Jump to content

VillaTalk blog

  • entries
    179
  • comments
    3
  • views
    996,252

Contributors to this blog

Player Match Ratings: Boro’s reserves beat our own!


John

970 views

We made 11 changes from the team that won 3-0 at Barnsley on Saturday and paid the penalty for that with a cup exit (our first ever League Cup defeat against yesterday’s opponents). Not that we are alone in making significant changes in this cup competition and resting first team players at the drop of a hat as Middlesbrough made 10 changes themselves.

The League Cup was a really important trophy for around 40 years from the mid 60’s but it’s importance has faded to the extent that only 11,197 supporters attended this game. This game reminded me of those old Central League games that were played between reserve sides comprising of players who were out of favour, coming back from injury or potential first team players of the future. Crowds did not particularly flock in to see those games either.

Clubs mostly play teams that are pretty much unrecognisable from their first-team line ups until the last eight of the League Cup at least. We no longer have replays so that players do not face too many games in a season but those players do not play in the League Cup now anyway! The name of the competition has now become anyone’s guess with the sponsors having changed with great regularity since 1982 when the League Cup became the Milk Cup before morphing into a trophy that no club really makes a priority at the start of each season. It is a pity to see its demise.    

This game turned on the 57th minute when we conceded a penalty and the first goal from the spot. We also lost Elphick who was given a second yellow which brought us down to ten men for the rest of the game (this referee was far less determined to even things up than the one had been last week). Up until then there had been little to choose between these two second string outfits neither of whom seemed desperate to want to win this game.

Both teams produced a lack lustre performance last night and it could be argued that we didn’t really play much at all. The game seemed to be drifting towards a tame goalless draw, extra time and penalties until the penalty was awarded. That gave Boro the impetus and the place in the next round on a day few Villa players did anything significant to advance their case for a first team call-up. We are now left free to concentrate on the league and to bring on the first team.  

My player ratings from a game that extended the number of years we have gone without a League Cup Final appearance and a League Cup Final win beyond 8 and 22 years respectively are:

Jed Steer – 5 – Could only watch with relief when Bamford’s 26th minute header from a cross struck the bar with Hutton standing statuesque alongside the striker. Saved well low at his right-hand post to keep out a 30-yard shot from Forshaw on 36 minutes. Went left and Bamford struck his 58th minute spot kick down the middle. Caught in no-man’s land for their second when Bamford headed home a Tavernier cross at the near post that Bjarnason seemed to be trying to avoid making any contact with.

Ritchie De Laet – 5 – Made a good late run from well inside this own half on 92 minutes but his finish was high, wide and not very handsome. Headed the ball off the line on 89 minutes from a Taverier header or was it already marginally over?               

Tommy Elphick - 4 – Started comfortably enough and headed in from a Lansbury free-kick but was flagged offside. Earned a second yellow card and cost us the game on 57 minutes when he rashly brought down Bamford inside the box and reduced us to 10 men.    

Chris Samba – 6 – Did the simple things well enough and plays to his strengths.       

Alan Hutton - 6 – Started very well.  

Henri Lansbury – 6 – Sent off against these same opponents last Tuesday but was available to play having had his red card correctly rescinded. Went off with an injury on 41 minutes and we missed his experience.           

Jake Doyle-Hayes - 6 – Not as effective as he was in his last cup outing but he was very, very good on that day.   

Josh Onomah – 5 – Not at his best last night but few were. Had a 44th minute effort kept out at the far post by Konstantopoulos.

Calum O’Hare – 6 – MOTM – Make another good impression last night. Chased down apparently lost causes such as in the 34th minute when he went after a Hutton cross that seemed destined to go out of play and turned it back towards goal to force Konstantopoulos to stretch out a hand to avert the danger. Worked hard throughout just needs to try to add a cutting edge to his game.         

Birkir Bjarnason – 4 – Another disappointing display and he is clearly no full back.     

Scott Hogan – 5 – Could not quite turn a ball into the box in from close range on the hour mark. More was expected from him but he did not get a lot of service. Looked understandably unhappy to be substituted as were we to see him go given the match situation.            

Substitutes:

Ross McCormack – 5 – Replaced Lansbury on 41 minutes. Showed a couple of nice touches and looked like he might have turned home a 65th minute Samba header from a corner. Is it time to re-think bringing him back in from the cold?

Jordan Lyden – 5 - Replaced Hogan on 60 minutes. Made no particularly noticeable impression on the game in the time he had available.

Corey Blackett-Taylor – Replaced Onomah on 81 minutes. Not on long enough to earn a rating.     

Up the Villa!

John Lewis

0 Comments


Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.



  • Posts

    • Win please lads. Should be on to my second 6 pack then to watch England's number 9 Ivan Toney do us a favour in the later game
    • I can remember Keith Leonard saying something similar. If Saunders called the players together you could tell the ones that had been drinking, they'd be down tying their bootlaces!  Bumped into Sid and his son Henry about a year ago now and it was a bit of a shock to see him TBH. I've seen a lot of Dementia and Alzheimer's over the years, both my parents had it and the wife's parents too, but to see someone with it who's only 2 years older than me was an eye opener.  All the best to him and his family. 
    • Ease him back in and then maybe start him against brentford. Him and Mcginn coming back in the starting lineup would be a huge boost.
    • That’s a really unpleasant view point to be honest. Aston Villa should absolutely re respectful of heritage and rare beauty to be found in the locality. Aston Hall and Villa Park are just about the only decent features of a deprived area, they should stand side by side. Not to mention that the park is well used by the community.    The plans they had to build a new stand were fine but they’ve canned them for whatever reason. I’d also be open to a move but that doesn’t look likely either. The plan to add 3k more seats doesn’t look particularly feasible.    Looks like they’re going to let Villa Park become slowly more outdated and limited. A bit like Old Trafford but without the capacity. 
    • Wordle 1,014 3/6 ⬜🟨🟩⬜🟨 ⬜🟩🟩🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    • He also allegedly put bets on Newcastle winning games after joining  “Telegraph Sport can reveal that some of those bets are said to have included games Newcastle were involved in, although  it is understood that the 23-year-old has never backed his own team to lose.”
    • Tonali has until next week to respond. You could interpret the Newcastle leaks as soft pressure on the FA to not consider any further bans. I guess it comes down to the substance of the bets. It would make little sense to charge him but not enforce any punishment - unless there’s cause for big concern. 
    • For the younger members of our wonderful family and in this I would include all of us. I can't say Sid has been our greatest post war player because that would be unfair to my dad grandad, great grandad, great great grandad and great great great grandad. Such is our history, post war does It mean post WW2, WW1 the Boer war and Rorke's Drift. It means the Crimea and the charge of the light brigade. Because that's how long we've been around, some players and fans were before sevastebol.  But he's in the top 3
    • Spot on, @NurembergVillan Exactly how that should be handled. Let it die a quick death. Impossible to know the actual context.    I think there should be more portraits/murals of Villa legends in and around Villa Park, so players (and younger/newer fans) can become more familiar with the faces of Aston Villa heroes. I regret not having seen Sid play. His stature at the club has been apparent all the while. When I started following Villa in 1994,  1982 seemed like ancient history. But retrospectively, it was really just around the bend of time.  So I do feel connected to Sid, through you guys, and I thank you for that. And I wish the absolute best for Sid and his loved ones.        



×
×
  • Create New...
Â