The Barn Door Live: Chatting Aston Villa vs. Manchester City

I'm sure Aston Villa has a starting line-up but other than Benteke, I'm pretty sure that no one really cares who is in it. Manchester City's line-up, on the other hand, has a lot of people interested...and not very happy. Here it is:

Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta (C), Kolo Toure, Nastasic, Gael Clichy, Javi Garcia, James Milner, Jack Rodwell, David Silva, Carlos Tevez, Yaya Toure

Ok, ok, here's Villa's line-up too:

Brad Guzan, Matt Lowton, Ciaran Clark, Nathan Baker, Joseph Bennett, Ashley Westwood, Fabian Delph, Charles N'Zogbia, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Andreas Weimann, Christian Benteke

It was quite a weekend of footie between the Premier League matches and the start of the MLS season. For those asking, I did manage to avoid throwing myself off of a bridge after Arsenal lost in a very predictable way that also likely dooms their Champions League hopes for next season along with DC United and the Philadelphia Union both losing their openers in MLS.

Hard to avoid the conclusion that Wenger is done assuming, as I am now doing, that the Gunners won't make the Champions League. I have a ton of respect for the guy but he's just not doing the things that he did that made him great. Newcastle is buying undervalued French players. Swansea is playing the attractive passing game and finding bargains all over the place. These are the things that built Wenger's early success and others now appear to be better at them now. It is time to respectfully acknowledge the end of a great era and move on.

For those who also follow American football, you'll appreciate the fact that the Philadelphia Eagles and Arsenal have found themselves in similar situations with extremely successful and long-tenured coaches this season and in both cases, they probably waited one year too long out of respect for the relationship and past successes.