top of page

Game #5106

Aston Villa

Tuesday, 28 December 2010

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

Lost

15th (-)

Last 5: 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟥 🟥

Premier League

Manchester City

City of Manchester Stadium

Attendance: 46,716

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

State of Abu Dhabi

4-0

Villa.gif

Aston Villa

2509-2.png

Assist(s) | None

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

MATCH TIMELINE

Tuesday, 28 December 2010

🥅 | 8’ Goal, 0-1, (Manchester City, pen), Mario Balotelli
🥅 | 13’ Goal, 0-2, (Manchester City), Joleon Lescott
🟨 | 18’ Booking, Stephen Warnock
🥅 | 27’ Goal, 0-3, (Manchester City), Mario Balotelli
🕒 | HT Manchester City 0-3 Aston Villa
🥅 | 55’ Goal, 0-4, (Manchester City, pen), Mario Balotelli
🔁 | 55’ Sub off, Barry Bannan, Sub on, Fabian Delph
🔁 | 56’ Sub off, Marc Albrighton, Sub on, Nathan Delfouneso
🟨 | 70’ Booking, Eric Lichaj
🔁 | 81’ Sub off, Nigel Reo-Coker, Sub on, Robert Pirès
🕒 | FT Manchester City 0-4 Aston Villa

Match Statistics

Possession F | 38%
Possession A | 62%
Shots F | 9
Shots A | 11
Shots on Target F | 4
Shots on Target A | 8
Corners F | 6
Corners A | 8
Fouls F | 12
Fouls A | 14

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

Villa.gif

ON THIS DAY

Tuesday, 28 December 2010

  • Villa lose for the fifth time in six Premier League games to make it three wins in thirteen under Gérard Houllier as they remain 15th in the table with the unpopular boss admitting Villa are in a relegation fight as that was an entirely normal experience for a club that had finished sixth for three successive seasons.

  • Something needed to change and fast, Villa were in total free-fall under Gérard Houllier and there were absolutely no positives to take from his first 17 games in charge. 

  • Even the much derided David O'Leary had bled youngsters of quality, whilst the mess of Graham Taylor's second reign had at least seen the average squad age slashed but for Houllier though there was no such context.

  • Although the season had only just reached its half way stage, on current form, relegation looked inevitable. 

  • With only James Milner the difference, after 19 games in 2009-10, Martin O’Neill’s Villa sat joint third with 35 points. In contrast Houllier had taken Villa to 15th on 20 points.

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

Villa.gif

DEBUT APPEARANCES

None

FINAL APPEARANCES

None

2020-21 (h) Aston Villa Kit.gif

Aston Villa

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96

Manchester City

2509-2.png
Villa.gif

As Manchester City:

European Cup / Champions League: ❌
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1975-76

As Abu Dhabi:

European Cup / Champions League: ❌
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: ❌
League Champions: ❌
FA Cup Winners: ❌
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: ❌

Aston Villa

Manchester City

2509-2.png
Villa.gif

FIXTURE HISTORY

Villa v

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

Manchester City

Previous 5 vs. Abu Dhabi: 🟨 🟩 🟥 🟨 🟥

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

FIXTURE DETAILS

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

Season | 2010-11 |
Matchday | #24 |
League Game | #19 |
Manager Game | #17 |
Tuesday, 28 December 2010

2020-21 (h) Aston Villa Kit.gif

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

MATCH SUMMARY

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

Manager: Gérard Houllier | 🇫🇷 | Thérouanne, 2010-2011
Referee: Michael Oliver | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Northumberland, 2007-
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟥 0-3
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
FT Score: 🟥 0-4
Last 5: 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟥 🟥

Scorers
Timeline
On This Day
Trophies
Matches
Fixture

MANAGERIAL RECORD

Villa.gif

Gérard Houllier | 🇫🇷 | 2010-2011

GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME

🕒 17 | 🟩 | 5 🟨 | 4 🟥 8 | 1.12

Villa Career Form:

Bottom 8

ALL THE MATCHES LED BY:

Villa.gif
Gérard Houllier | 🇫🇷 | 2010-2011

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Villa.gif

Referee: Michael Oliver | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Northumberland, 2007-
Matches Officiated: 2
🟩 : 0
🟨 : 0
🟥 : 2
🆘 : 0
Previous 5: 🟥
Last Match: 🟥 21 Nov 10, Villa 0-2 Blackburn (a)
Cards: 🟨 🟨 🟨
Assistants: Dean Mohareb, Mick McDonough

ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:

Villa.gif

CARDS

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

🟨 Stephen Warnock
🟨 Eric Lichaj

🟨 James Milner

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

Villa.gif

TEAM NEWS

TEAM STATS

Stiliyan Petrov (first start in 12 after injury), Nigel Reo-Coker (first start in 9 after injury) and Barry Bannan replace Jonathan Hogg, Emile Heskey and Fabian Delph.

Starting XI Average Age
| 27.15 |

Oldest Player |
GK Brad Friedel | 🇺🇸 | 39.64 |

Youngest Player |
M Barry Bannan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 21.09 |

Referee
Manager

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

MANAGER

Gérard Houllier | 🇫🇷 | 2010-2011

Villa.gif

Aston Villa

GK Brad Friedel | 🇺🇸 |
LB Stephen Warnock | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
CB James Collins | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
CB Carlos Cuéllar | 🇪🇸 |
RB Eric Lichaj | 🇺🇸 | 🟨 |
M Barry Bannan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 🔁 |
M Stiliyan Petrov | 🇧🇬 |
M Nigel Reo-Coker | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
W Stewart Downing | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Marc Albrighton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
F Gabriel Agbonlahor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

MANAGER

Roberto Mancini | 🇮🇹 |

2509-2.png

Manchester City

GK Joe Hart | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Micah Richards | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Vincent Kompany | 🇧🇪 |
CB Joleon Lescott | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
RB Pablo Zabaleta | 🇦🇷 |
M David Silva | 🇪🇸 | 🔁 |
M Patrick Vieira | 🇫🇷 |
M Nigel de Jong | 🇳🇱 | 🔁 |
M Yaya Touré | 🇨🇮 | 🔁 |
W Adam Johnson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Mario Balotelli | 🇮🇹 | ⚽ | ⚽ | ⚽ |

Line Ups

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

SUBSTITUTES

Villa.gif

🔁 M Fabian Delph | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for M Barry Bannan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 55’ |
🔁 F Nathan Delfouneso | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for W Marc Albrighton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 56’ |
🔁 M Robert Pirès | 🇫🇷 | for M Nigel Reo-Coker | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 81’ |

SUBSTITUTES

2509-2.png

🔁 | M David Silva | 🇪🇸 | (M James Milner (ex) | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |)
🔁 | M Nigel de Jong | 🇳🇱 | (LB Wayne Bridge | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |)
🔁 | M Yaya Touré | 🇨🇮 | (CF Jô | 🇧🇷 |)

Substitutes

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

Villa.gif

GK Brad Guzan | 🇺🇸 |
CB Ciaran Clark | 🇮🇪 |
M Jonathan Hogg | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Chris Herd | 🇦🇺 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

2509-2.png

GK Shay Given | 🇮🇪 |
CB Jérôme Boateng | 🇩🇪 |
M Gareth Barry (ex) | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Carlos Tevez | 🇦🇷 |

Player Positions:

GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half


M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward

Match Symbols:

⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution

🟨 | Booking

🟥 | Sending off

🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game

Squad Bios

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

SQUAD STATS

Villa.gif

1st XI: £56.43m
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 7/11
Homegrown: 4/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 10/18
Homegrown: 8/18

SQUAD STATS

2509-2.png

Team Cost: £196.97m

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 4/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 7/18

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

MATCHDAY SQUAD

Villa.gif

MATCHDAY SQUAD

2509-2.png

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

UNAVAILABLE

Villa.gif

Injury | 4 |
F Andreas Weimann | 🇦🇹 |
M Steve Sidwell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Luke Young | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Ashley Young | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Bomb Squad | 4 |
M Moustapha Salifou | 🇹🇬 |
RB Habib Bèye | 🇸🇳 |
M Stephen Ireland | 🇮🇪 |
LB Stephen Warnock | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Out on Loan | 1 |
CB Curtis Davies | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Leicester

UNAVAILABLE

Villa.gif

Not Reported

Unavailable

LEAGUE TABLE

Villa.gif
2509-2.png
2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

MATCHDAY PROGRAMME

Villa.gif
2509-2.png
2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg
Tables & Programmes

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

MATCH QUOTES

"Yes we are definitely [in a relegation fight], we were before the game and we are now. "The way to look at it is there's a drop zone behind and we're very near, so we are in a fight for that. I acknowledge that.” Gérard Houllier. “We have to keep a clean sheet. "If you keep clean sheets you have a chance to win games. We have been guilty of being too naive and too indulgent defensively. I am talking about as a team. It is not about just four players, it is the whole team. "John Carew would have been in the squad but he came to me and told me he was not fit enough. ”We gave the players two days off after the Wigan game. He went to Norway and got stuck. I have to accept the explanation. There was snow everywhere. "We knew it would be a difficult Christmas because we had a difficult run of games.” Gérard Houllier reveals his tactical and man management genius.
Quotes

🟥 28 December 2010, Villa 0-4, Abu Dhabi, City Stadium.

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

MATCH REPORTS

Opens in New Window

*BBC Sport*
Tuesday, 28 December 2010

Mario Balotelli scored a hat-trick as Manchester City secured an emphatic victory over out-of-form Aston Villa. Balotelli struck from the penalty spot after Eric Lichaj had fouled him before Joleon Lescott headed in City’s second. Balotelli tapped in a rebound before scoring with a second spot-kick after Marc Albrighton tripped Adam Johnson. The win temporarily put City top of the Premier League but they slipped back to second after Manchester United drew 1-1 at Birmingham in Tuesday’s late game. But, nonetheless, it is proving to be a happy Christmas for City, who won comfortably at Newcastle on Boxing Day and increasingly look like serious title contenders. Perhaps, most pleasing of all for manager Roberto Mancini was the hat-trick by former Inter Milan forward Balotelli, who has reportedly been feeling homesick. The 20-year-old Italian had only mustered two Premier League goals prior to Tuesday’s contest but he showed that he can provide a potent alternative to Carlos Tevez, who was on the bench as he rested a sore hamstring, in the lone striker role. Mancini’s team have lost only one of their last 10 league matches and can look forward to their home fixture against Blackpool on New Year’s Day with confidence. However, the problems continue to mount for Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier, whose team have won only two of their last 13 Premier League matches. Their next fixture is against Chelsea, another out-of-form side, at Stamford Bridge on 2 January. Villa were always struggling after City scored twice in the opening 13 minutes. Balotelli had not previously scored in the league at Eastlands but found the net after only eight minutes with a clever penalty after he had been clumsily dragged to the ground by Lichaj. The Italian paused in his approach to the ball and waited for Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel to commit himself before slotting home. The return of Balotelli was one of five changes to the City side and it was Lescott, another of the recalled players, who struck next. The defender climbed majestically at the near post to convert Johnson’s corner. Barry Bannan made a valiant effort to head the ball clear but it was adjudged to have crossed the line. David Silva was in sparkling form, orchestrating play in front of the Villa defence, and the Spaniard dazzled the opposition defence with a weaving run into their penalty area. His subsequent low curling strike was parried by Friedel but the American was powerless to prevent Balotelli slotting home from inside the six-yard box. Silva went close again before the break after collecting a square pass from Johnson but his strike took a wicked deflection and narrowly missed the goal with Friedel stranded. There had been precious little encouragement for Houllier as he watched from the sidelines but his team did come close to a goal before the interval. City keeper Joe Hart did well to parry a strike from Albrighton and Lescott made a brilliant last-ditch clearance to prevent Nigel Reo-Coker converting the rebound. The visitors looked bright at the start of the second half but any faint hopes of a sensational comeback were ended abruptly when Albrighton clumsily fouled Johnson and Balotelli completed his hat-trick with another superb penalty. Houllier tried to inject fresh impetus by bringing on Fabian Delph and Nathan Delfouneso but it was the home side who continued to look the most dangerous. City substitute Jo should have converted a flick-on from the imperious Vincent Kompany but he shot wastefully wide from six yards. Villa did have one final chance late in the contest but Hart saved Lichaj’s crisp strike superbly.
Reports
Videos
bottom of page