decent enough result against a classy side, but not a convincing performance by any means - the centre of midfield is mediocre at best and we are a forward light. If only we had bought Bent in the summer. He is exactly what we need.