Popular Post John Posted March 11, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted March 11, 2018 The pride of the Black Country arrived at Villa Park yesterday expecting to record a further win. They snuck out of the ground later with their tails between their legs having been clearly outplayed on the day by the pride of the Midlands. Cardiff and Fulham fans would have expected Villa to drop at least a point last night. They were to be disappointed. This looked a tough game for us but perhaps we underestimated the team’s will to win a little and by doing so over-estimated the impact our visitors would be allowed to make upon the match which brought them their heaviest league defeat of the season. This was a memorable game and performance. It was a game that those Villa fans who were fortunate enough to attend can tell their children and grandchildren about in future years. It was the day that our players and manager made Villa Park a fortress once again. Villa produced a performance that was even better than the one that gave us victory last month against the Small Heathens and we needed to do so against what is a significantly more competent team. This was a hard-fought local derby. In the first half there was little to choose between the two teams. Villa took an early lead but were pegged back by the confident visitors who looked solid and dangerous for the rest of the half. The second half was a different matter. Wolves were blitzed by three second Villa half goals that they had no answer for. Villa take the honours from the games between the two teams this season 4-3 on aggregate then! Our visitors will come the end of this season take the place in the top flight that their consistently impressive overall displays this season have earned them, but they might not be surprised after yesterday’s game to find Villa occupying the other automatic promotion spot alongside them to ensure that this local derby is played in the Premier League next season. My player ratings from a game that gave us our tenth win from our last twelve matches are: Sam Johnstone – 7 – Reassuringly solid on those occasions that he was tested. Could do little to stop Jota forcing in their equalizer. Ahmed Elmohamady – 7 – A solid display. James Chester - 8 – Scored our second on 57 minutes stretching to hit home a well-placed Snodgrass free-kick and wasn’t he happy about it? John Terry – 8 – Was the rock on which our solid defence was built upon. Did very well to clear the ball over the bar with Bonatini waiting to get on to a ball that had been played back towards him by Doherty before their equalizer and directed a later Snodgrass free-kick towards Chester who was not quite able to connect with it. There was no way he was prepared to accept anything other than a Villa win from this game. Terrymendous! Neil Taylor – 7 – Looks capable of making this position his own now made a splendidly timed tackle inside the box on 78 minutes. Robert Snodgrass – 8 – Worked hard and did more than his fair share of tracking back. Showed he really wanted this one with a whole-hearted tenacious display. Mile Jedinak – 7 – We look a much more solid midfield with the bearded one in it. Got his head to Snodgrass’s corner which led to our early opener. Conor Hourihane – 7 – A solid performance. Albert Adomah – 8 – MOTM – Albert was a constant threat to the visitors down the flank. He scored our first after 8 minutes when he was in the right place at the right time to hit the ball in from close range, put a sweet cross over for the vital third goal which gave us a 2-goal cushion and did a solid job for us when back in his own half to stifle their forward movement. Jack Grealish – 8 – He really is some player, isn’t he? Looks to be able to make the sort of immense contribution to a game that he made in that Liverpool cup semi-final week in and week out now. Lewis Grabban – 7 – Scoring goals for fun, isn’t he? Added his fourth goal for us in his last four games with our third on 62 minutes. Hit the side netting at the near post on 43 minutes after turning well after Grealish has done so well to get a cross over to him. Bruce uses the loan market to great effect. Substitutes: Birkir Bjarnason – 7 – Came on for Albert in the 75th minute and hit our fourth with a toe-poke from the edge of the box 10 minutes later having ran through their defence to reach there. Henri Lansbury – Replaced Hourihane on 81 minutes so was not on quite long enough to earn a rating. Scott Hogan – Replaced Grabban on 86 minutes and was not therefore on long enough to gather a rating. Up the Villa! John Lewis 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted March 11, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted March 11, 2018 Those ratings seem a tad mean. Nobody higher than an 8? I'd give 9s to Terry, Chester, Adomah and Grabban. Thor's goal alone deserved an 8. And Grealish was pushing very close to a 10. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted March 12, 2018 Author Share Posted March 12, 2018 20 hours ago, mjmooney said: Those ratings seem a tad mean. Nobody higher than an 8? I'd give 9s to Terry, Chester, Adomah and Grabban. Thor's goal alone deserved an 8. And Grealish was pushing very close to a 10. It is all about opinions sometimes ratings can seem a tad mean and on other occasions a tad generous. All opinions are as valid as each other for each game and I note your comments and thank you and brommy for giving them here. I did think of an 8 for Thor as well as a 9 for Albert and JT but went the other way eventually as mean sons of guns like myself tend to do more often than not. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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