Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Southampton

[Zatman]

Cracking performance and Gerrard has learned his lessons so credit where its due. Today was too easy

Keep it up,

[QldVilla]

All the hard work on the training ground is starting to pay off, yes frustrating at times wondering whether it will come together, but hopefully we are seeing the team turning the corner. If we can create those quality chances in each game it’s going to be an exciting finish to the season.

[Ponky]

I thought McGinn was crucial in that first 25 minutes when we weren't getting much traction in the midfield. 

Coutinho clear motm but on another day could have easily been Ings or Cash. 

Cash has clearly been told to cut it back whenever possible rather than just blaze it across the goal as he had been doing and it's worked superbly for him. 

[OhioVilla]

Chambers looks like a brilliant bit of business. Hes mobile, he's smart and he's got the ability to pick a pass.

[Phil Silvers]

7 minutes ago, AvonVillain said:

Pat Murphy has just said on 5Live that Coutinho, if he continues in this style, will be comparable to Brian Little, Gordon Cowans & yes, Paul McGrath in the hearts of Villa fans. Wow. Statement.

If he stays fit he has all the ability in the world, I'd happily have him spoken of in the same breath as these legends once he has a couple of seasons under his belt and he keep improving our finishing position. 

[Aston_Villan4]

Damnit I feel asleep. Sounds like it got even better after the Watkins goal.

[Phil Silvers]

Elmo is a fan for life now.

 

[MNVillan]

37 minutes ago, dubbs said:

Gotta say that ball from Chambers was filthy!

I felt mine move after that pass. As good as anything Coutinho did today *ducks*

[TheMelvillan]

22 minutes ago, Bizzzle said:

Well that was **** brilliant wasn't it?! Could have been 6 or 7. Every time I sit in the North stand we seem to win so will be sitting there for the rest of the season 

Even when we play away you should pop in to VP and do that. Just to make sure

[MNVillan]

24 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

We had 38 percent possession. Once again, we look so much better when we sit back and hit on the break.

Hitting on the break gives us so much more room when we do go forward. Our attacking players can run into empty areas and we have Coutinho & Buendia who are great at picking out that pass to spring the attack

[Dale]

I'm glad that we didn't revert to the funny system that saw us win 1 in 8. Keep this going! Genuinely thought he was stubborn enough to persevere with something that was going nowhere! 

[Villa87]

Phenomenal across the pitch today. Not even going to single any out as we were brilliant. 

[Mark Albrighton]

Great result, probably the best since Gerrard’s arrival. 

Won’t get carried away, some hard fixtures remain but hopefully these past two results are something we can look forward to on a more regular basis.

And hopefully it’s eased the worries that we’ve wasted £350m on poor players.

[turvontour]

Just brilliant. What a result! Love seeing the strikers involved in the goals and assists.

[MNVillan]

Ah **** I just voted the manager as average on accident, thought I was voting for the ref (who I thought did a pretty good job today, tbf). 
 

Thought SG was great today. Caught myself thinking “so that’s what it’s supposed to look like” during the match today. It finally clicked.

[CanVillan]

This is what 'great weekends' are made of!

[Demitri_C]

Best overall performance under gerrard so far. Absolutely exceptional performance. 

Has kept us up so for me "the gamble" has paid off

[OutByEaster?]

Brilliant.

I thought we set up really well, back four was a shock to everyone except @Adman (fair play to you fella!) but we looked comfortable in our shape from early on. I thought we defended well, as we have done for the last couple of games and looked compact and difficult to beat.

The difference today though was the bit of fluency that was coming through front three - I thought all three played well and all three could have had another goal - Southampton in the first half had lots of the ball around our box without really threatening and then every chance we made was a good one.

Watkins did really well for his goal, the ball from Chambers was excellent for Luiz's goal and it was good to see him get one after a couple of years away from it, I thought Coutinho's ball down the line for Cash to set up Ings was great and that his patience in waiting for the right moment for his own poke through the keepers leg deserved a lot of credit.

We look good - we look solid, we create good chances and we have brilliant individuals - this was a very good day.

Selecting a man of the match for this one was difficult, I got down to three, Coutinho, Chambers and Luiz and plumped for Coutinho but I can see how you could pick out just about anyone - well done to the manager and the coaching team who have made changes and tweaks since Leeds and have got us working a lot better and it'll be interesting to see how Leeds deal with us on Thursday - things have changed.

More of this please.

 

[The_Rev]

https://gfycat.com/accomplishedsoggycranefly
 

[maqroll]

2 Brazilian internationals scored for Villa today, how cool is that?