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Ratings and reactions: Villa 3-1 Blackburn


limpid

Who was your man of the match?  

175 members have voted

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

    • Clark (for Young 56)
      0
    • Albrighton (for Agbonlahor 46)
      0
    • Heskey
      9
    • Agbonlahor
      38
    • Bent
      4
    • Petrov
      28
    • Delph
      69
    • N'Zogbia
      9
    • Collins
      10
    • Dunne
      4
    • Warnock
      2
    • Young
      1
    • Given
      1


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Really good overall. Bit of a sloppy goal to conceed, Young and Albrighton should've done better. Happy with the way we played though, some good passing even if we did go long at times. Gabby outstanding in the first half. Anyone could've got MotM really!

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Expected us to beat a poor Blackburn team and we did not disappoint.

Delph will be our playmaker for years, he played like today against Fiorentina two years ago now. Still maintain he needs someone next to him other than Petrov who tired again after 60 minutes.

Gabby looked interested again today, NZogbias match fitness is coming back but still felt Bent was a bystander for most of the match.

As an aside, pity Hoillet signed a new contract at Blackburn as he was their only threat and looks a player. Maybe we will pick him up at the end of the season when Blackburn go down.

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Caught the second half which, I understand, wasn't as assured as the first. Still looked comfortable though.

Delph looks like a class act - comes to collect, turns well, gives it quickly. A bit hot-headed. But, yeh, MOTM for me.

You could see about midway through the 2nd half N'Zogbia really seemed to get a burst of confidence and wanted it all he time. Made an outstanding dribble to the byline and cut it across where 9 times out of 10 you would have expected Bent to be to tap home.

Bannan looked lively after coming on.

Kudos to McLesih for switching it up at the back. I am assuming L Young wasn't injured and was removed so that Warnock could nullify Hoillet who was killing us on our right. Correct me if I'm wrong...

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Cracking goal from Gabby - similar to one he scored at Fulham with his left a few seasons ago but this one came out of nowhere given his recent form. Gabby would have been a contender for MOTM if he hadn't gone of at the half, but I gave it to Delph instead, who just shaded Petrov.

I thought the substitution of Heskey for Bannan, although risky, was a good one and his energy really lifted us and Blackburn never threatened after that. Zoggy started slow but was very good in that last 3o minutes.

My only real worry was Albrighton. He seemed to be trying a bit too hard at times and just getting it wrong too often - I would have liked to see him and N'Zogbia swap flanks from time to time.

Finally, I thought Warnock did a great job at right-back when called to do so. Would be interesting to see him on the right and Young on the left at some stage.

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sounds like a good win, caveat of rubbish rovers side, but can only beat what's there - see England cricket team :lol:

shame no clean sheet but win with 3 goals from 3 strikers - good they've all opened their account in the first home game. Glad to see Clark Albrighton and Bannan all got game time.

For those who watched - how did they play? where did Clark play when coming on?

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Good performance, albeit vs a poor Blackburn side. I was very apprehensive as we needed to get off to a good start. Fortunately we did so with an excellent goal by Gabby. That was something special from a player who has no technical ability according to some. Hopefully that will boost his confidence and we see him back to his best, as his all round performance was very good too and we missed him when he went off. Overall the front three linked really well, I felt Bent was a little isolated at times but Nelsen was making sure he didn’t get any space. With Heskey in there I was concerned we’d resort to hoof ball but apart from the occasional Hollywood pass from Collins or the hoofs down the channel by Young we used the ball really well. I think this was down to the movement of the midfield and strikers, too many times in the past our players have been static meaning there are few options for the ball player, today our players were buzzing all over place and seemed to know where each other were. N’Zogbia in particular linked up very well with the likes of Heskey and Bannan when he came on.

At 2-0 we were very comfortable, but as usual we seemed to switch off after half time and were punished by conceding a goal. This didn’t help that Young was injured, and from that side they exploited us and scored. However Heskey picked up a knock and McLeish made the correct substitution in Bannan who helped us retain the possession better. We got a bit lucky with our third goal, but from then on we looked sure winners. Mainly thanks to the back four who despite had their shaky moments looked extremely committed to winning us the game.

Overall a good start for McLeish, if we continue to use the ball like we have in the first game we should have a good season, especially with the back four looking a lot more solid. I wasn’t happy with the Gabby-Heskey-Bent combo again, but fair play it worked. The only problem I have right now is that we’re still getting cut through down the middle, we either need to strike the correct balance between the central midfielders or bring in a player who is more suited to the defensive role as against a better team that will get exploited as we seen vs Chelsea in pre-season.

MOTM:- Delph, although Gabby was excellent until he was forced off.

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clark played LB with warnock going to RB

1st half they played really well IMO some nice touches by just about everyone, petrov and delph controlling the game gabby getting the better of salgado more or less everytime

2nd half for some reason we started poorly, collins hollywood balls came back out their goal was a bit shit hoillet skipped round 3 soft tackles, nzogbia at times to me looked like he didnt want to be overly flashy but still looked ok strong on the ball, great run in about the 85th min, looks like he can slow it down then speed it up rather than just the 100mph stuff that downing /young did, crosses in werent great though

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Delph, Petrov, Warnock and Gabby before going off were all excellent. The rest all gave good performances apart from Albrighton who was poor after coming on at half time.

Fair play to McLeish for having the balls to sub Heskey with 25 mins to go and taking a chance as we'd then used all three subs. It worked though as Bannan was very bright and slotted in well alongside Stan and Delph who had been linking up well together all game.

Thoroughly deserved 3 points and we kept the ball well at times and played some very good stuff. Defensively we were solid and its good to see Warnock, Dunne and Colllins back on form.

Eck got a very good reception when he emerged from the tunnel before kick off and an even better one on full time. Good to see and if results are decent he'll continue to get good backing and the doubters will eventually come to accept him.

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Given 7-Not involved

Young 6.5- Hoillett had the better of him in the first half

Collins 7.5- Solid

Dunne 7- Solid

Warnock 7- Solid

Petrov 7.5- Was much more positive in his play

Delph 8*- Always looking for space with an eye for a pass

N'Zogbia 7.5- Good with the ball at his feet

Gabby 7.5- Bright and sure of himself for a change

Heskey 7- Shoddy touch but a good goal

Bent 7- Finished the job

Albrighton 6.5- Still suspect defensively but bright

Bannan 7.5- Would love to see him combine with Delph

Clark 7- Sure on the ball but only a stop gap at FB

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Caught the second half which, I understand, wasn't as assured as the first. Still looked comfortable though.

Delph looks like a class act - comes to collect, turns well, gives it quickly. A bit hot-headed. But, yeh, MOTM for me.

You could see about midway through the 2nd half N'Zogbia really seemed to get a burst of confidence and wanted it all he time. Made an outstanding dribble to the byline and cut it across where 9 times out of 10 you would have expected Bent to be to tap home.

Bannan looked lively after coming on.

Kudos to McLesih for switching it up at the back. I am assuming L Young wasn't injured and was removed so that Warnock could nullify Hoillet who was killing us on our right. Correct me if I'm wrong...

Not having a pop at McLeish but Young should have been subbed at half time he got injured in the first half and was struggling....Blackburn scored attacking down his side could have cost us the match. Delph will become a Villa legend if he can stay fit!!!

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Kudos to McLesih for switching it up at the back. I am assuming L Young wasn't injured and was removed so that Warnock could nullify Hoillet who was killing us on our right. Correct me if I'm wrong...

Not having a pop at McLeish but Young should have been subbed at half time he got injured in the first half and was struggling....Blackburn scored attacking down his side could have cost us the match. Delph will become a Villa legend if he can stay fit!!!

Young was injured. I saw him limping before HT after a particularly nasty challenge off Dunne and he struggled with Hoillet after , who is a very good LW. Luke came out 2nd half looking decidely lack lustre and it was this that gave Hoillet chance to put in a sublime cross which Pederson buried.

Overall thought Delph, Petrov & Heskey worked their socks off as did the whole defence. Chuffed to bits Heskey scored that goal. He didn't

half put himself about as did Petrov.

Delph is going to be an absolute star for us methinks.

Mention for Warnock who went RB and didn't let us down. Bannan came on and changed things immediately. Bent does what Bent does.

Gabby looked back to his best after scoring a superb goal.

What pleased me most was that Albrighton, Clark & Bannan looked comfortable when they came on and slotted in so nicely.

As we were sat in Trinity Rd family section, we had an excellent view of N'Zogbia's footwork below... he is technically so good with the

ball at his feet and is already linking up well with Bent and our midfield.

One thing that spoilt it YET again was the ref. Why is it that everytime I go to Villa Park the ref shows bias to the opposition? How the

hell did Petrov deserve to be booked for the Blackburn player running into him, when Dunne who persistently fouled all game didn't?!!

I had a feeling we'd win today 3-0, so wasn't too far away with my prediction.

Edit Add: One of my favourite moments was watching defender Ciaran Clark's footwork leaving the Blackburn defender for dead!

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