Ratings and Reactions: Wigan 1-2 Villa

[srsmithusa]

Downing wasn't shit at all, he wasn't perfect, but he was just fine.

Being shit, in my book at least, means you can't do anything right and generally stink at everything.

Sure his end product wasn't there today, his crossing was mostly off and he didn't find Bent when he should have (then again neither did anyone else except for Ash with a beautiful pass in the first half).

What he did do however was he worked hard, he tracked back, he brought the ball out of defense at pace several times with good close control, his general passing was good (not crossing) and he took on defenders.

Besides he found Ash with a perfectly weighted pass for the penalty, and I'm glad he did because, in the end, it led to us winning the game.

I think it's completely unarguable that this is the most accurate description of Downing's day. Mod, can we close this thread now?

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

How bad is Di Santo? Deary me.

[Larscapaldi]

whilst I agree Downing has been our best player so far this season, I must say today he royally pissed me off. He took the pace out of every attack and he slowed down every opportunity we had. I like him, but he looked like he wasn't interested at all today

[srsmithusa]

I thought Makoun looked very neat, tidy, and efficient. He does not appear to be quite the boisterous tackler I expected, but he may be the attacking midfielder we've needed.

The pitch was horrible. Clearly badly torn up in many places but terribly soft, and wet. Keeps the match from being fast, or neat, or technical. Running on a soft, wet field makes your legs heavy and tired and slow. I really think it's part of the reason we faded late in the match. The other reason we faded, was that our confidence is improved but very fragile after all the disappointments of the past few months.

[Milfner]

It's like 1 in 55 isn't it? He just offers nothing.

Impressed with the turn out tbf.

Bent's runs are incredible, the sooner the midfield spots these runs, the better, he really is a livewire.

Makoun was extremely tidy, does everything Stan does but in half the time.

Baker impressed me too, kept N'Zogbia relatively quiet.

Defence was solid, especially Carlos.

Good to see Gabby get a goal, it wasn't a screamer, but a goal all the same.

As for Downing, he just looked tired to me, not the catastrophic performance some people are making it to be.

Ash MOTM, he was everywhere. Was he captain btw?

[Larscapaldi]

Ash MOTM, he was everywhere. Was he captain btw?

yes he was

[Milfner]

Really brings the best out of him. You can tell he loves it here aswell from the way he interacts with us.

[VillaAus]

Back to back wins, all of a sudden things are looking a lot brighter.

I went with Young for MOTM, thought his work rate was outstanding.

I saw the attendance figures and the match on TV, and I seriously wouldn't be surprised if Villa almost had as many fans there as Wigan.

Great atmosphere all game long, keep it up!

[villianusa]

NRC--------------------Makoun

Passes 48--------------Passes 32

Successful 46----------Successful 21

Interceptions 2--------Interceptions 0

Tackles 5---------------Tackles 4

Won 1------------------Won 2

Clearances 2--------- Clearances 0

Fouls commited 3-----Fouls commited 2

Fouls won 1------------Fouls won 1

It doesn't look like we'll keep him at the end of the season NRC is player will miss. I know he isn't everyones cup of tea but I like him.

Makoun will be very good also when he gets up to speed. He did so good stuff tonight.

I think our big problem is the amount of times our attacking players give the ball away. Downing, Young, Gabby and Albrighton made 135 passes with only 87 are successful just 64%. Our overall success rate is just over 70% so that means the rest of the team have a 72% success rate. They need to work harder at keeping the ball in the final third as they do in the other two thirds.

[lexicon]

Our final ball yesterday was generally really bad. We had some great build-up play throughout but whenever Downing or Young needed to play that last cross or ball to somebody, they cocked up. If their passing had been like it normally is, we would have disembowelled Wigan in 5-0 with ease.

MoTM for me was NRC - was fantastic. I liked how he and Makoun worked together. Makoun's passing is really interesting - he lays it off as quickly as possible and keeps things ticking over nicely, some very clever touches and flicks at time. There aren't enough facepalms/picards/looks of disdain smilies on the internet to epitomise the posts of those complaining about midfielders playing the ball sideways - it astounds me. Well at least we know where we get the mongs who are accepted onto Talksport from.

[sellyoakvilla]

Reo Coker man of the match for me today. Brilliant almost everywhere, an underrated player. One I would be GUTTED if we sold. Makoun and NRC would be formidable once the former finds his feet and gets used to the pace. For what it's worth I thought Makoun had a brilliant game considering he can't speak English and has only trained with the lads once. Downing wasn't shit but he annoyingly slowed down almost every attack for some reason. I can only recall one attack in the second half where he bust a gut and used his pace to run but that was because there was acres of space. Dunne, Collins and Cuellar rock solid again and a surprisingly brilliant game from Baker too. Gabby was a bit better today and Bent was making some great runs and did a lot more than he did in the Man City game, unlucky not to score in the first half. If only Downing's crosses were perfect he would have bagged himself one or two. Ash was his usual self and never stopped all game, thought he would have give Bent the penalty but took it well and got a deserved goal.

All in all a good performance but we need to stop sitting back when we go 1 or 2 ahead.

[maqroll]

Had it set to record and just watched it. 3 points away from home are never easy, and these 3 were crucial. HUGE win no matter how you slice it. Very pleased, I think the team have a look of renewed confidence, and I expect even better things the rest of the way.

UTV!

[MrWeedMcGrass]

Thought Mkoun looked distinctly average to me. I thought he was to have this great engine - seemed to be walking half the time tonight. lots of 4 yard passes most seemed to go sideways.

MOTM Ashley Young - quite easily - looked like what he is - a class player - hope for a miracle and he stays.

Still think we build up to slowly - which wastes the paces of Gabby and Bent.

2 wins on the trott which gives us some breathing space.

Sorry don't agree on Makoun... I thought he looked very tidy... very quick and decisive with his passing...doesnt need to run all over the place because he does what he does efficiently. It was his debut for god sake..... give him a chance! Bent made some great runs and would have been dissappointed alot of them weren't picked up. We should have been at least 3 up by half time. We had some very flowing moves at times.

This, and also sideways passing isn't a bad thing. It allows you to retain possession and wait for space to play a ball forward into instead of the aimless hoofing we resort to at times which just gives the ball away and leads to us being put under pressure again.

In fact it's just what we needed to take the pressure off towards the end of that match.

Its the continental way of playing , not wasting passes and keeping possession until spaces are created. He probably doesn't understand that though , considering he has been on Houllier's back since the day he arrived and probably still thinks that MoN's teams played scintillating 'passing' football.

Why make short 5 yard passes when you can hoof it long?

[Razor]

Downing's been our best player this season imo

Totally disagree. He WAS our best player for the first couple of months but then that isn't really saying much. Since the storys linking him with a move away came out he has been terrible, not a coincidence imo. His performance in the Man City 4-0 game was alarming and last night wasn't much better.

[brummybloke]

Thought Mkoun looked distinctly average to me. I thought he was to have this great engine - seemed to be walking half the time tonight. lots of 4 yard passes most seemed to go sideways.

MOTM Ashley Young - quite easily - looked like what he is - a class player - hope for a miracle and he stays.

Still think we build up to slowly - which wastes the paces of Gabby and Bent.

2 wins on the trott which gives us some breathing space.

Sorry don't agree on Makoun... I thought he looked very tidy... very quick and decisive with his passing...doesnt need to run all over the place because he does what he does efficiently. It was his debut for god sake..... give him a chance! Bent made some great runs and would have been dissappointed alot of them weren't picked up. We should have been at least 3 up by half time. We had some very flowing moves at times.

This, and also sideways passing isn't a bad thing. It allows you to retain possession and wait for space to play a ball forward into instead of the aimless hoofing we resort to at times which just gives the ball away and leads to us being put under pressure again.

In fact it's just what we needed to take the pressure off towards the end of that match.

Its the continental way of playing , not wasting passes and keeping possession until spaces are created. He probably doesn't understand that though , considering he has been on Houllier's back since the day he arrived and probably still thinks that MoN's teams played scintillating 'passing' football.

Why make short 5 yard passes when you can hoof it long?

i would be suprised if people are complaining about keeping safe retention of the ball, i can fully understand however the frustration of seeing an attack break down because downing wants to slow it all right down, then due to choosing to do that, the opposition regroup and close him down, then when cuellar or collins has a striker bearing down on him, hits him the ball, the defender then has to go on the turn and pass it back to brad who then has to hoof it under pressure.

THAT is what is people are complaining about.

[brummybloke]

Downing's been our best player this season imo

Totally disagree. He WAS our best player for the first couple of months but then that isn't really saying much. Since the storys linking him with a move away came out he has been terrible, not a coincidence imo. His performance in the Man City 4-0 game was alarming and last night wasn't much better.

they were pretty much all crap in that man city game but when we are at wigan with new found confidence you would expect one of our most talented players to get the basics right.

it doesnt suprise me the people who are blindly defending his performance last night, they seem to think that because he has a stinker of a game and is called on it, that all his good games are forgotten about and that he is being called a shit footballer.

it is a childish opinion

[Harry]

Good result and overall I thought we played well. Some very encouraging signs. The victory was spoilt a bit for me by us hanging on yet again in the last 10 minutes. The sign of a good side is that they do not have to do that. We must learn not to give possession away and end up defending on the edge of the penalty area.

Collins was my MotM but why could you not vote for Downing? Very suspicious.

[Paul33]

Downing can't pass water - let alone a football - but his running on and off the ball last night was good and I thought he had a decent game, certainly by his standards. The Mak looked neat too - some sublime wall passes and clearly has a very fast eye with feet to match !

[the_eristic]

Friedel - Didn't have too much to do, but was there when it counted, made a couple great punches and collected more than usual.

Cuellar - Last name should be changed to Alberto. Seriously, where has this technical and attacking confidence suddenly come from? Fantastic. Utterly brilliant tackling as of late, too.

Dunne - Great, no gaffes, covered brilliantly at times for his inexperienced left back.

Collins - Great, like Sunday. Couldn't do much about the deflection, at least he was in the way instead of ahead/behind/letting it go through his legs like the past few months!

Baker - Not a true left back, but good enough against one of the league's better wingers. Tall, powerful, and looked great with his head. Showed he could go in hard, but without the recklessness of Clark and brainlessness of Warnock. No pushing him around.

Makoun - Solid debut. Pretty good positionally and excellent one-touch passing to keep the ball moving. Already seemed to know where his teammates were before he even received the ball. Looking forward to more!

NRC - One of his better games. Harried and harassed, but also passed unusually well and made some great bursts forward with the ball at feet. Needs to work on his composure/concentration when in advanced positions, though, as he seemed to run out of ideas once he got into the final third.

Downing - Did well last night until it was time for that final ball. Either couldn't see it, got greedy and wouldn't attempt it if he could, or couldn't get it to where it needed to be when he tried.

Gabby - Happy to see him get on the score sheet and to see him driving forward with the ball more, that's what we need from him. Would prefer him playing closer to Bent, though, to give the central defenders more to worry about.

Young - Great, his vision and audacity are coming back to potentially devastating effect.

Bent - Make a number of fantastic runs to create opportunities, but his first touch was off. Should've had one or two! Too isolated at times. See Gabby comment.

Petrov - Solid, experienced, but we were starting to invite pressure by the time he came on, looked a little weary and probably not the right player to attempt to nullify heavy pressure from a relatively quick and athletic side.

Albrighton - Worked hard, didn't get the ball enough to be of any real help. Probably should've come on for Downing instead of Gabby.

Herd - Put himself about, tried to get in the way or get his head on everything. Love the energy, but can't tell too much about his actual abilities so far.

Biggest change I would've made from Houllier tactically is I would've brought on Heskey for Gabby or Ashley. He's good at tracking back and defending his own box, and would've pushed Wigan's defensive line back when we won goal kicks or cleared. Bent was winning a few aerial battles, but there was nobody to pick up the balls he won, so they came right back at us. Heskey with Bent would've forced their defenders back to cope with Bent latching on to Heskey's flicks, and generally would've made the ball stick in their half better, alleviating pressure for longer periods.

[hoaxn]

The table makes fun reading. 3 weeks ago it was doom and gloom, and now, results going our way, with another 3 points we could be 7th. Crazy season so far.

Didn't properly watch the game, was a bit busy, but the bits I did see were encouraging. It's like watching a different team at times. Some of the link up play between the front 4 was incredible.

Gabby putting through more killer balls. Think he might actually fit out on the wing with a bit more time to adjust to his role. He's showing a fair amount of intelligence with the ball, which I'll admit, I didn't think he had.

GH is finally looking like he cares about this club. Celebrating goals, clapping the fans (who were awesome, well done lads) and instructing the players to do the same.

It's all looking up for the Villa again. Who ever doubted Houllier, aye?!