Ratings and Reactions: Villa 2-2 Man Utd

[Demitri_C]

dont see how anyone can critise that performance we shou;ld have won 3-4nil considering the amount of youngsters we had we should ahve been battered today. well done lads

thought teh ref was good today barring hernandez not getting a red. was blatent penalty.

my only concern would be dunne. again some shcoking moments of defending from him. how many more blunders do we have to undertake from him? collins has impressed but why has carlos just been frozen out?

[Maradona10]

What game were you watching, Dunne came out with very important blocks! However now he's injured we'll see what will happen!

[jonno_2004]

What game were you watching, Dunne came out with very important blocks! However now he's injured we'll see what will happen!

Dunne still had his classic 1 or 2 errors a game, they just weren't punished.

[chappy]

Very nice too to see us attacking the Holte second half again after the sha and Blackpool games.

[parisvilla]

What game were you watching, Dunne came out with very important blocks! However now he's injured we'll see what will happen!

Dunne still had his classic 1 or 2 errors a game, they just weren't punished.

made a massive blunder really early on sliced a ball backwards when under no pressure. i think he's suffering from a lack of confidence, still a very good defender mind.

[Milfner]

thought teh ref was good today barring hernandez not getting a red.

:shock:

[Neil]

Thoght it was a fantastic game of football, for 80 minutes right from the start I was chomping at the bit.

Before the gam eI would have taken the draw but now feel a little robbed of a win which would have been a dream. Thrilling football, something you didnt see often under mon.

Atmosphere was great, I was buzzing and I lost my voice on a few occasions. Dont remember when that happened last!

[Ponky]

Notice Fergie having a moan about the Ref not protecting the Utd players from 'unfair tackles' from Villa players. Cheeky bastard.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

Albrighton for me as MotM just for his goal. Enough said.

Downing and Albrighton played an equal task in the goal, if not Downing more so....

[Archie]

Yesterday's game must be divided into two parts imo, before Delfouneso (BD) and after Delfouneso (AD)

BD we were asphalting Manu and deserved to win 3-0.

AD we have been overwhelmed, Nathan wasn't able either to hold the squad high, either to defend (poor opposition on Nani's cross) and to engage Vidic (who scored the goal).

Awful.

But apart from Dunne all the lads had a great game yesterday.

My ratings:

Friedel 7

Young 6

Dunne 4,5

Collins 6,5

Warnock 7

Albrighton 7,5

Bannan 7

Hogg 6

Downing 7,5

A. Young 6,5

Agbonlahor 7

(Delfouneso) 3

[Harry]

Vidic running into the crowd with the already booked Brown

Inciting the united fans to run on the pitch as they always do.

Total double standards as usual

Nothing like a push, Brown is simply holding is shoulder, in fact Vidic drags Brown in to the crowd along with him. One rule for United, one rule for the rest of us.

It was ever so. The refs are just shit scared of Fergie and the FA just panders to the so called big clubs especially Man U with their plastic fans. Did anyone see how empty the coach park was? Nuff said!

[Mantis]

Albrighton for me as MotM just for his goal. Enough said.

Downing and Albrighton played an equal task in the goal, if not Downing more so....

I agree. Spectacular run by downing to get into space to make the pass. he could give Gabby a run for his money in a race that's for sure.

[ChrisNichollsToe]

Notice Fergie having a moan about the Ref not protecting the Utd players from 'unfair tackles' from Villa players. Cheeky bastard.

Yeah, lets just allow your players time and space to pick us off!. Lets seehow much time and space you allow Barcelona, if your unlucky enough to draw them, Fergie :winkold:

[parisvilla]

Notice Fergie having a moan about the Ref not protecting the Utd players from 'unfair tackles' from Villa players. Cheeky bastard.

what an absolute prick, cant wait for him to retire.

[alienvillan]

4-4-2 and Bannan and Hogg in midfield - against Manchester United? I'm shocked.

Friedel 10

L Young 10

Collins 10

Dunne 10

Warnock 10

Albrighton 10

Bannan 10

Hogg 10

Downing 10

A Young 10

Agbonlahor 10

Houllier & coaching staff 10

[Pricey_1984]

felt like a defeat but after 2 days of reflection im so proud of the lads. we nearly beat man utd with god knows how many injuries. the future is definately bright. Wont be long until were stringing a few wins together on that display in my opinion.

[briny_ear]

That was a really good performance for 80 minutes. We gradually got on top of Man U and finally demolished them with two quick goals. The really encouraging thing was that a lot of the credit goes to a group of young players who have come up through the Academy and Reserves, know each other's games well, and have a lot of confidence in each other, as well as a lot of individual talent. It fair takes my thoughts back to round about 1976/7 when our European Cup team started to emerge partly from the youth set-up.

Albrighton's goal was a real team goal, fantastic to see us combining so well in attack.

It's looking good for the future.

But the way we crumpled in the last 10 minutes was worrying. Against all my expectations based on last season, the defence is where we have to worry.

MOTM = Downing. Got a feeling this is going to be a monster season for him, maybe even eclipsing A Young.

[Shillzz]

Not been on here since going to the game, so here are my ratings:

Friedel 7 - One immensely important save, all be it with his face. 3-2 Loss would have been a tragedy.

Young 6 - Got caught out of position a couple of times. Where was he for their second?

Collins 7 - Did fine, not sure as he can be held accountable for either goal.

Dunne 7 - Much Like Collins really.

Warnock 8 - First half MOTM, not sure where he was for their second, perhaps Vidic should have been Downings man.

Albrighton 8 - Chance wasted, but was absolutely fantastic otherwise.

Bannan 7.5 - What he does, he does brilliantly. Would like to see him get more involved though.

Hogg 6.5 - Ran all day, couple of dodgy passes but not bad at all.

Downing 8.5 - At the Centre of everything good we did, unlucky not to score.

Gabby 7 - We've missed Gabby, it's showed before Saturday's game and it showed after he went off.

Young 7.5 - Extra 0.5 for the celebration. Again picked up in the second half.

Houllier 9 - Gutsy. I was shitting bricks when the teamsheet came up in the Holte concourse area pre kick off. But fair play to him.

[barry'sboots]

But the way we crumpled in the last 10 minutes was worrying. Against all my expectations based on last season, the defence is where we have to worry.

I don't think our defence has been as strong as last year but I think we were also missing something in CM (a shield in front of the back 4) and I think our lack of depth (with current injuries) showed up here on Saturday. If I were Ged I would have loved to have been in a position to bring on Clark and/or NRC and/or Stan and/or Delph (as an example) to replace Hogg, Bannan and one of the wingers to close that game out for the last 15 or so minutes when we were 2-0 up and they started to look strong. Switching to a more solid three in CM would have allowed us to close out the game IMO as we did at OT last year bringing NRC on for Heskey (from memory) with 10 minutes left.

[ALL.IV.1]

See Friedel was the only player to make into the The Sun dream team, ????? 4 shots and two went in ?