Player Match Ratings: A tale as old as time!

[John]

We have been down this same road too often before. We take the lead, we dare to think that we could break the hoodoo they have over us at long last, but our hopes are inevitably dashed, and history annoyingly keeps repeating itself.

The visitors despite threats to the contrary, played what looked remarkably near to their usual starting line-up yesterday and they looked determined to get their noses in front, during the opening minutes. Having weathered the visitor’s early pressure Villa then began to make an increasing impact on the game themselves and deservedly went ahead in the middle of the first half.  

Douglas conceded the penalty that levelled the scores early in the second half and they then added another within 4 minutes. Seeing our lead disappear and become a deficit so quickly was bad enough, but for them to then go on to add another near the end, that made the game look easier for them than it was, and to then have a player sent off was just so deflating. This was all too predictable and that feeling of deflation, is one that we have become all too accustomed to, over several years now.    

Bruno Fernandes scored his third goal against us in three matches yesterday. All three of those goals were from the penalty spot. They get awarded a lot of penalties against us, don’t they? Watkins was sent off for going down inside the box, having anticipated an injury threatening challenge that Henderson pulled out of at the very last minute. Would the referee have been in such a rush had it been our keeper and one of their forwards had stood accused of simulation, or would a penalty have been routinely awarded, as one was given when Bruno collapsed to the ground in a heap at Villa Park last season? Would one of our players have had a penalty awarded against them, if like Greenwood the ball had struck their arm inside the penalty area? I suspect at the very least, VAR may have suggested the referee have another look at it, if he had not already blown his whistle.  

A defeat by a 2-goal margin was harsh, but we do not get the rub of the green against this lot, they do every time and then some! Over far too many years now, Villa Park has become a favourite ground for our visitors. The players and managers may change, but if they do not win, they draw. The inevitability of it, becomes increasingly difficult to take.  

We are back in the bottom half again, after this result and our twelfth game without Jack. Whilst we have a game in hand of both Leeds and Arsenal, we are two and four points respectively behind these two. Wolves have also closed the gap between us to three points, so we really need a win on Thursday and ideally another at Palace, or a minimum of four points from six. We then finish the season with games against another two clubs that we have found hard to beat over recent years. It would be nice to take more points than we drop from our remaining games this season, wouldn’t it?                      

My player ratings from a game that sadly produced our 8th home defeat of the season are:

Emiliano Martinez – 6 – Parried away a 6th minute Shaw effort at the near post and Targett was on hand to clear the resultant loose ball. He then dived to his left seconds later to collect a Pogba shot. Held a 9th minute shot from Fred hit to his left and then dived to comfortably collect a 34th minute Shaw cross. Held a 39th minute Rashford shot from the edge of the box, to his right and then did well to parry a Greenwood effort at his left-hand post with his right hand and Konsa was on hand to clear the resultant loose ball from within the 6-yard box.

Sent the wrong way from the spot by Fernandes after 52 minutes, when the ball was hit to his left. Might have felt he could have got a hand to their second, when Greenwood turned just inside the box and hit a sweet shot past his dive and into the left-hand corner of his net. Had no chance with their third, when Cavani was left clear to nod an 87th minute Rashford cross just inside the far post.            

Matty Cash – 6 – Had a steady game.  

Ezri Konsa – 6 – Should have been alive to the danger from Cavani and the job of challenging Cavani’s run to head their decisive third, was therefore left to Matty. He was otherwise always on hand to get his foot or a block in.

Tyrone Mings – 6 – Committed himself unnecessarily on the edge of the box, enabling a nice turn from Greenwood to create the space he needed to hit their second. Other than for that costly mistake, had a solid game in the heart of our defence.

Matt Targett – 7 – So reliable now and was the best of our defenders yesterday.

Anwar El Ghazi – 5 – Hit a hopeful 30-yard shot harmlessly wide of the left post on 7 minutes. Was found by McGinn and his 50th minute shot from just inside the box was saved by Henderson, had it gone in, it would no doubt have been ruled out for offside by VAR, when McGinn first picked up the ball. Needs to perform more consistency at the high level he is capable of.    

Douglas Luiz – 4 – Started well enough but gifted them a route back into the game after 51 minutes with an unnecessary challenge inside the box on Pogba, who had his back to goal and was just willing him to make any sort of contact, so that he could topple over. Douglas had first grabbed his shirt and got away with it, but there was to be no reprieve when he went on to make contact, with the back of Pogba’s leg and the referee just could not wait to give it. Douglas was incredibly naïve or plain reckless, as he should be fully aware how easily Newton Heath’s players go down inside the box and how referees do not hesitate to award a penalty if even the slightest contact is made inside the area this season (other than in Ollie’s case today!)   

John McGinn – 7 – MOTM - This was simply John back at his best again.  

Ross Barkley - 5 – Was unable to repeat the impact he had on the Everton game yesterday and was substituted as we loaded the team with forwards as the minutes ran down, in search of an equalizer.    

Bertrand Traore – 7 – Put us ahead on 24 minutes. Solid challenges by Targett and then McGinn won the ball before Douglas found Bert on the edge of the box. He turned away from Lindelöf before hitting a screamer from the left of the box past Henderson and into the top right-hand corner of the net. Had a shot from a 60th minute Targett cross, pushed out for a corner by Henderson at his left-hand post. McGinn floated a nice ball into the box that Bert headed tamely towards Henderson on 80 minutes. Hit an 83rd minute shot from just inside the box straight at Henderson. Bert was heavily involved in most of the good things that we did up front, but like Anwar he does not always drop back and opposing wing backs therefore find space and are free to put pressure on our own full backs.                                        

Ollie Watkins – 6 – Came near to giving us a 2-goal cushion in the 2nd minute of first half stoppage time, when McGinn found him on the edge of the box. Ollie hit a good shot that Henderson dived to his left to push past the post. Unlucky to receive his first yellow, when his momentum took him into Maguire. Seemed even harsher of the referee to brandish a second yellow and send him off for simulation late in the game (he must have eyes like a hawk if he was able to see there was no contact). If referees applied the same strict interpretation to Bruno Fernandes, he would have seen an awful lot of red cards, wouldn’t he?  

Substitutes:

Jacob Ramsey – 5 - Replaced Douglas on 65 minutes.

Keinan Davis – Replaced Barkley on 77 minutes. Outmuscled Lindelöf on the right of the box on 82 minutes and would have been better to have had a crack himself, rather than to unselfishly try to square the ball to Watkins and see Wan-Bissaka block it. Keinan was not on long enough to get a rating this time.    

Wesley – Came on for Anwar after 78 minutes and was also not on long enough to merit a rating.  

Up the Villa!

John Lewis

[lexicon]

The John McGinn bias is very real. If that's his best, we need to sell immediately. 

[John]

4 hours ago, lexicon said:

The John McGinn bias is very real. If that's his best, we need to sell immediately. 

I have seen him play better I accept, but in my opinion his performance last night stood out in what was an otherwise under performing midfield. Clearly we have differing views of his worth to our football club, but it does seem that you do think that he would attract bids, so others outside B6 must share this "bias" you mention then.  

[lexicon]

5 hours ago, John said:

I have seen him play better I accept, but in my opinion his performance last night stood out in what was an otherwise under performing midfield. Clearly we have differing views of his worth to our football club, but it does seem that you do think that he would attract bids, so others outside B6 must share this "bias" you mention then.  

It would be a miracle if we could get 15-20m for him after the season he's had. He's a big reason our midfield is underperforming.

[John]

10 hours ago, lexicon said:

It would be a miracle if we could get 15-20m for him after the season he's had. He's a big reason our midfield is underperforming.

If we did put him up for sale, I would expect us to get more than that, but I don't expect to find out how much we would get for John any time soon. . 

[lexicon]

2 hours ago, John said:

If we did put him up for sale, I would expect us to get more than that, but I don't expect to find out how much we would get for John any time soon. . 

But what are you basing it on, John? 

His defensive contribution is low, his attacking contribution isn't particularly good, his passing isn't brilliant, the work rate hasn't been there... 

I'd really love to see the McGinn that we had in the Championship too, but he's just not really cutting the mustard in this division. 

Take our goal against United as an example - he worked hard to close his man, up in an attacking area to get possession back which led to the goal. That was exactly what we need from him, but we don't see it anywhere near enough anymore. I just don't think he deserves a starting place right now.

[PaulC]

On 10/05/2021 at 11:26, John said:

We have been down this same road too often before. We take the lead, we dare to think that we could break the hoodoo they have over us at long last, but our hopes are inevitably dashed, and history annoyingly keeps repeating itself.

The visitors despite threats to the contrary, played what looked remarkably near to their usual starting line-up yesterday and they looked determined to get their noses in front, during the opening minutes. Having weathered the visitor’s early pressure Villa then began to make an increasing impact on the game themselves and deservedly went ahead in the middle of the first half.  

Douglas conceded the penalty that levelled the scores early in the second half and they then added another within 4 minutes. Seeing our lead disappear and become a deficit so quickly was bad enough, but for them to then go on to add another near the end, that made the game look easier for them than it was, and to then have a player sent off was just so deflating. This was all too predictable and that feeling of deflation, is one that we have become all too accustomed to, over several years now.    

Bruno Fernandes scored his third goal against us in three matches yesterday. All three of those goals were from the penalty spot. They get awarded a lot of penalties against us, don’t they? Watkins was sent off for going down inside the box, having anticipated an injury threatening challenge that Henderson pulled out of at the very last minute. Would the referee have been in such a rush had it been our keeper and one of their forwards had stood accused of simulation, or would a penalty have been routinely awarded, as one was given when Bruno collapsed to the ground in a heap at Villa Park last season? Would one of our players have had a penalty awarded against them, if like Greenwood the ball had struck their arm inside the penalty area? I suspect at the very least, VAR may have suggested the referee have another look at it, if he had not already blown his whistle.  

A defeat by a 2-goal margin was harsh, but we do not get the rub of the green against this lot, they do every time and then some! Over far too many years now, Villa Park has become a favourite ground for our visitors. The players and managers may change, but if they do not win, they draw. The inevitability of it, becomes increasingly difficult to take.  

We are back in the bottom half again, after this result and our twelfth game without Jack. Whilst we have a game in hand of both Leeds and Arsenal, we are two and four points respectively behind these two. Wolves have also closed the gap between us to three points, so we really need a win on Thursday and ideally another at Palace, or a minimum of four points from six. We then finish the season with games against another two clubs that we have found hard to beat over recent years. It would be nice to take more points than we drop from our remaining games this season, wouldn’t it?                      

My player ratings from a game that sadly produced our 8th home defeat of the season are:

Emiliano Martinez – 6 – Parried away a 6th minute Shaw effort at the near post and Targett was on hand to clear the resultant loose ball. He then dived to his left seconds later to collect a Pogba shot. Held a 9th minute shot from Fred hit to his left and then dived to comfortably collect a 34th minute Shaw cross. Held a 39th minute Rashford shot from the edge of the box, to his right and then did well to parry a Greenwood effort at his left-hand post with his right hand and Konsa was on hand to clear the resultant loose ball from within the 6-yard box.

Sent the wrong way from the spot by Fernandes after 52 minutes, when the ball was hit to his left. Might have felt he could have got a hand to their second, when Greenwood turned just inside the box and hit a sweet shot past his dive and into the left-hand corner of his net. Had no chance with their third, when Cavani was left clear to nod an 87th minute Rashford cross just inside the far post.            

Matty Cash – 6 – Had a steady game.  

Ezri Konsa – 6 – Should have been alive to the danger from Cavani and the job of challenging Cavani’s run to head their decisive third, was therefore left to Matty. He was otherwise always on hand to get his foot or a block in.

Tyrone Mings – 6 – Committed himself unnecessarily on the edge of the box, enabling a nice turn from Greenwood to create the space he needed to hit their second. Other than for that costly mistake, had a solid game in the heart of our defence.

Matt Targett – 7 – So reliable now and was the best of our defenders yesterday.

Anwar El Ghazi – 5 – Hit a hopeful 30-yard shot harmlessly wide of the left post on 7 minutes. Was found by McGinn and his 50th minute shot from just inside the box was saved by Henderson, had it gone in, it would no doubt have been ruled out for offside by VAR, when McGinn first picked up the ball. Needs to perform more consistency at the high level he is capable of.    

Douglas Luiz – 4 – Started well enough but gifted them a route back into the game after 51 minutes with an unnecessary challenge inside the box on Pogba, who had his back to goal and was just willing him to make any sort of contact, so that he could topple over. Douglas had first grabbed his shirt and got away with it, but there was to be no reprieve when he went on to make contact, with the back of Pogba’s leg and the referee just could not wait to give it. Douglas was incredibly naïve or plain reckless, as he should be fully aware how easily Newton Heath’s players go down inside the box and how referees do not hesitate to award a penalty if even the slightest contact is made inside the area this season (other than in Ollie’s case today!)   

John McGinn – 7 – MOTM - This was simply John back at his best again.  

Ross Barkley - 5 – Was unable to repeat the impact he had on the Everton game yesterday and was substituted as we loaded the team with forwards as the minutes ran down, in search of an equalizer.    

Bertrand Traore – 7 – Put us ahead on 24 minutes. Solid challenges by Targett and then McGinn won the ball before Douglas found Bert on the edge of the box. He turned away from Lindelöf before hitting a screamer from the left of the box past Henderson and into the top right-hand corner of the net. Had a shot from a 60th minute Targett cross, pushed out for a corner by Henderson at his left-hand post. McGinn floated a nice ball into the box that Bert headed tamely towards Henderson on 80 minutes. Hit an 83rd minute shot from just inside the box straight at Henderson. Bert was heavily involved in most of the good things that we did up front, but like Anwar he does not always drop back and opposing wing backs therefore find space and are free to put pressure on our own full backs.                                        

Ollie Watkins – 6 – Came near to giving us a 2-goal cushion in the 2nd minute of first half stoppage time, when McGinn found him on the edge of the box. Ollie hit a good shot that Henderson dived to his left to push past the post. Unlucky to receive his first yellow, when his momentum took him into Maguire. Seemed even harsher of the referee to brandish a second yellow and send him off for simulation late in the game (he must have eyes like a hawk if he was able to see there was no contact). If referees applied the same strict interpretation to Bruno Fernandes, he would have seen an awful lot of red cards, wouldn’t he?  

Substitutes:

Jacob Ramsey – 5 - Replaced Douglas on 65 minutes.

Keinan Davis – Replaced Barkley on 77 minutes. Outmuscled Lindelöf on the right of the box on 82 minutes and would have been better to have had a crack himself, rather than to unselfishly try to square the ball to Watkins and see Wan-Bissaka block it. Keinan was not on long enough to get a rating this time.    

Wesley – Came on for Anwar after 78 minutes and was also not on long enough to merit a rating.  

Up the Villa!

John Lewis

Spot on John. Agree with everything. 

[John]

4 hours ago, lexicon said:

But what are you basing it on, John? 

His defensive contribution is low, his attacking contribution isn't particularly good, his passing isn't brilliant, the work rate hasn't been there... 

I'd really love to see the McGinn that we had in the Championship too, but he's just not really cutting the mustard in this division. 

Take our goal against United as an example - he worked hard to close his man, up in an attacking area to get possession back which led to the goal. That was exactly what we need from him, but we don't see it anywhere near enough anymore. I just don't think he deserves a starting place right now.

He does a lot of work that may sometimes go unnoticed, but I see him as one of, if not our hardest working player. I also think that we are a better side with him, than without him. He did have a purple patch when he first joined us and unlike when he has played for Scotland, has had some games where he has been off the boil for us this season. For me, that was his best game for some time on Sunday and I think he has it in him to hit a solid good run of form now. It seems our current opinions of him, if not our past opinions of him, differ a fair bit. I agree with what you have said about the goal 100% and in Jack's absence he is getting further forward, where he does his best work in my opinion.  

[lexicon]

16 minutes ago, John said:

He does a lot of work that may sometimes go unnoticed, but I see him as one of, if not our hardest working player. I also think that we are a better side with him, than without him. He did have a purple patch when he first joined us and unlike when he has played for Scotland, has had some games where he has been off the boil for us this season. For me, that was his best game for some time on Sunday and I think he has it in him to hit a solid good run of form now. It seems our current opinions of him, if not our past opinions of him, differ a fair bit. I agree with what you have said about the goal 100% and in Jack's absence he is getting further forward, where he does his best work in my opinion.  

For sure - I used that example to highlight what I expect from him and also what I believe has been largely missing from his game this season, post COVID (which may explain it). I'm a little concerned about his technical ceiling as we progress as a team and get better, though, as I think we'll need better in the near future.

[John]

24 minutes ago, lexicon said:

For sure - I used that example to highlight what I expect from him and also what I believe has been largely missing from his game this season, post COVID (which may explain it). I'm a little concerned about his technical ceiling as we progress as a team and get better, though, as I think we'll need better in the near future.

I look forward to that and I would really love it, if this happened in the near future. I suspect John has it in him, to play well alongside "better" players and to be one of those in a winning team. Just like he does now with Scotland!   

[VillanousOne]

Manure escaping a blatant penalty against Liverpool, the corrupt bias continues for these cheating twunts