Ratings and Reactions: villa 2-1 west brom

[barry'sboots]

Comfortable win. Boggies shaded H1 but apart from Tchoi's effort did little to threaten Brad's goal. We were dominant in H2, apart from the last 5 minutes or so.

We looked much better defensively with Carlos in there. He has to retain his position.

My ratings:

Friedel - 6 - Okay but not a lot to do.

Lichaj - 7 - Strong game. Much better than I thought he was going to be from previous viewings. Great throw and real energy and pace when he gets a head of steam.

Collins - 6 - Much better game today.

Cuellar - 7 - Our defence looks much more solid with him at its heart. Able to step in front of strikers and take the ball off them. Great reading of the game.

Warnock - 6 - Did a lot better today. After a poor H1 against their most potent threat for me - one hell of a size for a right winger - Warnock really stepped it up second half.

Downing - 8 MOTM - Excellent, worked hard, used the ball well and was always a danger. Wouldn't mind seeing him inside instead of Ashley as I prefer the latter outside. At least they should be alternating during the game.

Bannan - 4 - Poor performance and he never really got in to the game. Tough against a five and it needed someone with a bit more presence or an extra body in CM for him to really have a go. I was calling for NRC to replace him much earlier than it happened or to come on and move Barry forward and take off one of the wingers.

Hogg - 7 - His best game so far for me. He looks like a Petrov with energy!

Albrighton - 7 - Did well and always looked a threat

Young - 6 - Buzzed around. Involved and had intent but just doesn't look a threat to me in a central position and I'd like to see him back out wide.

Heskey - 7 - Great game form the big man and he worked really hard. Good back up to Gabby now.

Reo-Coker - 6 - looked good for the short time he was on

Fonz - 5 - didn't really have a chance to get involved

Herd - not on long enough to rate

[Pelle]

Very pleased with the win. Young gets my vote, but there were some contenders for that. Have had my doubts about Hogg but yesterday I think he was really good. As some have said, he always gives his all. And pleased with Lichajs debut. I was a bit worried when I saw him in the starting line-up, but he was just as good as Young has been this season. Or even better.

[rjenkins]

I was so delighted after just getting a win yesterday that had I rated the players straight after the match I would have given everyone a 10. Having given myself some time to calm down though and watch the highlights of the game again to see if I missed anything the first time around this is my reaction:

Friedel - 6

Didn't have an awful lot to do really, but after some of his performances this season I don't feel as confident about him as I used to.

Lichaj - 6

Could ask for more on a first league start to be honest. Thomas did get the better of him occasionally though and I fear a better winger would have made him pay for those mistakes. I wouldn't feel too uncomfortable playing him ahead of Luke Young more often on today's showing.

Cuellar - 7

Straight after the match yesterday I probably thought he had played better than he actually did. Made the odd slip and misjudged the header for the corner they scored from, but I do think he's our best centre-back going on form and I hope he gets a run in the side. He made some important challenges.

Collins - 6

Better than he has been recently, although it was his poor marking that let Scharner in for their goal. For a big lad he isn't that good aerially from set pieces. If he could play like he did against Chelsea more often I'd be a lot happier about starting him.

Warnock - 6

Got well beaten in the first half by Tchoyi, but was reasonably solid as usual in the second half and he did have a tough job on his hands with Fortune wanting to drift out wide too.

Albrighton - 8

Not the finished article by any stretch of the imagination, but he was the source for both of our goals and you can't ask for much more than that

Hogg - 7

Probably not quite as good as he was against Birtmingham and Liverpool, but he is impressing me just through his energy and tackling.

Bannan - 6

Not the sort of game where he could really stamp his authority on midfield. Anonymous really, but he didn't do anything really wrong. He was the right player to be taken off for Reo-Coker.

Downing - 8

Much better than in the last few weeks. Composed and dangerous, although I think he needs good players around him for us to get the best out of him. I'm not sure he likes being the main outlet for attacks in the way that Ashley Young does.

Ashley Young - 8

Being captain suits his ego I think, and he played really very well yesterday. Has a good understanding with Heskey

Heskey - 7

Not his best performance by any stretch of the imagination. There were a few wayward headers and dodgy touches, but he certainly put a shift in and scored a goal at the end of the day

[kieranavfc]

anyone know where one could download this game/get it on dvd? someone must have recorded it from Football First. ta!

[RunRickyRun]

anyone know where one could download this game/get it on dvd? someone must have recorded it from Football First. ta!

Here

[paulanddonya]

Lets face it, it wasn't great - but at this moment in time - a win is a win.

1st half we were alwful, and could have easily been 4 down. The defence were trying their "Bobby Moore" impressions (yes, including Cueller) and we were making so many mistakes. The marking was non-existent, they nearly scored from about 4 set pieces that we failed to mark.

Then half time come, and I think one of the players must have had the bottle to tell Houllier what they feel a defender should be - ie: if in doubt kick it out, and we improved 200%. Cueller looked commanding, Collins was winning challenges, and Lichaj, although sometimes caught out of position, was getting back and winning everything.

Thus the midfield improved (Downing was the pick) and we looked very very comfortable - until that is, the weekly last minute goal concede.

This is really miffing me now.

Positives - 2nd half defensive display, Lichaj, return of NRC and Heskey (god, did I say that)

and, most importantly for me - and I think it has gone under the radar.

For all I have had a go at Houllier this week, at least he had the balls to drop his captain ! - how many games were we saying the same of MON / Petrov - at least he shows, you don't perform, you are out.

Downing MOTM by a mile

A Young - am I missing something, apart from winning 5 cheap free kicks from a guy whos head had gone, I thought he did absolutely sod all ! - and he got MOTM at the ground

[DiegoD]

well first a dishonorable mention to NRC, when you are on the post at a corner you stay on the post, you do not do your famous impression of a headless chicken.

If you know anything about marking at corners, he did the right thing coming of the post slightly. When the ball goes past him to other side of field he is supposed to drift slightly to his left to cover behind Friedel. He did that but Sharner got a free head and it was a cracking header into the far corner. If he had been beat on his left and stayed on the post people would be saying why didn't move off the post. He can't win either way with some of you guys but let's forget about the defender who gave him a free header.

I do know something about marking at corners, do you?

You are meant to drift, but not that much. The point of being on the post is that you cover everything between yourself and the post, then back the keeper to keep out the rest.

If it had beaten him on his otherside no one would have said anything because he did his job on the post and the keeper and defenders got beaten.

[May-Z]

Didn't see the whole game but just a quick comment on Hogg. He reminds me very much of Lee Cattermole. While I don't particularly rate Cattermole as a high quality player, I do think that a player of that type is needed in a squad- Lots of energy, hard tackling and drive. I think Hogg is an absolute carbon copy of him.

[Cracker1234]

Highlights but they're in Spanish I think

[cheltenham_villa]

Lets face it, it wasn't great - but at this moment in time - a win is a win.

1st half we were alwful, and could have easily been 4 down. The defence were trying their "Bobby Moore" impressions (yes, including Cueller) and we were making so many mistakes. The marking was non-existent, they nearly scored from about 4 set pieces that we failed to mark.

Then half time come, and I think one of the players must have had the bottle to tell Houllier what they feel a defender should be - ie: if in doubt kick it out, and we improved 200%. Cueller looked commanding, Collins was winning challenges, and Lichaj, although sometimes caught out of position, was getting back and winning everything.

Thus the midfield improved (Downing was the pick) and we looked very very comfortable - until that is, the weekly last minute goal concede.

This is really miffing me now.

Positives - 2nd half defensive display, Lichaj, return of NRC and Heskey (god, did I say that)

and, most importantly for me - and I think it has gone under the radar.

For all I have had a go at Houllier this week, at least he had the balls to drop his captain ! - how many games were we saying the same of MON / Petrov - at least he shows, you don't perform, you are out.

Downing MOTM by a mile

A Young - am I missing something, apart from winning 5 cheap free kicks from a guy whos head had gone, I thought he did absolutely sod all ! - and he got MOTM at the ground

for me Young was different class. Tremendous work rate and determination. The reason he won all those free kicks was because they resorted to simply kicking him. they couldnt get the ball off him. Look at the chance created for Heskey, nicked the ball away from a defender, went past a few and rolled the ball across the six yard box. Perfect just missing the tap in. How many time did he take the ball on the half way line facing our goal and to bring it down and go past players creating another attack.

[Neil]

Great result.

Such a massive difference from the Liverpool game, the whole team improved dramastically. We saw fight and determination and it paid off, overall we deserved the win too...bonus!

Hard to say man of the match, maybe ashley young because he really put a shift in which is against some of his recent performances. He took on the captaincy and played excellently.

[kurtsimonw]

Surprised Emile only has 12 votes!

[villianusa]

well first a dishonorable mention to NRC, when you are on the post at a corner you stay on the post, you do not do your famous impression of a headless chicken.

If you know anything about marking at corners, he did the right thing coming of the post slightly. When the ball goes past him to other side of field he is supposed to drift slightly to his left to cover behind Friedel. He did that but Sharner got a free head and it was a cracking header into the far corner. If he had been beat on his left and stayed on the post people would be saying why didn't move off the post. He can't win either way with some of you guys but let's forget about the defender who gave him a free header.

I do know something about marking at corners, do you?

You are meant to drift, but not that much. The point of being on the post is that you cover everything between yourself and the post, then back the keeper to keep out the rest.

If it had beaten him on his otherside no one would have said anything because he did his job on the post and the keeper and defenders got beaten.

As there are no poster on poster posts allowed I'll just disagree with what you said and leave it at that. :winkold:

[beasley14]

I always use to be on the post, and i would never move more than arms reach away from it when i was on it. Nothing worse than the ball getting past you on the post side. I'm not going to go mad over it though just thought i'd mention.

[chappy]

Young MOTM for me,he looked really up for it and gave a real captains performance. SO much better than the last few weeks.

Downing and Albrighton were both brilliant.

Heskey had a good game, we have definitely missed him I think on this showing.

Was really pleased to see GH have the balls to drop his captain, and goal aside CC played really well. The defence looked a lot more composed. Lichaj looked pretty good too.

Such a massive three points, despite the shaky last five (why can't we see games out?) I was very pleased with the performance given recent happenings.

[Richard]

Absolutely delighted with an incredibly important win, especially given the upcoming fixtures we have.

[NeilS]

My first live game for a while courtesy of some complimentry tickets from a works supplier, and a welcome result at the end of the day. Came away from the ground happy, even after a nervous final few minutes. A few things I noticed from the game:-

We look very nervy in defence, especially at set plays. I think this is partly down to the fact that we have a smallish team. If you took Heskey, Carlos and Collins out of the mix on saturday we're not a big team. Our central midfield was short on height, our fullbacks aren't the strongest in the air. This can be a major issue against big and powerful opposition.

Hogg played with some bite and energy in midfield, though his positioning and tracking play sometimes let him down. One example being early in the first half a throughball into our penalty box left a player with a free run on our defence. Collins gave him a rocket for that. We need to look at addressing the midfield hole if we're going to stop leaking goals regularly. We got away with it a little on Saturday.

I was impressed with Lichaj. He looked strong and tackled well. He was fast, and got up and down the wing very well. Nice long throw, to add an extra weapon to our attack. He did get caught out a couple of times, probably due to inexperience. Hopefully he'll learn when to nip in, and when to stand his ground as he gains playing time.

Cueller was solid throughout, until one mistake almost let them in. The resulting corner did lead to their goal, which was disappointing.

I thought we dropped way too deep after conceding. We let them come at us, when a bit of pressure on the ball further up the pitch would have probably been a better plan. We seemed to do this after a rocket from Gary McAllister on the touchline.

The atmosphere from the Holte end was superb, my friend from work who supports Man Utd said it was so much louder that OT. He was impressed. Well done to the Holte End. Unfortunately I couldn't turn him from the dark side, and he still supports Man Utd.