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LC: SF Blackburn a Ratings & Reactions


limpid

Who was your man of the match?  

184 members have voted

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

    • Guzan
      1
    • Dunne
      19
    • Cuellar
      3
    • Warnock
      1
    • Collins
      1
    • Downing
      14
    • A Young
      16
    • Milner
      119
    • Petrov
      6
    • Agbonlahor
      0
    • Heskey
      4
    • Sidwell (for Heskey 71)
      1


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clattenberg really was awful wasnt he? missed 2 pens, kalinic elbowed collins in the head (and knew what he was doing) and mccarthy kicked downing in the leg when the ball had long gone- not attempt at a tackle, just lashing out which should be a red. and to be honest salgado was lucky he didnt connect with petrov in the first half- he stamped down at stans foot but luckily for us missed.

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Guzan was probably nervous... its the first time he's played back to back games and he would have known he was starting.... he will learn and get better.

Ash needs to play with a smile on his face... at times he lets his frustration affect his game.

This is the first time I've not used the words Donkey and Heskey in the same sentence... his best game for me

Jimmy is great

The Ref had a shocker. Benni was lucky not to get a red....

2-1 would have been better than 1-0 but another clean sheet and we're at WEMBLEY!!!!

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Ref had a shocker?

I know he got the handball wrong, it was Chimbonda that handballed, not Heskey.

But the Gabby one was never a penner, and he was right to yellow Gabby in my opinion, he dived. He'd dived before he'd made contact with Samba, no where near enough momentum to carry him over either.

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Disappointed we didn't end up 2 or 3 up but, otherwise, very happy.

(Oh, and I'm worrying about Guzan.)

guzan was shakey at first, but seemed ok after that. made a couple of good saves, that one he made off kalinic was superb, even though it wouldnt have counted anyway

it didnt help we kept giving him stupid backpasses to deal with on what was quite a bobbly pitch, and on setpieces he had loads of players charging in to him.

remember, hes still only a young keeper, theres bound to be games where he looks a bit nervy. and even though he wasnt at his best he didnt cause any goals with mistakes.

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Well done Villa tonight. 1-0 sets us up to complete the job at Villa Park.

The team done well as we hadn't played in 12 days some of the players more than that. That amount of time without a game takes some of your match fitness away so well done for going right to the end. first half could and should have had more than the 1 goal ( ref didn't help ), Blackburn where shit and got in at half time lucky to be only 1 goal down.

Second half and Big Fat Sam must have told his team to play like his old Bolton used to play because thay just pumped the ball 50-60 yards most of the time. We held out and Blackburn started to get dirty, this never put us off and we held on to an important 1-0 lead.

2nd leg we need to score first and the tie is over.

P.S well done to the fans as well none stop chanting all 2nd half.

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Somebody, anybody, please start playing balls through the center for Gabby. We're very rarely utilizing his pace to get him behind anymore, just playing him into blind alleys out wide and/or trying to use him like Heskey, backing into his defenders.

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But the Gabby one was never a penner, and he was right to yellow Gabby in my opinion, he dived. He'd dived before he'd made contact with Samba, no where near enough momentum to carry him over either.

yup - i said the same thing in the match thread.

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Cuellar at right-back was the right choice against teams like Blackburn. A tall winger is never going to try and take it around anyone so we needed to be taller at the back and be able to be a bit more narrow putting more bodies in the box for free-kicks. Although Cuellar was pretty shocking with his distribution and clearances so I think it's still worth putting Young back there for the 2nd leg so we can be dangerous from both wings.

Milner was immense, the understanding he has with Ashley Young and now Downing makes us so dangerous and we played some really nice quick football tonight. I can't understand how we can be so unlucky with the amount of deflections, scuffed shots, bad reffing decisions etc. that stop us running up the score, it just seems we're waiting for it suddenly to click and we'll be scoring for fun. The defence is solid, the midfield is now superb and Gabby will start banging them in again soon.

Nod to Heskey, I thought he was excellent tonight with his hold-up play. First to most balls and kept possession. As was Gabby.

I don't think MON could have done much more tonight, Spot-on tactics.

Reo-Coker wouldn't have done anything more, he's another Sidwell and would have done exactly the same job. Please stop going on about him, he's a good player but he's not god just because he's not in the first team at the moment.

Guzan : 7 : Did most stuff well. Blackburn targetted him with everything so he did well to cope with all that. Did he have a single save to make?

Cuellar : 5 : Probably worst I've seen Carlos play. But still solid-ish.

Collins : 8 : Awesome as ever. Became more solid as the game progressed.

Dunne : 8 : Still brilliant. Needs to be captain, de-shackle Petrov :)

Warnock : 8 : I'm still convinced he's the best English LB. Others won't agree.

Young : 7 : Much better. Some poor first touches and was a little wasteful but very positive at least.

Milner : 9 : Wow. He is going to be England captain for some years to come.

Petrov : 7 : Normal performance from Stan. Seemed to be set free a bit more tonight. Don't think being captain helps him and would be better without the extra responsibility.

Downing : 8 : Great buy, really compliments our play and will only get better.

Heskey : 7 : Very good hold up play. Bit wasteful.

Gabby : 8 : Much better decision making tonight, normally hesitates too much with a lot of time, made up his mind quicker this time.

Sidwell : 6 : Nothing wrong, did the job he needed to do which was to kill the game and close them down. Our final 10 mins of dominance shows he was doing a good job.

Very pleased with the performance, never thought they were on top at any time. We were just both unlucky and wasteful, could have been a lot more.

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Somebody, anybody, please start playing balls through the center for Gabby. We're very rarely utilizing his pace to get him behind anymore, just playing him into blind alleys out wide and/or trying to use him like Heskey, backing into his defenders.

Ya it saddens me seeing him out so wide!

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One thing Blackburn were particularly shit at was moving the ball out of defence - time and again they gave the ball away.

Which was nice. :D

And the constant going backwards from decent position only for Guzan to kick it out for a Bburn throw! Wrecks my head so much!

THIS.

Also yet again from 55 - 70 minutes our midfield dissappeared without MON taking action (both Heskey and Petrov were spent forces by then)

Would have taken this result at 7.55pm but should have been so much better.

A 20 goal striker would change our season so much.

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The only problem is the away does not count as if Blackburn win 1-0 and it stays like that after extra time then it is penalties.

If Blackburn win 2-1 and that is the result after extra time then we are out. If Blackburn win then we cant go through unless it goes to penalties.

It only means a draw and we are through.

Is this true? Because contrary to what ED answered me in the match thread it hasn't always been like that in this particular cup. I remember when we played against Bolton in the semi final and lost 5-2 in the first game and were 2-0 up in the 2nd game and the commentators kept on saying that the rules in the league cup wasn't the ordinary and if we scored another goal it would go to extra time. And I talked to my brother who recalled a similar thing with Stoke vs Manure. Anyone really sure on the rules?

Anyway, good result. We could've won with more but we still won away and we couldn't ask for much more before the game. I know, there's still a game to play and everything could happen but we've set ourselves up for a good chance to come to Wembley again and we've only got ourselves to blame if we don't. I'm happy with the result, even though it would be better with more goals, naturally. But we can't be too greedy. Away win is always a good result.

Dunne was very good, Young was better than he's been for a long time now, but Milner was the motm for me. How far does he rund during a game?

If Luke Young was fully fit to play I can't really understand why he didn't play. That's one thing where I think MON should re think, cause Cuellar isn't at all a rb. He wasn't bad, he's good in defending, but he just isn't a rb and Young is so much better that he should've played. I even think Beye should play before Cuellar there.

And Clattenburg is a joke. He was awfull for both sides. How he can be a PL referee I'll never know. Just retire and start to work in a toy store, please mr. Clattenburg. Or just visit one and buy some things to play with. You can surely get a little doll which you can call "Stevie G.".

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my observations: Im sorry but cuellar was f**king putrid tonight, turned it over every time he got the ball, blackburn look like giant cans of redbull, apparently you get booked for getting tripped in the box but not for elbowing redheads in the face. would have been nice to get a 2nd goal but will take a one goal lead!!!!

Regards,

Matty Burge

(representing villa Adelaide style)

Agree. Cuellar's distribution was awful, like having Mellberg back at right-back.

Can't understand why Young was bench, unless it was injury. His form doesn't warrant being dropped.

Cuellar is shit at right-back, it should be centre half or bench for him after tonights disply!

I'd imagine he was there to challenge Blackburn's height more effectively from a defensive point of view.

He kept giving the ball away or just hammering it aimlessly up field.

Yes but he's not there for his distribution skills is he?

But whats the point of winning the ball if you're going to give it back all the time?

Luke Young would have been fine tonight.

**** me. We won and still people aren't happy!!!!! Jeeeezzzz
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But the Gabby one was never a penner, and he was right to yellow Gabby in my opinion, he dived. He'd dived before he'd made contact with Samba, no where near enough momentum to carry him over either.

yup - i said the same thing in the match thread.

Can't agree. Thought the defending leg were there and caught him which is a penalty in my eyes. Though I can agree that it wasn't that clear and you can be right. but IMO it was a penalty, and never a yellow. But what was clear was that we should've had a penalty in the last minute of the 1st half.

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oh and on a side note david platt, for an ex villa player ive never heard such biased commentary against villa. he was pi$$ing me right off
I used to think Platt was a Villa ledged but to be honest he has forgotten who made his career and is a real clearing in the woods nob head
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Somebody, anybody, please start playing balls through the center for Gabby. We're very rarely utilizing his pace to get him behind anymore, just playing him into blind alleys out wide and/or trying to use him like Heskey, backing into his defenders.

Ya it saddens me seeing him out so wide!

gabbys problem is he runs from the middle out towards the wings whether he has the ball at his feet, is chasing it, or making a run in to space, which means that whenever he actually gets the thing under control he is stuck out wide. he needs to drift out wide a bit but then make runs at the heart of the defence so that milner can play him in into dangerous positions.

if you look at our goal tonight, gabby is running towards the corner flag when milner lays the ball to downing - thankfully milner chose to send the ball right rather than left.

gabby has his moments but he also has things to learn.

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Generally a very good performance but we were hugely profligate in front of goal. The tie should have been dead and buried after tonight but it isn't. Though having paid £23 to see the home leg, there's a small part of me that's quite pleased that it's not completely over, because I'm still confident that we will do the business at VP.

We do need (another) top striker to become a really top club.

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But the Gabby one was never a penner, and he was right to yellow Gabby in my opinion, he dived. He'd dived before he'd made contact with Samba, no where near enough momentum to carry him over either.

yup - i said the same thing in the match thread.

I disagree, he didn't appear to go down before the contact. Is it not possible at that pace the slightest contact will cause him to fall? Gabby is not a diver.

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