Ratings & reactions: Sheff Utd 1-3 Villa

[slowandlow]

young couldnt wait to get off the pitch even when he was 'subbed'

What do you expect him to do when sent off? I'd rather they got off the pitch and the game continued than them arguing the decision.

Harsh 2nd yellow card in my opinion.

i was on about the sub fiasco, he couldnt wait to get off, and the general opinion of the people i was with at sheffield was that he couldnt wait to get off the pitch at that point

Well him missing the derby could be a good thing for us.

you want your better players playing in the derby, but you also want your better players playing in there most effective positions

at least albrighton is playing, dont think he has featured in a derby before and i think he can do ridgewell

[CBGB]

We were playing with 10 men long before Ashley Young got sent off, thanks to Pires.

Overall, we are a bit of a shambles at the moment, and any half decent side would have beaten us tbh.

[The_Lions_Roar]

young couldnt wait to get off the pitch even when he was 'subbed'

What do you expect him to do when sent off? I'd rather they got off the pitch and the game continued than them arguing the decision.

Harsh 2nd yellow card in my opinion.

i was on about the sub fiasco, he couldnt wait to get off, and the general opinion of the people i was with at sheffield was that he couldnt wait to get off the pitch at that point

Well him missing the derby could be a good thing for us.

you want your better players playing in the derby, but you also want your better players playing in there most effective positions

at least albrighton is playing, dont think he has featured in a derby before and i think he can do ridgewell

That's exactly the reason why i think its a good thing. Albrighton will hopefully play and will be new to blues! Ash hasn't been playing well due to where he's being played. The cross for the goal today summed Ash up, on the wing, defender in front of him with a chance to run at him and get half a yard.

[CockneyVilla]

Are there any on-line highlights chaps??

[VillaAndLoyal]

How many fans did we take up today? They were in fine voice!

The fans were brilliant, one of the best away days I have had anyway.

I still haven't got my voice back.

I've lost my voice as well "Sheffield's a shit-hole, I want to go hooome" - fantastic away support yet again. Over 5,000 Villa, brilliant!

As for the game - first things first - WE WON! 8) :shock: Although despite three quality goals I thought our overall collective performance was still pretty poor today. Whereas I left Chelsea thinking "could that be our turning point?" I most definitely didn't do that today. We are still very much in the shit, but this was nice light relief in a season so far of misery. I also found it very telling that despite us winning some people were still singing anti-Houllier songs - that shows the strength of feeling in my opinion.

Kyle Walker - sign him up, now! Couple of defensive mistakes maybe but he really was excellent. Powerful, quick, technically good, can clearly play composed football. This is exactly what we've needed for YEARS in the full back position. I know he plays on the other side but Walker's performance today just highlights even further how **** SHIT Warnock is.

Super Marc - a future England regular, make no mistake about it. This boy is already class and he's still no way near even being the finished article. The most exciting prospect I can remember at Villa for a long time. Great finish today and was always a massive threat.

Ashley Young - he can leave as far as i'm concerned. I've never rated him as much as most on here and I honestly think if we could get £15million for him it would be good business. He always loses the ball, he doesn't look interested anymore, he's so predictable it is untrue and basically I think he's massively over-hyped. He's really not that good in my opinion. Albrighton is better.

Pires - another who can be booted out of the club faster than you can say "va va voom". There's nothing to say that hasn't already been said - he's been a catastrophic signing.

[kurtsimonw]

Are there any on-line highlights chaps??

Here

Seeing the higlights, the penalty seems fair. Looked a bit harsh at the time, but I don't think Carlos made enough contact with the ball to make it not a penalty - like Johnson's foul on Gabby in the derby last year.

[kayarcee]

I fail to see how Pires put in such an "awful" shift. Seemed to me like he was getting fairly involved, passing was good, he helped Gabby put pressure on the centerbacks and Simonsen when without the ball, and even made a nice run to stop a Sheff U break after a Villa corner.

I think a lot of people on here are reacting to the man's most recent comments in one interview that has been recycled fifty times over, as is the custom in the British papers, rather than the player's actual performance today.

[kurtsimonw]

I don't think Pires played all that well, but Gabby didn't help. There were a couple of really good passes that Pires made to get in behind the defense, problem is that Gabby's ability to read the game is poor and didn't go for them so it made them just look like shit passes towards the keeper/out for a goal kick.

[chappy]

I thought Pires was poor today, a couple of nice touches but completely off the pace.

Having seen that replay the penalty looks quite harsh on Carlos.

[srsmithusa]

Most important, glad to have a win. Walker earned MOTM with Albrighton close behind. Good sign about GH in the market. But for me, very worrying. How can a 19 yo from the championship look pretty easily MOTM unless the team he's joining has crap for quality? He made some defensive errors and a couple nearly disastrous give-aways. I also note that he did best when he just kept the ball at his feet and took somebody on. Will our current players not do that because they lack confidence?

My other concern is that while we had better speed and individual skill, Sheff Utd played together as a unit much better. We looked like 11 individuals with 11 different game plans.

[CockneyVilla]

Are there any on-line highlights chaps??

Here

Seeing the higlights, the penalty seems fair. Looked a bit harsh at the time, but I don't think Carlos made enough contact with the ball to make it not a penalty - like Johnson's foul on Gabby in the derby last year.

Thank you, :-)

[Ponky]

Pires looked about a second and a half behind the play the whole time - passing to where players were, rather than where they were running to, failing to run onto passes etc.

[CBGB]

Yes, calling Pires "catastrophic" is a bit of an exaggeration. He was free, is only costing his wages, and is on a very short contract.

However, "completely pointless" might be more accurate. Unfit, uncommitted, way past his sell-by date, etc. He was rubbish today.

That one run he did just petered out into nothing, and that was his best contribution!

[Harry]

Are there any on-line highlights chaps??

Here

Seeing the higlights, the penalty seems fair. Looked a bit harsh at the time, but I don't think Carlos made enough contact with the ball to make it not a penalty - like Johnson's foul on Gabby in the derby last year.

Thanks for those. I particularly enjoyed the (German?) commentator saying 'Oops' as Cuellar brought down the player for the penalty.

Three very fine goals.

[Shoody]

I really dont understand who is going to buy Ashley Youg that is better than us.

He is nowhere near Man U quality

Would add some much needed width/cover to Chelsea but not good enough

Spurs have Van Der Vaart, Lennon, Modric, Bale all playing in his positions - so again, not good enough

Doesnt have the right vision or passing ability to make a big impact at Arsenal.

He could go to any of these clubs and be a squad player or get his **** act together and become our captain.

[QuintonK6]

Walker & Albrighton were superb down the right.

Anyone else think our support wasn't up to the usual high standards considering the numbers we took ?? I was in the upper tier and It just never got going.

[matrim]

Pires had one decent run at their defence and a couple of good passes but the rest of the time looked way off the pace of the game. And what annoyed me most is he was constantly letting runners go past him without attempting to track them. I'm pretty sure NRC had a go at him during the first half because of it

[VillaAndLoyal]

Walker & Albrighton were superb down the right.

Anyone else think our support wasn't up to the usual high standards considering the numbers we took ?? I was in the upper tier and It just never got going.

I still think it was bloody good mate but I did have a similar thought and I think a lot of it was because of the stand we were in.

In the lower tier it was not a very deep stand, but seemed quite long - in a similar sort of feel to the away end at Wolves (ignoring the obvious fact that yesterday we were behind the goal). We had lots of songs starting off from the left-hand side of the lower and then you looked right and they were singing another song, and then the upper tier would start a different one again. There was plenty of singing, but collectively it did seem pretty disjointed - which I think the stand has a lot to do with.

[wedge]

Good performance over a poor Sheffield United side, brilliant away support, thoroughly enjoyed my day. Except for nearly not being allowed into the ground by the jobsworth Bramall Lane stewards because the flag I was carrying didn't have a fire-safety certificate or a British kitemark...But that's another rant and nothing to do with what happened on the pitch. Although Walker was exceptional and scored a brilliant goal then played a big part in the 3rd with another exciting solo run, I've opted for Bannan as MOTM, the kid is a quality footballer and for me ran the game, I can't remember him giving the ball away and I didn't think he should have been taken off. However, credit to GH where credit is due unlike against Sunderland on Wednesday he made subs at the right time and Petrov and Downing did make a difference because they were fresh, hopefully a lesson learned for the management...UTV.

[Neil]

Was a great day out all in all, was just the most wonderful feeling to see Villa win a game again regardless of who the opposition was.

Wasnt a bad shift overall, we started off quite brightly though on an overall performance I thought that they were testing our keeper a few too many times for my liking, and yet another penalty given away. I also felt they missed a few chances besides the great saves Bard made, which is another worrying factor.

Gotta take the positives though, walker easily man of the match. I sure hope the other players in our team were watching today, Houllier should get back to the dressing room and say "you see this you bunch of lazy ass mofos, this is how you should play" and then point to reruns of Walker.