Ratings and Reactions: Villa 1-0 Chelsea

[deeps]

Shout out the benches reaction when Delph scored. Holt went mad!

[AValon]

Still buzzing today. We won!

 

We not only won, we grafted for the full 90+ minutes and EARNED the win. Thats what I find really satisfying about the result yesterday. Occasionally, you do see glimpses of what Lambert wants to do with this team.

 

Delph outstanding, irrelevant of scoring the winner. But a huge shout for young Bennett, who quite possibly come of age yesterday.

[villarule123]

Bennett was very good yesterday, good on the ball, fantastic positioning for once and he even showed strength against their attackers.

 

There is a player in there somewhere.

[samjp26]

Ramires challenge really was awful wasn't it. Jesus. My Chelsea supporting mates reckon he should be given an extended ban to make a point, seems to be the general consensus of all the Chelsea fans I've seen to be fair. 

 

He was clearly frustrated for a few minutes before he did it so I have no doubt in my mind that he absolutely meant it and that he was purposely trying to inflict as much damage as possible. Despicable, hope the FA make an example of him because that kind of thing is not needed within the game.

[shaggy]

It was payback time from the team and manager for the fans who have for the most part shown a lot of patience in waiting for something like this.

[AndyBM]

absolutely shocked with that result, was expecting to see another chelsea training session, great goal by delph, ill admit, ive been his biggest critic over the past few seasons but it seems now were seeing the form that enticed us to buy him in the first place

[Electric Avenue]

If that challenge had been KEA on Ramires or Oscar or Hazard etc the media would be ripping him and avfc apart now . As it stands as it's Chelsea they'll just sweep that "attack" (it wasn't a tackle) under the carpet and blank the whole issue as will the FA.

[Harry]

Yesterday reminded me why I bother to shell out a grand on two season tickets. Th atmosphere was electric and well done to the Villa fans. I honestly expected us to get stuffed but from the first minute I thought we were giving this a go. Yes we rode our luck on occasion but the team worked tirelessly and I could not fault any one of them.

 

Delph will get all the plaudits and deservedly so but I think there are a some special mentions.

 

Bennett - my MOTM. Stepped up to the plate superbly, particularly after all the shit some fans have given him, and put in his best performance in a Villa shirt. We now all know what he is capable of doing. Did not put a foot wrong for me.

 

Westwood - starting to mature into a really classy midfielder. Michael Carrick is his role model and I think he is getting there.

 

Bacuna - must be the bargain buy of the premiership. I just loved the way he dealt with Hazard.

 

I have to hold my hands up and admit I have often criticised our academy products as being not as good as we think they are but not today. Baker was superb as was Albrighton both of whom I doubted would make it. We also beat Chelsea with five academy players on the pitch at various times (Gabby, Baker, Clark, Albrighton and Weimann).

 

As for Chelsea I thought in the first half they looked the best side I have seen play at Villa Park this season but they lack a decent striker because Torres is just so so poor and Ba in the second half is a poor mans Harewood. Yes the sending off of Willian, or what ever his name is, was harsh but shit happens sometimes, God know it happens to Villa often enough but they just fell apart after that. Compare that to SAF's Man U with ten men.

 

What is the old expression? 'Lose with grace, win with dignity' Both Chelsea and Mourinho need to learn to do that, that horrific foul by Ramires on KEA was born out of childish petulance and frustration.

 

Overall an unexpected three points so we are nearly there and a great day to be a Villa fan.

 

Final special mention to the two 'incognito' Chelsea fans sitting next to us in M5 - welcome to real football with real fans. 

[Crumpet]

The agony on Terry's face. Poor bloke.

Brilliant photo!

This would be a great photo for one of those spot the ball competition.

Was sat in the North stand and it seemed to take an eternity for that ball to hit the net.

Best atmosphere of the season. Would like to give a shout out to the travelling belgains (all 200 or so of them) sat at the top of the North. Incredible support by them, and the only think that would have made last night better would have been to see their reaction to a benteke goal.

Edited March 16, 2014 by Crumpet

[Dodgyknees]

So their first red was harsh? Ok...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_RwoQK9KXE

 

And

 

[Crumpet]

Gabby was disappointing and Bacuna despite his efforts going forward (which were excellent for the main part) looked lost defensively. Not for the first time of course.

Couldn't disagree with you more about Bacuna. Only once did he let Hazard, player of the season barring Suarez, turn him. Hazard had such a quiet game and in large I think that was down to Bacuna

[PieFacE]

God I hate Ivanovic, and Terry, and Cole, and Mourinho, and Chelsea fans. Soooooooo happy we got one over on them. Maybe if the whole Chelsea team didn't surround Chris Foy with every decision he makes then he wouldn't be so card happy towards them. However, was nice to see a few decisions go our way for once.

[shaggy]

I wish we could play the same way against Man you.

[TRO]

We've just claimed a massive victory and all Richard Keys can bang on about is whether Mourinho would be allowed to speak his mind if this was an American sport!

 

I mean, WTF!!??

 

If messi had of scored that goal......we would have seen it morning, noon and night

World class

[TRO]

I wish we could play the same way against Man you.

It will come.

Arsenal, man city and now Chelsea .....consistency is what we need to add to our game.

[TRO]

Andy Gray is not happy the goal was disallowed. 

Getting old.....needs glasses.

[The_Lions_Roar]

So their first red was harsh? Ok...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_RwoQK9KXE

And

It was harsh yes, those 2 incidents don't change that, it just shows the inconsistency. Collymore was getting loads of abuse from Chelsea fans, he then brought up the game at their place earlier in the season and they quietened down.

[PieFacE]

"Thats for you Sophia" is what Delph says to the camera after the game. 

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

Mourinho and Lambert have a strange relationship. They go from inside joke giggling best buddies to homicidal hatred for each other. Bizarre. 

 

Definite sexual tension.

[GeordieVillan]

Great performance and result. Playing Chelsea suits us, as we outnumbered there 2 hard working midfielders with our 3. The first sending off did change the game, but I have to say its first time in a while I've seen us play well against 10 men, trying to stretch the game and pick out pockets of space.

 

But more than anything else, an absolutely massive result against the backdrop of the results earlier in the day. The wins for Fulham and West Brown have really drawn other teams back into the mix, and this 3 points just gives us a little bit of breathing space.

 

2 more wins should see us safe, and it would be great to get them in the next few games so that we can then have a relaxed end to the season and maybe blood more of the young players and try playing with a different style. I think it would also represent progress from last year, which hopefully we can take into next year and kick on again.