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Ratings and Reactions: Villa - Leicester

limpid

By limpid
in PL: Leicester h

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Match Polls  

117 members have voted

  1. 1. Who was your man of the match?

    • Guzan
      0
    • Hutton
      56
    • Okore
      23
    • Clark
      23
    • Cissokho
      0
    • Cleverley
      1
    • Westwood
      1
    • Sánchez
      4
    • N'Zogbia
      1
    • Benteke
      3
    • Agbonlahor
      3
    • Richardson (for Westwood 44)
      1
    • Grealish (for Cleverley 62)
      0
    • Bacuna (for N'Zogbia 76)
      1

  2. 2. Manager's Tactics?

    • Very Good
      12
    • Good
      83
    • Average
      18
    • Poor
      1
    • Very Poor
      3

  3. 3. Refereeing Performance

    • Very Good
      9
    • Good
      42
    • Average
      37
    • Poor
      21
    • Very Poor
      8

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Villanun Newbie

Villanun

Posted
Posted (edited)

It wasn't great to see our backs to the wall after scoring a second goal and them losing a man, but I think given our overall form this season it was to be expected that we'd start to feel the pressure as Leicester drove forwards looking for the equaliser. Now we've played the clubs that we should have beaten and we've won 2 and drawn 1, so hopefully the pressure will start to ease and a bit of self-belief will start to reappear.

 

I think that's the problem with the club, really - the players we've got in the team now should be able to compete and win matches, but a lack of confidence holds us back from playing positively. I don't think the space in midfield today helped with that - too much of a gap between the midfielders and the strikers, and nowhere near enough movement off the ball. But on the other hand we've now got a couple of defenders in Hutton and Cissokho who are prepared to bomb forwards on overlapping runs, so they add the attacking impetus that the midfield sometimes lacks.

 

Most importantly we won, thanks to a spot-on free kick and a great header from Westy and Clark, and a lovely few passes that ended up at the feet of Hutton who showed the composure of a seasoned goalscorer. I hope Westy isn't out injured for too long, because his free kicks are really good. I've been very critical of Clark in the past because I always thought he looked like a penalty waiting to happen, but recently he's improved greatly. He manhandles his opponents in the box a lot less frequently, he's more sure of himself going forward and his thunderous challenge on Ulloa had me cheering. I hope he can maintain this level of performance.

 

As for Hutton, I can't remember a player improving this much. I used to see him play for Spurs and I didn't rate him, so when he came to us I was less than overjoyed. His season under McCleish seemed to confirm what I thought - that he just wasn't good enough - so while I questioned the logic of bombing him out for two seasons I can't say I was too upset by it. Since returning, however, he looks like a changed man. In fact, he looks like he's playing to prove people wrong, and he's doing it too. He's quickly risen to being pretty much my favourite player in this team.

 

Otherwise I thought everybody did okay with the exception of one. Cleverly knocked some nice balls into the box, and Sanchez was spraying some decent long passes around, although I wish he wouldn't keep giving away free kicks just outside our area ten minutes from the end of the match. Gabby fluctuates between moments when he's so lazy I want to shake him and moments when he bombs half the length of the pitch to win the ball and then outmuscles the opposition defenders, so while I wish he had a few more of the latter I'm prepared to take the rough with the smooth. Okore is looking like being the player we all hoped he'd be before he got injured, and Cissokho's crossing is still a great boon. Grealish looked handy when he came on, and should probably have had a goal of his own, Tekkers is getting back to being his dangerous self and Richardson was solid enough. 

 

The only real bum note was Nzogbia, who for a creative attacking player sure seems to run into dead ends a lot.

Edited by Villanun
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roonst83 Proficient

roonst83

Posted
Posted (edited)

Feared the worse when they went one up. They we certainly a threat all game and didn't come to sit back at all. Great header by Clark to draw us level then we began to dominate more with the ball. Difference today was the amount of chances we created -Benteke could've had a hat-trick alone. Gabby looked good today and supported Benteke well. Okore was my MOTM - he did so well today, looked very composed and has struck up a decent partnership with Clark. We're really beginning to show great togetherness, fight and spirit with our performances. Today was the first time we've come back from going behind as well as scoring in front of the Holte. Hutton was excellent and showed great composure for his finish. Big credit must go to Gabby for the work he did for the goal and a delicious pass from Christian to find Hutton.

 

Real shame about losing Westwood - looked really bad - just our luck at the moment with injuries. Hopefully he's not out too long and its not as bad as first feared. Cleverley too, we need him back asap for the baggies game. It just seems that whenever a Villa player gets injured he's out for months not weeks.

Big win today - and gives us a little bit of breathing space from the bottom cluster. 

Edited by roonst83
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switters Community Regular

switters

Posted
Posted

I gave Clark MOTM, thought he was excellent throughout. his and Okore's performances since being drafted in have been very impressive & make me hopeful that we won't miss Vlaar too much. indeed, it might pave the way for him to go in January. Hutton has really turned things around - got a bit lucky avoiding a red card as it's risky to shove a player like that, but did very well both in defensive & attacking sense. looks a very confident player these days and is always wanting the ball which is good to see. not so convinced by Cissokho on the other side  - he can put in a good cross sometimes but too often he has to check back and doesn't look confident on the ball. Plus he struggled vs Mahrez first half in particular.

 

Benteke's return has been crucial to these two wins. This time he was creator, last time both creator & finisher. he's the difference between us drawing and winning - we drew three times when he was suspended and any of them could have been wins if he'd been available. Also a good chance we would have beat Spurs had he not been red-carded, so you could say that one moment cost us quite a few points.

 

It was a mostly positive performance, especially pleasing that we came back from behind and showed patience in attacking in the 2nd half which paid off. And nice that the two goals came from defenders, we need the whole team to chip in over the season. There were a couple of downsides: firstly, Guzan's handling was costly for their goal and I've noticed he's been spilling a few shots like that lately. did pull out a great save later in the match though. and secondly N'Zogbia disappointed again, had a chance to stake a claim to be starting matches over Weimann but did not do enough. I don't know that Grealish is ready to be starting regularly but I think it is about time he was given a start to see what he can do. WBA would be a good opportunity.

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AntrimBlack Grand Master

AntrimBlack

Posted
Posted

Good win and good performance apart from last 10 minutes.

Hutton my MOM. What a goal ! Clark, Okore, Sanchez and Benteke all played well, though Benteke should have taken very good chances.

Nzogbia was useless, Cleverly too much square or backward passing, Guzan too much hoofing, especially when we should have been holding possession towards the end against 10 men. Where is his brain?

Grealish deserves more game time, confident and wants the ball - good attempt on goal, too.

11th now, can we build on this.

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dont_do_it_doug. Veteran

dont_do_it_doug.

Posted
Posted

Okore needs to improve passing but boy he loves a last ditch tackle.

Okore had 87.7% pass accuracy today. He does need to improve a little to match Clark's 95.6% accuracy, though. :D

Okore needs to improve passing? I'm actually blown away by that. He's a proper footballer, his range of passing is superb.

Weird.

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villa4europe Grand Master

villa4europe

Posted
Posted

I'm guessing he'd have a better view if he sat down...

Did make me laugh when a Leicester fan outside said to his mate "we'd have won that if it wasn't for the red card"

If it wasn't for the keeper we'd have won it by 3/4 goals

Interested to see the red card and the Westwood tackle, looked like both were wrong, couldn't work out if the red was a case of yellow card for the tackle yellow card for the afters

Okore MOTM

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Bottle Maker Newbie

Bottle Maker

Posted
Posted

My lads first game was a good one. We had some lovely moves but also gave the ball away cheaply.

Okore needs to improve passing but boy he loves a last ditch tackle.

Hutton did well to get down the flank and worked hard. He's turned his career around.

Cissoko wow how crap can a player be? Really really Bad. Seeing him in the flesh at left back made me realise how slow he is and he couldn't beat an egg.

Clarks challenge on their 23 (who I guess injured Westwood) absolutely owned him. Almost a foul as he went through him. Beast of a tackle.

We should have buried it three times near the end so we deserved the win.

They are going down.

 

No it was Vardy their 09 who took out Westwood

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westholmevillan Newbie

westholmevillan

Posted
Posted

Okore needs to improve passing but boy he loves a last ditch tackle.

Okore had 87.7% pass accuracy today. He does need to improve a little to match Clark's 95.6% accuracy, though. :D

Okore needs to improve passing? I'm actually blown away by that. He's a proper footballer, his range of passing is superb.

Weird.

Fully agree...at last a CB who is composed and spots a good pass and delivers it to a team mate. Jores has a very good future ahead of him IMO.

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