Ratings and Reactions: Villa 3-2 Blackpool

[AValon]

Quite honestly......3 points is 3 points at this moment. We're creating chances aplenty, but not putting them away and sometimes just winning a game can turn that around. So it was Blackpool 'reserves.....so what? How many people, if they were honest, would have taken a dodgy 1-0 before kick-off?

Far as I'm concerned its a win, 3 points and I'd rather be playing utd on the back of a victory.......any victory.

[Archie]

As Italian TV didn't transmit the game for the coincidence with the Serie A, just wondering with which formation did we play today:

4-4-1 with 4 midfielders, Young in the hole and the Fonz upfront?

Or 4-2-3-1 with Bannan and Clark behind Albrighton, Young and Downing and The Fonz lonely forward?

That may be important to understand how we'll play the next games. . .

[Shillzz]

4-4-1-1 Archie

[chappy]

I think my housemate in the room next door with very thin walls probably thought I was having the most intense wank of all time when Collins scored the winner.

Great result, Blackpool were never going to be easy and we definitely made it difficult!

Plus points:

Ash played really well for the first time in a while

the Fonz looked really good. How his first 'goal' was disallowed I will never know

Gabby looked really good when he came on

DOWNING!! motm for me, so glad he's finally fulfilling potential after I stuck by him all this time

first time in a while we have scored from a corner, great header by Jimmy C

Bannan, Clark and Albrighton all had very good games, but the latter needs to be cooler in front of goal, had a golden chance just before he was subbed

When Ireland came on we looked very good, would like him to get a run in the team

Our midfield was solid without NRC, Delph and Petrov

Warnock had a good game except for one slip late on

Negatives:

We can't convert enough chances

Cuellar wasnt even on the bench, I want him on instead of Dunne on current form

I missed Fonz's goal cos the stream went down

Poor reffing, Fonz's first should have stood, Clark's booking was a joke, and Alby should have had a free kick (the foul was about 50cm outside the box.

Brilliant comeback though, I was sure that would be it after they equalized. Bring on Man U, I actually think we can get something

[Archie]

Thank you mate, that means that when we'll have all the players fit it'll be difficult to play Bannan and Delph together, as they are two lightweighs.

[markavfc40]

Just back. We made hard work of it especially when you consider that was Blackpools reserve side but we needed the three points and thankfully we got them.

How Cuellar can't get into that defence is a mystery.

I fear what the likes of Man Utd and Arsenal will do to us in the coming weeks as if we defend like we did tonight and give them the kind of possession in dangerous areas as we gave Blackpool they will destroy us and score a shit load.

Not a great attendance or atmosphere tonight but understandably tense especially as Blackpool had a number of chances in the first 30 mins.

[theunderstudy]

Thank you mate, that means that when we'll have all the players fit it'll be difficult to play Bannan and Delph together, as they are two lightweighs.

???

Delph would break your leg for thinking about considering taking the ball off him!

[JulieB]

Fantastic game of football. Blackpool were no push over and fair play to them for that!

Ashley Young in particular was sublime 2nd half, whatever Houllier said to them half time sure worked!

Unlucky over penalty not been given & Delfouneso's first goal being disallowed.

Downing was my MOTM though....he's a fantastic outlet for us and was at the heart of all that was good about us tonight

Bannan, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Clark look totally at ease playing in the PL.

Great result!

Watching it on Football First now....

[regular_john]

Just like Fulham, on another night we could have scored four or five. Hopefully Delfouneso gets a longer run in the side, he looks really good in front of goal and probably would have got another had he stayed on, Gabby won't be ready for long appearances just yet.

[bickster]

A win is a win

Most of the team get a 6 except

Downing 7

Ash 8

Fonz 7

and

Dunne 4

Some other points

A win is most definitely a win YAY!

Fonz slowly got himself into the game, scored one that was disallowed (total theatrics by defender), which put some fire in his belly, he scores a second and looks well up for it, so he's subbed? eh? what on earth was that for? To bring Gabby on? me I'd have brought Albrighton off if I wanted to bring GAby on at that point, then moved Ash across to the right

The Dunne playing ahead of Cuellar thing has reached beyond silly proportions now. He was at fault for both goals, lost his man way to easily for the first and got in collins way (for collins man) on the second)

The ref was an arse, definitely a pen and loads of other bafling decisions (inc falling for the theatrics on Fonz's disallowed goal)

But right now I'll take the three points gladly

If we'd played Cuellar, could have been 3-0, with a decent ref maybe 5-0

[Archie]

Thank you mate, that means that when we'll have all the players fit it'll be difficult to play Bannan and Delph together, as they are two lightweighs.

???

Delph would break your leg for thinking about considering taking the ball off him!

Maybe I'm wrong but I can't see Delph or Bannan as holding midfiielders, and 4-4-1-1 requires an holding and an attacking midfielder, so the only way to play them together would be to play 4-3-3 with three CM like Arsenal.

[drewdat]

Aston Villa should be better than Blackpool, especially at home, especially with none of Blackpool's starters playing. We have three or four injuries, but Blackpool chose to play as if they had ten. I think that excuse can go out the window, at least for one game.

I only caught the second half, and I thought we looked pretty good, creating several chances and generally looking a lot more threatening. That should be pretty much expected against Blackpool's bench. With better finishing, it would have been a decent performance. Perhaps it still was a borderline decent performance due to the referee taking away a goal and a couple clear chances, but it was no revelation.

It's a result, and that's it. At least they didn't screw that up, when it looked pretty certain they would.

[drat01]

A win is a win

Most of the team get a 6 except

Downing 7

Ash 8

Fonz 7

and

Dunne 4

Some other points

A win is most definitely a win YAY!

Fonz slowly got himself into the game, scored one that was disallowed (total theatrics by defender), which put some fire in his belly, he scores a second and looks well up for it, so he's subbed? eh? what on earth was that for? To bring Gabby on? me I'd have brought Albrighton off if I wanted to bring GAby on at that point, then moved Ash across to the right

The Dunne playing ahead of Cuellar thing has reached beyond silly proportions now. He was at fault for both goals, lost his man way to easily for the first and got in collins way (for collins man) on the second)

The ref was an arse, definitely a pen and loads of other bafling decisions (inc falling for the theatrics on Fonz's disallowed goal)

But right now I'll take the three points gladly

If we'd played Cuellar, could have been 3-0, with a decent ref maybe 5-0

Saved me a post to type - agree with all of this

[Annoyman]

Stuart Downing opened with a volley that deflected beyond keeper Richard Kingson but Marlon Harewood levelled with a side foot shot before the break.

Nathan Delfouneso volleyed to make it 2-1 but Blackpool equalised when a DJ Campbell shot deflected in off Collins.

ahaha the chick writing the BBC match report doesn't know what a volley is

[VillaAndLoyal]

Stuart Downing opened with a volley that deflected beyond keeper Richard Kingson but Marlon Harewood levelled with a side foot shot before the break.

Nathan Delfouneso volleyed to make it 2-1 but Blackpool equalised when a DJ Campbell shot deflected in off Collins.

ahaha the chick writing the BBC match report doesn't know what a volley is

What the ****?

Two volleys? Maybe she was watching a different game...

[drewdat]

Albrighton had a memorable volley when he was subbed, maybe she got confused.

[Hanky]

Three points was important from this one so I am happy with that.

[paddy]

Win is a win. Although we very almost threw it away. Ashley Young was very good I thought, MOTM for me. Good to see Gabby getting a run out, hopefully he'll be ok to start on Saturday.

Good to see the Fonz back amongst the goals too.

[villa4europe]

i think the most disappointing thing for me was that it took us 5 mins into the 2nd half to realise kingson is shit and ash started shooting from range

credit where credits due i thought blackpool were very good, passing and movement were brilliant, not convinced they would have been miles better, correct me if im wrong but the hare starts most weeks and it was him guilty of fluffing most of their chances

as for us, kids were great again, bannan if a breath of thresh air, warnock again started badly cant pass and dives in too much, ash had a great 2nd half, fonz took both his goals well but there were a couple of balls over the top where i thought he would be quicker dont know if he misjudged the flight, albrighton was great as always, as was collins and l young

once again though absolutely dire ref, started 1st half blatant foul on clark on the edge of our area not given followed by the yellow card from where i was sat purely from the blackpool bloke bitching, the pen and the disallowed goal were shocking

[srsmithusa]

Same problem all season. i.e. lots of wasted chances. The good news is that 1. we put three in. 2. we take three points. Both are an improvement even though the basic problem remains the same.

Remember those videos on the OS this summer with Ash and others hitting left post, right post, and crossbar, and putting the ball into a moving cart, all from 50 yards away? We should shoot those same videos again except this time PUT THE BALL INTO THE NET !!!!!!