Jump to content
Just visiting?

John

Established Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    8,451

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by John

  3. John
    A fifth successive league win has taken us above Middlesbrough and into fifth place.   
    We played some scintillating football in the first half and were the better team by some distance, but we ended it just one goal to the good. A two or a three-goal lead would have better reflected our first half dominance and it would have put the game beyond our visitors.
    We were unable to play with quite the same panache that we had produced in the first half during the second. We almost appeared to be running down the clock, having apparently taken a leaf out of our beleaguered and soon to be departing Prime Minister’s play book. Unlike her though, we did achieve the meaningful result that we were seeking, but we needed the two-goal cushion that we eventually got and that our ascendancy richly deserved to secure it.       
    Having stretched our lead to two goals after an hour, an apparent goalkeeping error, good goalkeeping by Raya and missed chances conspired to give the visitors hope of getting something out of the game, when there should have been none.        
    Blackburn were let back into the game in the second half and their confidence grew as we were pinned back in our own half too often. Those old concerns about being able to see out a game returned, as did the worry that a one-goal lead is never a comfortable one. The end of the game couldn’t come soon enough for us, although the referee seemed willing to keep it going until they had equalized, having found 6 minutes stoppage time to play from somewhere. We did however, eventually secure the vital win that we were looking for and the relief was there for all to see as the final whistle was belatedly blown.           
    My player ratings from a game that kept us in front of the chasing pack and that gave us the opportunity to see Juan Pablo and Martin on the pitch again at half time are:
    Jed Steer – 5 – He does seem to have the occasional error in him, as he demonstrated yesterday, having last done so at Forest. Jed was otherwise generally assured, but what seemed to me to be a lapse of concentration produced the goal that brought the visitors back into the game. Mulgrew’s 74th minute free kick appeared to possibly bend a little in the air and Jed was left only able to throw out a hand to his right to keep it out as he moved left. Ex-nose Bell was the first to react to the loose ball, hitting it into the net to set up a fraught end to the game for us.   
    Ahmed Elmohamady – 7 – Another good display from Elmo, who is looking more reliable with each game.          
    Kortney Hause - 7 – Solid alongside Tyrone once again, to the extent that a fit again Axel did not need to be rushed back to shore up our much-improved defence.    
    Tyrone Mings – 8 – MOTM – Kept our defence composed when it was coming under increasing pressure during the second half and popped up at the other end to give us the much-needed insurance of a second goal. McGinn hit a sweet 61st minute cross from the left edge of the box that Tyrone headed downward and into the net past the despairing Raya. He is clearly a very good top-flight defender and will hopefully be appearing there with us next season.              
    Neil Taylor – 6 – Steady enough at the back and might have had a second in first half stoppage time when Grealish found him on the left of the box and his shot could only be palmed towards the near post by Raya. El Ghazi was offside when he helped the ball in at the far post, but would the keeper have been able to have scrambled across goal to have kept it out, had he left it?                
    Glenn Whelan – 8 – Another very solid, composed and assured midfield performance by Glenn. He has hit a rich vein of form, hasn’t he? He was beaten twice in the air at the far post for two successive first half corners, Conway rattled the bar following the second on 16 minutes. We might therefore need a re-think on who we place on that post for our future games.              
    Andre Green – 6 – Substituted after 66 minutes. The ball wouldn’t quite run for him yesterday and ran past him more than once early on, his final ball needs greater accuracy.  
    John McGinn – 8 – Put his international woes behind him yesterday. John was unlucky to not get the goal that his terrific first half performance merited, when Raya pushed his 21st minute shot against the far post, after Green had found him nicely on the edge of the box. Hit a sublime ball to El Ghazi in the build up to our opening goal. Hit a 15th minute shot from outside of the box that Raya gathered at the second attempt. Conceded an unnecessary free kick that produced their goal.          
    Jack Grealish – 7 – A good game from Captain Jack with John and himself, running the show and getting us moving forward.              
    Anwar El Ghazi – 6 – His well hit cross produced our opening goal, after he had nicely chested down McGinn’s ball to him.                
    Tammy Abraham – 7 – Tammy was in the right place at the right time once again when he tapped home El Ghazi’s inviting 8th minute cross from close range for our early opening goal. Turned well before hitting a shot from near the penalty spot from a nice McGinn cross, that Raya kept out with his legs. Could and should have eased our nerves on 89 minutes when Hourihane found him inside the box nicely, but he hit his shot over the bar.       
    Substitutes:
    Albert Adomah – 6 – Replaced Green on 66 minutes and will now be eyeing his starting place.
    Conor Hourihane - Replaced Jack on 89 minutes. Played a nice ball to find Abraham inside the box on 89 minutes, which should have led to our third goal. Not on long enough to gather a rating.      
    Up the Villa!
    John Lewis
  4. John
    Leeds stretched their lead over us to 15 points with their late, late winner yesterday. I can’t really see us closing that gap during the second half of the season. That would leave us with just one automatic promotion place to aim for namely the one currently occupied by Norwich who are currently 14 points ahead of us. To claim that place we must rely on Norwich not being this season’s Cardiff and, on our ability, to overtake them along with the likes of WBA and Derby. It might just come down to a winner takes all clash with Norwich at Villa Park on the final day of the season.
    We currently stand 11th in the league table and that doesn’t make great reading does it? We are also just 5 points away from a play off place and with half of the season left to be played I still expect us to finish sixth or better.        
    Neither team really deserved to win this one, but we did lose it and that can be attributed to our porous defence which was a weakness to begin with and is now even more so due to injuries. Leeds won for the first time at Villa Park since 2002 yesterday and they did so having been two goals down after just 17 minutes. The lead was never a comfortable one though was it? There always lingers a doubt that we can claim a clean sheet and the third goal always looked like it might be crucial. So, it proved. Although we started the second half well and had the visitors on the back foot for the first 10 minutes of it, they claimed the third goal of the game and had drawn level 5 minutes later. It was more than cruel for their late winner to be scored in the 5th minute of stoppage time though. Had the referee decided that we would play on until they score when the 90 minutes were up?      
    Our 7-game unbeaten run came to a sorry end yesterday and our new boss tasted defeat for the first time at Villa Park. We must now bounce back on Boxing Day in our middle of the table clash with Swansea so that we don’t give ourselves and our hopefully reinforced defence too much ground to make up in the New Year. Given we have now gone 3 home games without a win, perhaps it is to our advantage that this one will be away?        
    My player ratings from a game that did little to lift our festive spirits and instead had us reaching for them are:
    Orjan Nyland – 6 – Did well to help a 22nd minute Chester back header over the bar when it might otherwise have produced a fortuitous goal for the visitors. Left too much space between his left-hand post and himself on 37 minutes and was relieved to see the free kick from Hernandez fly just wide. Did well to tip a 63rd minute Klich shot from the right-hand edge of the box over the crossbar. His poor clearance from a 67th minute Chester back pass fell dangerously to an opponent around 30 yards out. Parried a 79th minute Alioski shot away.            
    Ahmed Elmohamady – 4 – Gift wrapped them their late winner with a tame back header that played an Alioski cross straight to a delighted Roofe inside of the box in the 95th minute who proceeded to hit the ball into the corner of the net. He had earlier made an 8th minute challenge on Harrison that prevented him making contact with a Roofe cross at close range.         
    James Chester - 6 – The best of our defenders yesterday which is not saying a great deal. Nobody went with Jannson as he headed in his 61st minute equalizer having ran in between James and Hutton to glance the ball in.      
    James Bree – 5 – Needed to try to make a move towards Clarke as he ran all too easily past Elmo inside the box before hitting their first into the far corner of the net. Playing out of position through necessity. Must be worth a shot starting in his natural position.              
    Alan Hutton – 5 – He really isn’t a left back, is he?     
    Glenn Whelan – 6 – Started well enough.               
    John McGinn – 8 – Had another impressive game and gave everything he had. Why does he get booked so often when opponents who do the same or worse to him escape punishment so often by the way? We need to get up this season to keep him.  
    Conor Hourihane – 7 – Hit our 17th minute second with a sweetly placed left foot shot from outside of the box after Kodjia had done so well to make room for himself on the edge of the box before playing the ball inside to him.    
    Yannick Bolasie – 6 – a nice back heel by Whelan led to the ball cannoning off Kodjia and running on to him on the edge of the box but Jansson’s 47th minute challenge averted the danger just as he was about to pull the trigger. Produced one superb piece of Cruyff-like skill out wide on 51 minutes that left 2 defenders bamboozled.      
    Jonathan Kodjia – 6 – Headed a 13th minute Hourihane corner wide of the far post. Won the ball on the edge of the area and flashed a shot just over on 48 minutes.            
    Tammy Abraham – 8 – MOTM – Tammy really didn’t deserve to end up on the losing side yesterday.  He back heeled the ball to Hourihane on the edge of the box who in turn played it inside of the box for McGinn the loose ball was behind Tammy but he stretched his leg to make good contact with it and hit home his 9th goal in 8 matches on the 5th minute. Worked very hard throughout.     
    Substitutes:
    Anwar El Ghazi - 5 – Replaced Kodjia on 62 minutes and made no positive impression on the game.
    Birkir Bjarnason - 6 – Came on for Whelan on 73 minutes. A welcome return following his injury lay off. His 85th minute corner almost produced a third, but a fine reflex stop by Peacock-Farrell spared Forshaw conceding an own goal. Will need a couple of outings to build full match fitness.     
    Scott Hogan – Replaced Bolasie on 83 minutes. Not on long enough to earn any rating.   
    Up the Villa and Happy Christmas & 2019 to all Villa Talkers!
    John Lewis
  5. John
    Goals from Tammy Abraham and Yannick Bolasie on their home debuts gave us a much-needed win last night.
    This was not a scintillating performance from us. Our visitors rarely threatened our brittle defence and we eased to a routine victory without looking particularly good.   
    The win was comfortable enough and it was achieved without us having to hit our stride. We didn’t look fluent last night, and we have a team of individuals that have yet to become a team but when that does happen the rest of the league had better beware because we have some pretty good individuals.    
    Last night’s win gives the team something to build upon and it has lifted us up to sixth in the table. That is not too shabby given our performances to date. Another win on Saturday could give the team an opportunity to put together a string of positive results that could in turn cement our place in the top six and install some much-needed confidence into them.  
    We played 4-2-4 last night which was a good and unexpected decision. The Millers arrived at Villa Park looking to take a point. They didn’t really look like doing so once we went in front but until Bolasie headed home our second there was always a danger that they would steal a point with an equalizer against the run of play as Reading had done before them. One goal is never a comfortable lead and we really need to kick on once we go in front so that our games do not always go down to the wire. Wood was too close for comfort on 77 minutes with a header that went wide of the post, but our second goal thankfully made the game safe just 2 minutes later.      
    This result will temporarily ease some of the pressure at Villa Park. The rare clean sheet will show our defence that it is not impossible to go through a game without conceding as will our two goals demonstrate that if we make the chances we have the players who can take them. We are not yet a well oiled smoothly running promotion machine, but we might yet in the fullness of time become one.
    My player ratings from a run of the mill win against The Millers are:
    Orjan Nyland – 6 – A quiet event free evening.  
    Ahmed Elmohamady – 6 – Did well on dropping back to a role that I consider that he is more suited to also chipped in with a pin point cross that resulted in our second.     
    James Chester- 6 – Solid on those occasions that our defence was tested. Headed wide from a McGinn cross on 64 minutes.      
    Mile Jedinak – 6 – A quiet night for our defence but he was commanding in the air and did well in this central defensive role that we insist in playing him in on this occasion. Headed an 81st minute Bolasie corner harmlessly wide. Will Mile be rested for Axel on Saturday if we choose to try a little squad rotation?        
    Alan Hutton – 6 – Another reliable performance on the left.     
    Anwar El Ghazi – 6 – Substituted on 73 minutes having given a decent enough display.              
    Conor Hourihane – 7 – Earned his place with that free-kick at Blackburn and performed well on his merited return to our starting line-up. Hit a 45th minute free-kick wide of the post. Hit a 66th minute shot that Rodak kept out at his near post.    
    Jack Grealish – 7 – Some welcome signs of a return to form last night. Could it be that he had needed some time to become familiar with having other players around him that can make things happen as well as himself? He is also not seeing as much of the ball as he was and may need time to become more accustomed to his current role. Nicely found by Kodjia but his 19th minute shot went past the far post and Abraham was just unable to reach it to turn it in. Curled a 72nd minute shot just wide of the far post. 
    John McGinn – 8 – MOTM – A determined ball winner and he uses it so very well. Had an 87th minute shot from the edge of the box gathered by Rodak. Comfortably our most valuable player last night.   
    Tammy Abraham – 7 – Looked sharp, pacey and keen. Scored our opener on 27 minutes. Grealish found Kodjia on the edge of the box who played a sweet ball past 2 defenders to Tammy who hit the ball past the keeper and into the corner of the net. He did some nice work prior to finding El Ghazi who hit the ball onto the netting on the top of the goal on 15 minutes. He looked very good and will get better.             
    Jonathan Kodjia – 7 – Showed some nice touches and his partnership with Abraham looks to have some potential. Had a decent 1st minute cross pushed away by Rodak who also kept out his attempt to convert McGinn’s cross from close range 3 minutes later. Headed an 18th minute Grealish cross over the bar.   
    Substitutes:
    Yannick Bolasie – 6 – Came on for El Ghazi on 73 minutes and sealed the win with a determined 82nd minute diving header from a nice Elmo cross. Looks ready for a start on Saturday.  
    Albert Adomah – Replaced Kodjia on 81 minutes. Not on long enough to earn a rating.   
    James Bree - Replaced Abraham on 86 minutes. Not on long enough to gather a rating but it is nice to know he is still in contention for a place. 
    Up the Villa!
    John Lewis
  7. John
    Joe Gallagher, Trevor Francis, Kenny Burns, Kevin Dillon, Mark Dennis, Pat Van den Hauwe, Julian Dicks, Noel Blake, Tom Ross, Jasper Carrot your boys took a hell of a beating!    
    This game turned on the 35th minute when Gardner’s cross flew past Chester and Adams got a foot to it only for the ball to thud against the post rather than give the knuckle draggers a two-goal cushion. What could possibly go wrong for them after that? We could go straight up the other end and hit an equalizer which we did. We could then go ahead within 2 minutes and hit another two in the second half. It breaks their hearts doesn’t it?
    The Scottish Cafu settled the game on the 76th minute with a tremendous run and a wonderfully taken goal. This has amusingly been referred to as a case of Hutton dressed as Lahm. For me it was a goal that was good enough to decide any game.              
    Garry Monk claimed that the visitors are on a learning curve. They certainly are. They are slowly beginning to learn at long last that they are comfortably the second-best football team in the second city and their tired and weary fans must have been grudgingly accepting that as they slunk out of Villa Park yesterday. They have now gone 13 league games without a local derby win and long may that run continue.  
    Our visitors were near their best yesterday which really isn’t that good in all honesty is it? We have played better and have lost recently. We conceded two goals, but we did come back from a goal down and extended our lead again when our two-goal lead was temporarily reduced to one. We had a very slow start but once we got into the game there was only ever going to be one winner and it was a joy to see Jack hold up 4 fingers on one hand and 2 on the other to the Holte End after the game.
    Small Heath scored their first goal at Villa Park for 10 years yesterday. Back then we scored 5 goals in winning that local derby it was just the 4 this time! The city is still ours and it always will be.
    My player ratings from a game that brought us our third straight win and took us up to eighth in the table are:
    Orjan Nyland – 6 – It appears that he may be starting to gain a little confidence. Parried a 42nd minute Gardner free-kick that Dean who was in front of him couldn’t get a touch on to safety and then gathered a 59th minute Adams shot at his near post.        
    Alan Hutton – 8 – MOTM - Hit our stunning fourth goal on 76 minutes when he collected a loose ball inside his own half ran determinedly between Gardner and Maghoma into the box, jinked past Dean on the edge of the box before planting a sweet left footed shot into the corner of the net past Camp.    
    James Chester - 6 – Not quite at his usual very best but that can most likely be attributed to the injury that had threatened his place in the starting line-up and our defence would have been even more suspect had he been missing.      
    Axel Tuanzebe – 6 – Competent again.            
    Neil Taylor – 6 – A decent display.    
    Conor Hourihane – 6 – Hit a 65th minute free-kick that seemed destined for the far corner of the net until Camp got an outstretched hand to it which deflected it past the post for a corner.              
    Glenn Whelan – 6 – Did well enough but he is not quite a like for like replacement for the Scottish Iniesta is he?
    Albert Adomah – 8 – Three of his crosses brought us three of our four goals before Harding’s challenge brought him a well merited booking and led to Albert hobbling off on 65 minutes. Get well soon Albert!   
    Jack Grealish – 8 – His close-range diving header at the far post from a perfectly flighted Adomah cross hit from the edge of the box gave us the lead and put a smile on Jack’s face as well as on ours. Faced several uncompromising challenges that were too leniently treated by the referee. Headed over on 46 minutes. Jack was too good for them to cope with.       
    Jonathan Kodjia – 7 - Scored our 37th minute equalizer. Hutton played the ball forward to Adomah whose cross was deflected off Morrison’s head towards Kodjia who turned the ball in low at the far post. Hit a 54th minute shot over the bar from outside of the area Harding got to the ball first on 80 minutes when he tried to make it five when the ball was deflected towards goal as he was challenged by the keeper on the edge of their area.             
    Tammy Abraham – 7 – Hit a shot over the bar on 2 minutes from the right edge of the box. Brought down an Adomah cross before himself being brought down by Morrison for our penalty which he took himself coolly sending Camp the wrong way and hitting the spot-kick in off the inside of the post. Headed a 66th minute Grealish corner over from close range at the far post which had evaded Camp’s reach.  
    Substitutes:
    Yannick Bolasie – 6 – Replaced the injured Adomah on 65 minutes. Will he be fit enough to start in midweek if Albert isn’t?    
    Henri Lansbury – Came on for Whelan on 69 minutes only to be substituted himself on 77 minutes due to injury. Not on long enough to gather a rating.     
    Ahmed Elmohamady – Replaced Lansbury on 77 minutes. He was also not on long enough to earn a rating.   
    Up the Villa!
    John Lewis
  9. John
    One moment of magic from John McGinn could only temporarily dispel the gloom from Villa Park yesterday.
    The beat team won, and we were a long way off being the best team. Our visitors gave what will be one of their best performances of the season whereas we produced one of our worst in what is fast becoming a season to forget.   
    Sheffield Wednesday inflicted our first home league defeat of the season upon us for a second successive season yesterday. They started brightly and found it all too easy to come away with all three points as they had done last November when they won by the same score.    
    Tuesday’s home win had given us something to build upon and had lifted us up temporarily into the top six. This abject performance shattered any hopes we might have entertained of turning the corner, of producing a run of good results, of installing some much-needed confidence into the team and of easing some of the pressures that are on our club.  
    We have taken 13 points from our first 9 games of the season and sit uncomfortably in the bottom half of the table in 13th place. We had hoped to hit the ground running this season and to not leave ourselves with ground to make up on those teams who were occupying the automatic promotion places again. Instead of that we have the same number of points as we had after the first nine games of last season and that does not represent progress. Runs of poor performances and results happen to teams but to a club that is expected to seriously challenge for promotion a run such as this one is unacceptable, and it shows no obvious signs of ending any time soon.    
    A win would have put us into the top six again and would have taken us within 2 points of the early league leaders, but we were not able to capitalise on their own awful result. This was our manager’s 100th game in charge of our club and this defeat will only place his future at the club under increasing doubt.           
    We didn’t really get going yesterday other than for a few minutes between John McGinn’s sublime goal and The Owls scoring their winner during which time the rest of the team seemed to realise that he needed a little help. Things might have been different had Hourihane’s 64th minute goal bound shot not been flicked off the line by Pudil. We might then have somehow gone on to get a win that would have papered over the cracks that were so clear yesterday but instead their second goal ended any temporary hopes we held of a late comeback. 
    My player ratings from a game in which we had far too many players having an off day and on which we failed to work effectively as a team are:
    Orjan Nyland – 6 – Beaten by Matias from the edge of the box for their opener and by Fletcher’s powerful header for their winner with the ball ending up in the right-hand corner of the net on both occasions. Saved a 62nd minute shot from Fletcher low to his right.
    Ahmed Elmohamady – 5 – Not near his best.     
    James Chester- 6 – The cross for their winner passed over him to be met by Fletcher’s head. He must be finding that carrying our defence is becoming increasingly difficult even for him.      
    Mile Jedinak – 4 – What did Axel do to be banished to the bench for the last two games? Mile’s place is in front of the defence not in the centre of it. He lacks pace and is not comfortable in this role. Opponents like Fletcher who was made to look like twice the player he now is yesterday are well aware of that and take advantage of it to our cost.           
    Alan Hutton – 7 – Our best defender yesterday. Made a great challenge on Fletcher after he had run between Jedinak and himself to deny him a scoring opportunity.     
    Albert Adomah – 5 – Substituted on 68 minutes having made little positive impression on the game.              
    Conor Hourihane – 6 – Hit a shot from the edge of the area wide of the post on 33 minutes and another straight at Dawson on 58 minutes. He was unlucky not to put us in front when his goal bound 64th minute shot was flicked clear by Pudil. Reach reached a ball on the edge of the box before Conor was able to clear it and found Matias who hit their first into the net before Chester was able to slide in to get in a challenge.     
    Jack Grealish – 5 – Started wide for some reason. We had players sitting on the bench who can fill the wide roles. Jack is clearly less than comfortable playing out wide and needs to play where he was so effective last season just behind the striker(s). Hit a 6th minute effort wide of the far post and another wide from just outside of the box on 52 minutes. Let a clearance run off him to Reach in the build up to their winner.        
    John McGinn – 8 – MOTM – Hit a stunning volley from 30 yards on 53 minutes that went in off the underside of the bar and thudded into the right-hand corner of the net. His goal, performance level and determination shone out like a beacon on a gloomy night.    
    Tammy Abraham – 6 – Lacked service and without it a goal poacher is seldom a scorer.             
    Jonathan Kodjia – 6 – Passed the ball to Tammy a couple of times rather than attempting to go it alone as has been previously been his preferred option irrespective of having team mates in better positions. This was good to see and bodes well for the hopes of him building a good striking partnership with Abraham. Had an effort blocked on 59 minutes.   
    Substitutes:
    Yannick Bolasie – 6 – Came on for Adomah on 68 minutes and made a couple of runs that showed that he should have started this one. Hit an 82nd minute that Hourihane scuffed wide when in a good position.  
    Anwar El Ghazi – Replaced Kodjia on 78 minutes. Not on long enough to earn a rating.   
    Up the Villa!
    John Lewis
  10. John
    We tried placing round pegs in round holes rather than in square ones yesterday and it worked!    
    It was nice to hear applause at half time and again at full time from a packed Villa Park on Saturday as the team left the field. It is very early in Dean Smith’s tenure at Villa Park and he has only had a couple of training sessions at best with some of his new players but there were still some early encouraging signs.        
    We pressed our opponents in their own half and showed a willingness to do so. Doing that took some pressure off our defence and we didn’t let Swansea begin to cause us too many problems at the back until the last quarter of the game when they had us on the back foot as we tired and might have denied us the victory our overall play and improved work rate had deserved.
    We even started to look a bit more like a team than a group of individuals yesterday. This much needed win brings us level on points with Dean’s former club Brentford and only 3 points off the play off places. Leeds and Albion will soon be looking over their shoulders and don’t look so nailed on for promotion after their defeats yesterday.         
    Dean, JT and Richard O’Kelly have a 100%-win record. Dean Smith has a win from his first Villa game and that is something that none of our previous six managers achieved. We had lost to Swansea on their last two visits to Villa Park, so this was a case of third time lucky for us. The acid test will be our next two games which are away from home. We took 3 points from these games last season and could do with getting at least the same this. Let’s go to Norwich and QPR looking for wins instead of with our backs to the wall. Six points from these two games would really get this season started and we do have some ground to make up. We are also Aston Villa and are claiming our new manager bounce!      
    We are not going to become a team that will walk away with this league overnight. We started well and got a win but lacked a clinical finish and enough invention in the final third. We don’t dominate games although we have the players who on paper look capable of doing so. The problems we have found so far this season will not have disappeared and they may well rear their ugly heads again. We just may through hard work and application have it in us to turn the corner and make this a season to remember rather than one to forget. We may just have witnessed the start of something big yesterday. Let’s hope so!              
    My player ratings from a game that we kept a clean sheet for only the second time in a league game this season are:
    Orjan Nyland – 7 – This was his best performance to date for us by some distance. This can be a new start for him as well as others and he can take some confidence from this display. Horton tried to turn in a cross on 23 minutes from just inside of the box that Nyland pushed away to his left. He then cut out a dangerous looking 56th minute cross low at his near post. Made a good reflex save on 69 minutes from a close-range Fulton header.      
    Alan Hutton – 7 – Gave his usual whole-hearted performance.    
    James Chester - 7 – Solid following his return from suspension.      
    Axel Tuanzebe – 7 – Looked reasonably comfortable alongside our captain in the heart of our defence. Worth a run in this position. Its not as if we are spoilt for choice when it comes to central defenders after all.            
    Neil Taylor – 7 – Has an opportunity to make this position his own again now. Looked solid enough at the back and denied the visitors an equalizer on 79 minutes when he got a foot to deflect a Roberts shot wide that had beaten Nyland who had come off his line towards him. Hit a nice cross on 22 minutes that McGinn almost connected with.    
    Ahmed Elmohamady – 7 – Claimed his fourth assist of the season yesterday. His crosses often find their man, don’t they? I was a little surprised to see him still a starter, but I guess managers know what they will get from him and Dean got that yesterday.              
    Bikir Bjarnason – 7 – Looking more comfortable in the holding midfield role with each game. Likes a tackle and worked tirelessly. His distribution is something he could do with looking at.    
    John McGinn – 8 – MOTM – Back to his best yesterday. John pressed and harried his opponents throughout and worked incredibly hard for this win. We will miss him at Norwich.      
    Jack Grealish – 7 – Play him in the position in which he feels most comfortable and you are likely to get match winning performances again from him. This was an improvement from Jack and I hope he will kick on from this and begin to consistently produce what we know he is capable of. Hit a 21st minute free-kick from the right edge of the box that just needed a touch from someone that it did not get. Hit a 47th minute shot from the edge of the box that took a deflection off a defender before Nordfeldt got a hand to it diving to his left. Elmo picked up the loose ball and Adomah headed the cross back towards Jack whose attempt to hook the ball in from around 8 yards was saved by Nordfeldt.             
    Albert Adomah – 7 – A much better performance than of late. Albert seems keen to impress again and made a couple of decent crosses being much more involved than he had been recently. Hit a 37th minute shot that was gathered easily enough by Nordfeldt. McGinn found him with a quickly taken 29th minute free-kick and his resultant cross took a deflection off Roberts that led to the ball eluding Nordfeldt and almost creeping in at the far post. Hit a 52nd minute effort just wide of the post.       
    Tammy Abraham – 8 – Got our early winner on the 8th minute and on another day, he could have had a hat-trick. Got into the positions to score and this was his 4th goal in 7 games for us which is a more than acceptable strike rate. His goals can get us promoted this season and earn him international recognition again. He was a threat to the visitor’s defence from start to finish and seemed to be enjoying the game and the responsibility of leading the line.
    Jack hit an 8th minute free-kick against the wall after Tammy had been fouled on the edge of the box. Elmo picked up the loose ball wide on the right beat a defender and cut the ball back to Jack who found Elmo again whose flighted cross towards the far post was headed past Nordfeldt for our winner from just outside of the 6-yard box by Tammy. Couldn’t quite reach a 58th minute Adomah cross and brought down a cross from Adomah 4 minutes later that Nordfeldt dived to his left to save. Headed a 68th minute cross from Bolasie downwards which bounced over the bar with the keeper ending up in the back of the net rather than the ball.            
    Substitutes:
    Yannick Bolasie – 7 – Replaced Elmo on 64 minutes and hit a nice cross 4 minutes later for Tammy that could have given us some breathing space at the end.    
    Jonathan Kodjia – Came on for Albert on 74 minutes. Not on quite long enough to earn a rating or to make the sort of impression that might demand a starting place.     
    Conor Hourihane – Replaced Jack on 83 minutes. Unlucky to find himself on the bench again in my opinion. Not on long enough to gather a rating.   
    Up the Villa!
    John Lewis
  12. John
    Scott Sinclair scored a brace of goals yesterday to make it five goals in two games for him but his goals did not bring us the win we needed.
    We have conceded five goals in our last two home games and you cannot expect to win games too often when the defence is leaking goals like that.
    We conceded an early goal but equalized within two minutes and were ahead at the break. Another goal looked likely and it would have settled the game for us. We were not short of opportunities to add a third but our visitors left Villa Park with what may prove to be a rare away point for them this season.
    We now have four points from four games and this sort of point accumulation is on a par with another bottom six finish. We are now treading water whilst we wait and hope for our new signings to gel together to provide a winning side. There continue to be some signs of encouragement and we played some nice football at times yesterday but we do need to start picking up more points now to keep clear of the relegation zone that we have spent too many seasons in of late. I think we will not be looking over our shoulders towards the end of this season but I wonder just how good a team we would be now if we still had Benteke up front. I guess if we did we would not have most of our new signings though.
    This was not a must win game or a six pointer yet but it was the sort of game we really need to be winning.Sunderland’s half time substitutions and their strong start to the second half gave them an equalizer 7 minutes after the re-start. We were the better team overall yesterday but we were unable to claim an elusive home league win and our bottom of the table visitors left happy to have doubled their points tally. We will just have to beat them up there again!
    My player ratings from a game that we started missing the creativity of Grealish and Traore through injury and Gil through choice are:
    Brad Guzan – 5 – Positioned himself too far to the right of his goal for me and was unable to get anywhere near to Villa’s well placed 9th minute free-kick. Brad tipped a Fletcher header over the bar on 49 minutes.
    Alan Hutton – 6 – Did his best work when getting forward which he did on a regular basis. Alan was solid at the back when tested.
    Michah Richards – 7 – Unlucky to get a touch on Lens’ 52nd minute equalizer that helped the ball over Guzan. Looked certain to give us the lead again on 59 minutes but Sinclair’s cross hit him near the goal line rather than he hit it and the ball surprisingly ended up in Pantilimon’s hands. Our captain was both dominant and committed at the centre of our defence.
    Ciaran Clark – 6 – Too easily lost a challenge with Lens on the edge of the box which led to his equalizer.
    Jordan Amavi – 7 – Conceded the free-kick that produced their opener when he brought down Graham but was very dangerous when getting forward and getting the ball over as he did for our second. The ball was deflected into the side netting by a defender on 63 minutes after he had made a good run into the area.
    Leandro Bacuna – 5 – Playing him in the middle failed to pay anything near the dividends that Tim was looking for. We missed his crosses. Leo screwed a shot wide on 38 minutes having been fed by Hutton.
    Ashley Westwood - 7 – Early miscued passes but improved after the first quarter of an hour. Made a decent run and was fed by Hutton on 17 minutes but his shot finished just wide of the near post.
    Idrissa Gueye – 7 –Looked good yesterday and seems a big improvement on the slithery snake he has replaced. Screwed a 25th minute shot wide of the post from the edge of the box.
    Carlos Sánchez – 7 – Looked assured and comfortable in our midfield particularly in the first half. He should have done better on 36 minutes when a free-kick fell to him inside the box and he hit his shot well over the bar. Carlos lost a midfield challenge with Toivonen who then found Lens for their equalizer.
    Scott Sinclair – 8 – MOTM - He is a goal machine at the moment. Brought down by Cattermole in the 11th minute and converted the spot kick himself sending Pantilimon the wrong way for our timely equalizer. Was again in the right place at the right time to put us ahead on 41 minutes when he turned in a cross from Amarvi who had been found by Gueye to give us a well worked goal.
    Rudy Gestede – 6 – Did well to turn and get a shot on target from the edge of the box on 39 minutes. Turned a header from an Amavi cross wide of the post on 77 minutes and hit the ball wide 8 minutes later from just inside of the box. Found it difficult to make an impression against their central defenders and took a while to get into this one but this is early following a big step upwards for him.
    Substitutes:
    Carles Gil – 7 - Replaced Bacuna on 68 minutes. Provided a creative spark we had been missing whilst he sat on the bench. Needed to start today and showed that following his introduction. Carles got a yellow card rather than a penalty on 79 minutes after a poor touch took the ball away from him when he had got into a very threatening position.
    Up the Villa!
    John Lewis
  13. John
    We extended our unbeaten run to 7 games yesterday and Stoke’s own unbeaten run now stands at 9.
    The deluge in which the game was played was not conducive to flowing football and both teams cancelled each other out in the first half. The goals like the weather were not going to dry up though and the second half rained goals.
    I had feared that the visitors might extend their run of victories at Villa Park to 4 each time they went ahead but we are made of sterner stuff than we once were, now aren’t we? A draw was a fair result on a day that we were not able to reproduce the level of performances that we have been producing of late, in a game during which we so clearly missed Jack’s invention in and around the visitor’s box.     
    The visitors started strongly, were well organised, gave us little space and were allowed to make several uncompromising challenges in order to break up our forward movement. They came to stifle us and to get a point. They might have taken all three had we not battled back twice from a goal behind. This was a point that may well prove crucial when the season reaches its conclusion against a team that unlike us currently, have both a solid goalkeeper and a solid defence.  
    We now face a second tough home game against the current league leaders on Sunday. They are currently 12 points ahead of us and we could do with a win to bring that gap down to single figures and to leave us with realistic ambitions of finishing the season above them in one of the automatic places.
    My player ratings from a game that kept us two points ahead of our fellow promotion chasers from the Potteries are:
    Orjan Nyland – 6 – Saved well from Allen low at his left-hand post on 6 minutes. Parried away an 11th minute shot from McLean from a Martina cross and Chester hooked the resultant loose ball clear. For some reason dropped a knee when Allen put Stoke ahead on 47 minutes and the ball flew over his outstretched arm into the net. Went the right way for Afobe’s well hit 78th minute penalty but the ball was destined for the left-hand corner of his net.            
    Ahmed Elmohamady – 5 – Allowed McLean to run inside him and then unnecessarily brought him down inside the box with Kodjia covering the run ahead of the forward.    
    James Chester - 6 – Solid enough and looked nearer to his reliable best.       
    Axel Tuanzebe – 6 – Becoming more familiar with and showing signs of growing into the role alongside Chester.            
    Alan Hutton – 6 – Lost possession on the edge of the box to McLean whose cross was hit home by Allen for the visitor’s first. Looked better when moving forward than when under pressure at the back from Ince. He’s got to start on the right whenever possible.     
    Glenn Whelan – 6 – Did all that can be expected of him. He is not a like for like replacement for Jack, but he did put in a shift.
    Anwar El Ghazi – 4 – So disappointing following his display last week. Had little of the ball and did little with it on those rare occasions that he did have it. Was unable to force home a Hutton cross on 55 minutes from close range that Butland gathered gratefully.    
    Conor Hourihane – 6 – Butland helped Conor’s 24th minute free-kick from just outside of the area over the bar.       
    John McGinn – 7 – Got stuck in and was our stand out player until the arrival of Jonny Danger. Missed the space that opponent’s double teaming and focus on Jack normally provides as did others.             
    Yannick Bolasie – 6 – Blasted the ball harmlessly over the bar on 80 minutes when a cross seemed a much better option. Hit a shot wide of the post on 61 minutes from inside of the box. Claimed an assist with a nice cross for our second and it was nice to see him playing a full game.
    Tammy Abraham – 7 – Had a 55th minute shot from the edge of the area saved low by Butland at a post. Was made to wait a long time to take our 73rd minute penalty but he coolly slotted it home sending Butland the wrong way in the process. 
    Substitutes:
    Jonathan Kodjia – 8 – MOTM - Replaced El Ghazi on 65 minutes and what a difference he made! Was pulled back inside the box by Pieters as he moved to Elmo’s ball to him which resulted in our penalty. Headed home our second equalizer on 84 minutes when he headed a Bolasie cross pat Butland and into the left-hand corner of his net.       
    Scott Hogan – Replaced Whelan on 85 minutes. Not on long enough to gather a rating.   
    Up the Villa & A Merry Christmas to all Villa Talkers!
    John Lewis
  25. John
    This was a shambolic, embarrassing and disappointingly rancid performance. The light we had thought we had spotted at the end of a long dark tunnel was all too easily extinguished as was our recent run of improved performances and fragile confidence yesterday.
    We started this game with a better goal difference than Newcastle and level with Norwich. We had an opportunity to move to being a slender 5 points from safety with a win. Given our dire home record against yesterday’s visitors most of us would have taken a point although we really knew we needed all three but to lose and to concede 6 goals without reply in the process was beyond our very worst fears.
    This was our heaviest home league defeat in 81 years. Back in season 1935-36 we conceded 7 goals twice at Villa Park losing 0-7 to WBA and then 1-7 to Arsenal with Ted Drake scoring all 7 goals of their goals. We were relegated that season and yesterday’s appalling performance had relegation written all over it.
    We started well enough but our heads dropped when we conceded two goals in 9 first half minutes. At half-time the game could have gone one of two ways. We could have shown some fight and pulled a goal back or at the very least kept the score down to a two or three goal deficit or we could throw in the towel and become demoralised as we did in another abject display in the FA Cup against Manchester City. We took the later option conceding 4 goals in 13 second half minutes shamefully. Football does not get worse than this at Villa Park.
    Liverpool were languishing in the bottom half of the table when they arrived at Villa Park yesterday. This was not the Liverpool of the 70s and as we showed in last season’s FA Cup semi-final they can be beaten. But we failed to turn up, treated them with too much respect and made them look better than they actually are. If only our players had shown anything near the spirit that the Holte End did near the end of this sad game!
    We did not want this game enough to battle, press and challenge our visitors and instead surrendered meekly. We now have 12 games left in which to bridge the 8 point gap that stands between us and safety. Three points at Stoke might repair some of the damage but after this humiliating defeat it is hard to see any way back for us! 
    My player ratings from a game after which my “bright future” scarf looked increasingly ridiculous are:
    Mark Bunn – 4 – Acted as merely a spectator when neither a forward nor a defender made any contact with Milner’s 25th minute free-kick that went straight in at his far post. Kept out Clyne’s first shot after Firmino had found him but was left grounded along with Veretout when the same player was first to get to the rebound to score their penultimate goal. Mark was then left flat footed when Touré’s unchallenged header from a Henderson corner found the net to his right for their sixth on 71 minutes. Beat Sturridge to the ball after Coutinho had tried to set him up on 54 minutes having earlier saved well from Moreno at his near post on 33 minutes and from Sturridge again on 44 minutes.
    Michah Richards – 4 – Made a couple of moves forward and was not the worst of our defenders yesterday.   
    Joleon Lescott – 3 – Almost turned in a Henderson cross to make it 7 in the 86th minute but Bunn got down to keep it out.
    Jores Okore – 3 – Origi got in behind him on 63 minutes and neither he nor Lescott were able to get back to do anything to stop him adding a fourth goal.   
    Aly Cissokho – 3 – Neither he nor Lescott took responsibility for Sturridge who was therefore unchallenged when heading in their first.
    Leandro Bacuna – 2 – Made a half hearted attempt if that to close down Coutinho whose cross was headed home past a static Bunn for their 16th minute opener. He then conceded the free-kick that led to their second although there was little contact with Coutinho who went to ground all too readily for me if not for the referee. Failed to bring the ball under control on 58 minutes losing the ball to Can who hit the ball home from the edge of the box for their third. Had a 60th minute shot pushed away which was cleared before Gana who had found him on the edge of the box could get to the loose ball having had another effort fumbled by the keeper when he cut into the box after 47 minutes.
    Jordan Veretout - 3 – Failed to cover Clyne’s run on 65 minutes which led to their fifth.  
    Ashley Westwood – 3 – Can do more than this as can the rest of the team.   
    Idrissa Gana – 5 – MOTM – Shaded it as the best of a bad bunch for me yesterday.
    Carles Gil – 4 – Has had much better and more influential games than this but he had little to nothing to work with yesterday.    
    Gabriel Agbonlahor – 2 – Had a reasonable first 10 minutes or so but soon faded badly and looked so much more like his recent lack lustre self than he had during his last Villa Park appearance. Substituted on 57 minutes.  
    Substitutes:
    Scott Sinclair – 5 – Replaced Gabby after 57 minutes. Scott actually ran at their defenders a couple of times and was unlucky when his measured 80th minute shot hit the angler of crossbar and post.   
    Jordan Lyden – 5 - Replaced Bacuna on 66 minutes and it was a little harsh to make him play any part in this debacle.
    Alan Hutton – Replaced Richards on 85 minutes so was not on long enough to earn any rating.
    Stay Up Villa!

    John Lewis

×
×
  • Create New...
Â