Jump to content

Ratings and Reactions: Villa 3-2 Blackpool


limpid

Who was your man of the match?  

160 members have voted

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

    • Friedel
      0
    • L Young
      4
    • Warnock
      0
    • Dunne
      1
    • Clark
      3
    • Collins
      8
    • Downing
      60
    • A Young
      42
    • Albrighton
      8
    • Bannan
      17
    • Delfouneso
      15
    • Agbonlahor (for Delfouneso 64)
      0
    • Ireland (for Albrighton 81)
      0
    • Lichaj (for Bannan 90+3)
      2


Recommended Posts

This:

Not great in parts but second half for 20 minutes, we absolutely battered them, sort of reminded me of when we played Burnley at home but we simply weren't as clinical and also got robbed by the Ref again with Fonz first.

Anyway,

Friedel - 6.5 - First goal, could have made it harder for Harewood, but apart from that, solid.

Young - 7 - Some great attacking runs but also needs to be quicker with his distribution.

Dunne - 7 - Pretty solid.

Collins - 6.5 - Made up for his socking error in the first half.

Warnock - 6 - Got raped by Matt Phillips.

Clark - 6 - Thought he struggled a little.

Bannan - 7 - struggled at times, but also when he got on the ball, he looked dangerous, maybe too many 'hollywood' balls but also some excellent passing.

Downing - 8 - His energy up and down the pitch was absolutely unbelievable. Good goal too.

Young - 8 - I thought he looked a lot better, especially 2nd half, finding good space and creating.

Albrighton - 7 - missed a great chance at 2-1, had a pretty decent game though.

Delfouneso - 7 - Overall game was okay, not brilliant but I don't think the teams performance helped, he had 2 chances and scored both. One was stupidly dissalowed though.

is the truth. Apart from 5.5 for Dunne. CC please.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We played much better v Fulham and Spurs & Sunderland for that matter and got 1 point

Yeah it wasn't an epic but again Dunne apart the players are tying to keep the ball and pass , as a work in progress we are still going in the right direction

Don't agree with Clark in CM but how good is this lad going to be !! Nice control and composure ad not afraid to get stuck in with a crunching tackle or 2 ... He could turn out to be one heck of a CB over the coming years

Kinda funny to see Gabby being hailed as the saviour when last season many were calling for him to be dropped ,such is football

Ref seemed to do his best to ruin the game but for once we benefitted from a late goal

Bring on Man U ... And let's hope Fergie also makes 10 changes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Friedel was good, not that he had that much to do.

Back 4, with the exception of Luke, were poor. Can't understand why CC is not playing.

Ash and DJ were very good and Albie wasn't far behind - could have been MOTM if he'd finished that chance off! I think we should be giving DJ a chance in the middle - he is starting to show how dangerous he is in the central position.

Clark was solid.

Bannan was good first 60 but tired and should have been taken off earlier.

Fonz was poor first half but looked good second half once he had clicked. I think he is a confidence player and once he gets it he can look very good.

Gabby ran hard but didn't really do a great deal.

Ireland had some nice touches but doesn't work hard enough for me and that attempted sliding tackle just before their second goal was a joke.

Ged is doing a decent job with a very stretched squad.

The ref was a tw@t.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure what Houllier was thinking when he took Delfouneso off though.

To give Gabby some minutes on the pitch I would think.

I'm sure it wasn't because Delfouneso wasn't doing the business.

He scored 2 great goals tonight!

Plenty of other ways of giving Gabby a game that taking someone off who had started slowly, got a goal disallowed for nothing, which fired him up no end and he'd just started to look like the real deal, he scores a goal, then he's off. How deflating must that have been?

He could have taken Albrighton or Bannan off to facilitate the reintroduction of Gabby or a few other ways too. I understand giving Gabby a chance, I don't understand taking the Fonz's moment of the season away from him, that was both cruel and possibly harmful.

Houllier had only been saying we need to start scoring goals, he commented on the Fonz specifically at the end of the last match and then he does that? Utterly baffling

I wasn't saying Houllier was right to bring Fonz off. I agree it was bad timing but Gabby needed playing time. I just think maybe GH didn't want to go 4-4-2 & leave us weaker in midfield. Although arguably Gabby has played as an inside forward before, so could have replaced Bannan or Albrighton as you say.

We needed to keep it tight though because I thought their number 11 Phillips was a real threat all game!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just got back from the game and I was in the corporate seats and I had Doug Ellis beside me so I knew I was in for a rough ride! Onto Blackpool, they picked 10 different players who all had a point to prove and increased their work rate and performance, very difficult game for Houllier to judge, take Phillips he absolutely demolished Warnock because he possibly wouldn't have been prepped up on him! The main problem was the middle of the park, we were simply out run and I'm dreading Saturday! Young was MOTM for me, his endless running his creativity caused them all sorts of problems. Delfouneso scored two great goals, Dunne hit the bar, I wouldn't be overly concerned with their performance, I think with Holloway playing the card it was a difficult one for our boys and they won which is the most important! All in all an entertaining game and what the Premiership is about instead of the hype of the Manchester Derby a score anyone could have predicted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Collins is lucky he scored the winner cuz he was at fault for both of theirs :angry: And no I don't mean the unlucky deflection for the 2nd one, I mean letting his man get away before the move even developed that far. Cuéllar against United please thank you. What does he have to do to get into the side.

I've seen the highlights now and what I have seen has just re-inforced my view that the starting central defenders should be Dunne and Cuellar.

Collins is always drawn to the ball and seems to rush in. Looks brilliant when he pulls off an intercept but (more often) is absolutely dire when he does not. That first goal was shockingly poor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Think I was at a different match to alot on here!

Friedel - 6 - Nothing great. Poor for Harewood goal.

L Young - 7 - At times good.

Collins - 7 - Did most of the defensive work

Dunne - 6 - Makes me nervous, just waiting for him to add to his tally at the wrong end

Warnock - 4 - Poor. Confidence appears to be shot

Downing - 8 - Powerful attacking force and working hard

Clark - 5 - Slow movement, poor reading, slow distribution. Bad news come Saturday. Turning circle of a battleship.

Bannan - 7 - Man marked out of the game half of the time, but played well barring a couple of daft passes. Worked hard

A Young - 8.5 - Ran his arse off. Managed the team from the front. Very impressive.

Albrighton - 8 - Dangerous and few excellent crosses.

Fonz - First half 5 - Poor with no touch or drive. Second half - 8 - Good 1st. Pen should have been given. Excellent 1st touch and finish for his 2nd.

Gabby - 7 - Gabby

Ireland - 3 - Appalling passing/ tackling/ decision making/ workrate

Lichaj....... Got on pitch.

Ref - 2 WTF

Link to comment
Share on other sites

According to Houllier Cuellar was injured and will miss the Man U match - hence not on the pitch.

With the Fonz sub Gabby was already there waiting top come on (IIRC) when Fonz scored so I think Houllier had already committed to taking of Delfouneso. Speaking of the Fonz, I thought he played far better on the weekend for no reward, but he was a bit average today and scored twice. A good sign for the kid.

Is interesting that Warnock is copping a bit in this thread, and I suspect that Warnock's and Dunne's performances are linked up to a point - chicken or egg though?

Much better performance from Ashley Young tonight, superb assist for Nathan and seemed to be looking to play his teammates in, rather than try to do it all himself.

My MOTM was Downing though. The guy has really stepped up this season and looks a very dangerous player.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Total **** disgrace against Blackpools reserves. Total **** joke. Only plus is we got 3 points. Somehow.

jesus christ I think I need to lie down and drink a camomile tea

we're crippled with injuries and were screwed over by that nordie word removed walking out 5 minutes before the season started

what do you expect of houllier? hes not a **** magician who can heal by touch

Some folk don't follow football to enjoy it or to be happy.

We're playing infinitely more attractive football in spite of the squad limitations and injuries, and some of the kids are looking the real deal. A bit of luck and a cutting edge up front and we could be a decent team.

Ludicrous to blame houllier for problems that MON created and then ran away from

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A hard earned 3 points. Harder than it should have been, but still.

Campbell equalises, nearly smash my coffee table. Collins winner, jumping about like a loon. That's what it's all about. How boring would it be to be a Chelsea or Man U fan?

Why had you taken a coffee table to Villa Park? I'm frankly astounded the stewards let you bring it in. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The big plus from last night was three points. They were much needed and as a few have pointed we have played better and lost, or drawn. I think its also important to remember the number of injuries we are running with at the moment. Given that you could almost say the highlight of the night was Gabby back on the pitch.

The defence is starting to worry me as both goals came from very sloppy defending. The second which was right in from of us in the DE Stand was almost comical. Having said that once we strung passes to together and attacked we looked very good. A bit more luck and perhaps a better finishing and we could have scored 4 or 5.

Yet again I thought the kids were very good. Both Clark and Bannan are still a little rough round the edges but get better in every game. Albrighton is already something a bit special. MotM for me was a toss up between Downing and Ashley Young and I think Downing just scrapes it.

But based on that performance I am very nervous about Saturday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good result. Enough said.

Yes it wasn't blackpool's strongest team, but a midfield including Clarke, bannan and albrighton is hardly our first string is it? Plus the fonz up front.

Personally I think we did very well to get the three points. There were times when we'd not have pushed on to get the third in that game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...
Â