Ratings & Reactions Wolves 1-2 Villa

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

Friedel - Grand as usual

L.Young - Meh

Cuellar - MOTM, very good performance.

Collins - Grand

Warnock - Decent enough from about 60th minute on, before then he looked destined to be sent off. Guess he saw Lichaj and decided we'd be better off with 10 men than him on the pitch.

Downing - Aside from the goal he was pretty absent as usual. Of course we'll have some hopelessly ignorant people who think scoring goals = a good player. But this isn't true, the very same people probably believed Lescott was a brilliant defender because he scored often enough. He doesn't do enough, simple as that. Done well for the goal so fair play to him.

NRC - Did well, all over the pitch and was commited. Bit shite going forward but we all knew that anyway.

Petrov - Just sat and kept the play going, did well enough.

Albrighton - Good first half but went missing in the second once that big unit came on and sussed him out. Did well for the first goal.

Young - Did well but I prefer him on the left, I don't think he has the range of passing to play that role behind the striker linking the midfield and attack.

Heskey - Never in doubt. Legend.

One other point, GABBY IS NOT A WINGER.

[MrWeedMcGrass]

My main overall impression of the 2nd half was the players were struggling a bit for ideas with playing a passing game rather than long balls over the top. They looked to be thinking too hard about their passes rather than instinctively knowing where their teammates would be, which I think is something that we will just have to be patient with until they start to feel a bit more natural about it.

Nail on the head

[chappy]

I was stuck on a train back from Munich with no battery so had to wait til getting home to find out what happened. So glad we won, its games like this that we need to be winning, particularly with our next couple of fixtures.

[rjshare]

i thought we did pretty well first half, but then the second half was like watching in slow motion. wolves scoring was as predictable as night following day as we were diabolical in the second half.

fair shout to the lads though because they came away with three points and that is the most important thing. perfomances are rarely classy when you are away from home in a local derby, and ash and cuellar were the stand outs for me because they didnt stop battling.

as for this talk about luke young - last season the same winger made an absolute mug out of cuellar so regardless of however good or bad you think he played today, for my money it was an improvement over last season. also - ironically, the player who was there last season was todays man of the match - playing in his RIGHT position!

[cicottrell]

Very pleased.... 2 average performances and 2 wins.

Glad GH has realised Stan Petrov is a hinderance after half time. His legs have gone.

I also think that Dunn will struggle to get back in the team now. I honestly think Cuellar and Collins are the best 2 centres backs we have.

Luke Young and Warnock are OK, but still worry me defensively.

Albrighton was great, first player I've seen since Beckham who realises you don't have to beat the man to get a cross in.

I think NRC was brilliant as well, considering he had to do twice as much running in the absence of Petrov.

Downing for me is not an out and out winger, but he generally does well in the box.

Young is the heart beat of the team. We must build tactics around him. He's a class above everyone around him so we need to keep him happy.

Heskey has had 3 brilliant games this season (the Euro game, Blackburn and today) so hopefully his form will stay.

[Condimentalist]

Only saw the second half, but I thought Cuellar, Reo Coker & Young were all excellent, and what a header from Heskey.

[rjshare]

...One other point, GABBY IS NOT A WINGER.

i dont think anyone really believes that he is.

i know he was sent on to play wide, but if he had been put on up front it would have been instead of heskey and i have my doubts as to whether gabby would have scored that header, so in todays game you have to say that gh got it right.

i think he was also put there just to try and stretch the play out a bit and effectively help our defense out by putting on someone with pace, without changing our formation. everybody knows gabby is quick and by having him on the pitch it means that an extra player from the opposition has to stay back when they attack.

on a more general note regarding it, i think gabby needs to be sent out wide sometimes so that when he makes a run he can attack the goal rather than doing what he tends to do - starting a run from the middle and ending up by the corner flag.

[RunRickyRun]

Not long back from the 3rd World.

Heskey was immense. Gave their centre backs problems all game. He won at least a dozen flick ons and held up the ball superbly. The best Centre forward display by a Villa player I've seen in a while. The goal was superb. Almost happened in slow motion.

Our problem in the second half was that Ashley played on the last man. In the 1st half he dropped deep and ran the show. Wolves though were leaving themselves with 2 or 3 on 2 at the back and, even though they were on top, I always felt we could hit them on the break.

Deserved win and feels **** great

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

The problem with Gabby out wide is he has too much time to think, thus rendering him useless.

Sending him on for Albrighton was the right thing to do as Marc vanished, but our general play before/after the second goal wasn't good enough and Gabby simply didn't contribute significantly out wide.

I just hope it isn't a regular occurence.

We got the result and all, happy days. But paper over cracks we shouldn't.

[CVByrne]

Overall, I'm just glad we have a new manager who might just spot our shortcomings. If MON was still here, you just know he wouldn't see anything wrong with that 'battling performance.'

If he was here we would've won 1-0, we were warrior resilient last season. I want some of that defensive resilience back to go with the tactical knowledge of Houllier.

[RunRickyRun]

The problem with Gabby out wide is he has too much time to think, thus rendering him useless.

Sending him on for Albrighton was the right thing to do as Marc vanished, but our general play before/after the second goal wasn't good enough and Gabby simply didn't contribute significantly out wide.

I just hope it isn't a regular occurence.

We got the result and all, happy days. But paper over cracks we shouldn't.

He looked half fit and struggled to get up to the pace of the game so I can't see how anyone can analyse his effectiveness out wide based on that run-out

[Mantis]

Am I the only one who thinks Downing is turning into quite a goal poacher this season? I can see him getting the same amount of goals as Milner did last season if not more.

[RunRickyRun]

Warnock got murdered again

Maybe a little lucky not to get sent off but it would have been harsh as he was only going for the ball.

Apart from that he gave nothing away down his wing. McCarthy put Fletcher on him all 2nd half and Warnock won the vast majority of his headers and looked pretty comfortable.

Overall he was very good today and set up the winner

But anyway it's all about opinions

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

The problem with Gabby out wide is he has too much time to think, thus rendering him useless.

Sending him on for Albrighton was the right thing to do as Marc vanished, but our general play before/after the second goal wasn't good enough and Gabby simply didn't contribute significantly out wide.

I just hope it isn't a regular occurence.

We got the result and all, happy days. But paper over cracks we shouldn't.

if Houllier believes Young will play through middle, then I can see us going for another winger, which we will need.

[parisvilla]

we really struggle clearing our lines against the likes of wolves and stoke because of a lack of height. i dread crosses floated up towards the back stick towards warnock in particular cos he gets consistently merked in the air. same with NRC and Petrov when they are helping out in the box. if GH fancies bringing in a central midfielder hopefully he'll go for someone with a strong physical presence... A.Diarra?

[VillaAndLoyal]

Yesssssssssssss! Get in there! ANOTHER derby win away from home with a goal in the last minute - you just can't beat it 8)

I really don't like the Dingles so I don't care how the win came about - it was a derby - all that matters is the result. And we got it

ONEEEE EMILE HESKEYYY!!!!

[Mantis]

Apparently Chelsea and Man U were the only teams to win there last season. Is this true?

[leevilla]

just got in from the game now,brilliant result in the end. Great goal from Heskey!! Thought Cuellar and Collins looked solid,another poor game for Warnock in my opinion,Reo-Coker also play well!

[tommo]

Friedel 7.5- Good double save in the first half

L.Young 7- Had a particularly good first half, caught out once or twice in the second

Cuellar 9*- Where does Dunne fit into the equation now? Good to see him give an expert performance in his rightful position

Collins 8- Very good aerial performance and great celebration

Warnock 6- Poor first half partly made up for by an assist

Petrov 5.5- Worked hard but was anonymous

Reo Coker 7- Battled well and was composed on the ball. Faded second half

Albrighton 6.5- started the game well, good assist

A.Young 8- Worked so hard and was our main threat, unlucky with a superb effort tipped over

Downing 6.5- struggled in the second half but at times showed class

Heskey 7.5- Wasn't doing enough in the second half until his super goal. Worked hard

-

Gabby 5.5- Not sure about him on the wing

Sidwell- Poor challenge, but I like to see a substitute

We need a bit more class in the centre, either that or we should play an extra CM. The lack of possession causes us to make rash challenges and put ourselves under increased pressure from the high ball and set pieces.

But hats off to the back 2, particularly Carlos, we'd be stuck without them!

Liked the line-up and substitutions, a great start for Houllier. Well fought win- Heskey, Ashley and NRC also deserve praise.

[mtb_wm]

Just got back. Game was shite, atmosphere was wank, Yam Yams officially **** me off and I could do with a beer.

However, Emile is god.