Ratings and reactions: Villa 2-0 Hereford

[Olof'sAcorn]

I was impressed with the back 4, particularly the full backs. Bannan had a good game, but IMO both Makoun and Ireland were not up to scratch. This against a very poor team too. N'Zogbia didn't look match fit and Albrighton's delivery was not good enough and his overall play was far too predictable.

Bent looked frustrated and I can't blame him - every time he got the ball it was in wide positions and nobody got themselves in the box to cover for him.

On a side note, the kid Hereford brought on in the latter stages looked 12 years old, how the hell did he get a game?

[YankeeinMadrid]

Just got back from VP-

Tactics were bad from AMC the first hour. We basically played with 4 cbs, because Herd and Lichaj weren't allowed to go past midfield. No width made Albrighton predictable. Ireland looked aloof. I think he's a VERY poor man's Zidane...his technique is great but at times it looks like he's lazy. Hereford's GK had the match of his life. Did anyone notice Hereford brought on a player shorter than Bannan on 90 minutes??

Guzan- 6 Didn't have anything to do. Heard Hereford fans chanting "you're just a crap Brad Friedel" harsh-but funny as hell!

Herd- 6

Dunne- 7 Very calm, cool and collected back there

Clark- 7 See above

Lichaj-8 Strong defending and confident going forward. Before the goal he had a great shot saved by Hereford's Iker Casillas! USA!USA!USA! I wish they'd play him at RB!

Makoun- 5 first half 7 2nd half. He seemed a bit lazy 1st half, turned it up later on tbf

Bannan- 7 Very good match...I think he's got great technique, but he's not quite ready yet.

Ireland-7? The guy probably can't even score in FIFA!! Casillas (Hereford's) denied him 3 times and he had a better 2nd half than first

Albrighton- 6 Meh....sooooooooooo predictable going forward, a bunch of poor crosses, better in 2nd.

N'Zogbia- 6 He still doesn't seem 100% fit to me.

Bent- 6 Lots of hustle, but frustrated by lack of service.

Subs-

Weimann-8 You can tell he's got great technique and tons of potential. Unlucky not to have scored.

Fonz- 7 Right place, right time for the goal...Glad he played up front and not on the wing!!

Beye-8 (for the 10 mins he played!) Heard lots of stick "he's on 55k million billion dollars a week....he's shit...etc" but he put in a great cross in that was nodded down for Fonz to score. The guy is a good player, just hasn't been given a proper chance (LB vs Vienna---yes he should have done better on that cross...but cut him some slack, out of position!)

21k and change attendance....better than what I expected tbf.

Not a great match, but a good result!

Lichaj for president!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get in!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cuellar 10!!

He was at the match today on his 30th bday...so much for all the talk about him leaving, eh?

[VillaAndLoyal]

Tonight there were more negatives than positives for me. I think we'll really struggle this season if AM insists on playing a 4-5-1 formation (or similar variation) all the time, particularly at home. I thought the same despite a good win against Blackburn and I think it again tonight.

For the most part we looked like a powder-puff Arsenal side. Lots of pretty, intricate, passing but actually not going anywhere very quickly and with little creativity, quality in the final third or penetration. Rather like Blackburn and Fulham, Darren Bent received little service of the type he needs and resorted to dropping deep to collect the ball on many occasions, just to keep himself in the game. If we are to utilise our main marksman fully this season we need to sort this out, which is perhaps easier said than done after selling his two greatest supply lines in Young and D*wning.

The defence looked steady tonight, bar a 10/15 minute Hereford spell, and Richard Dunne looks to be regaining a bit of fitness which he so badly lacked last season. Guzan looks a pale shadow of the keeper I thought he might become when he first joined the club. He didn't have a great deal to do but some of his decision making and distribution is woeful, good job we have Shay.

Special mention for Stephen Ireland, who was my man of the match. His behaviour and attitude was appalling last season but credit where credit is due, he ran the show tonight and was our one bright spark going forward. Should have scored with the header but he'd done brilliantly in the move up until that point, and should have perhaps been more ruthless on a couple of other occasions, where he unselfishly tried to play a team-mate in instead. He played a number of defence splitting passes, was generally assured and productive on the ball and with his distribution and also tracked back and put in more effort than some of his previous showings in Claret & Blue.

Earlier I alluded to the Darren Bent supply line and this situation is even more worrying, in my opinion, given the form of our two natural wingers N'Zogbia and Albrighton. It is far too early to jump to conclusions about Charles, and I'm sure he will turn out to be a great addition, but tonight he was poor, as he was against Fulham and Blackburn. Little movement, playing too narrow, no creativity, doesn't seem capable of beating a man at the moment and I’m hoping this will all improve as he beds in and gets his fitness levels up to speed. Marc is the more worrying concern for me, however. Ever since his injury last season he has looked totally off the boil, a pale shadow of his former self. He looks bereft of confidence, unable to beat a man and just simply not the player which had people, myself included, championing him as a star of the future. I really hope he turns a corner and soon because he disappointed at the end of last season, in pre-season, and again tonight against a pretty lacklustre opposition.

Barry Bannan again showed signs of his technical brilliance but I thought he flitted in and out of the game and lost his way in the second half. His composure on the ball is a breath of fresh air but he is far from the finished article and needs to learn when not to play that 'Hollywood' pass, as was noted last season. Clearly a very good prospect though.

Lastly, Jean II Makoun disappointed me tonight. I was backing him in the pub before the game and still think we need to keep him and let him prove himself with a run in the team. But tonight, against such lowly opposition, he was extremely poor and made numerous sloppy passes and didn't really add anything to a Villa midfield of Ireland and Bannan which was functioning fairly well anyway. Another player who needs to up his game.

Wolves will be our first proper test this weekend and I think we will come away with a score draw.

[chappy]

Glad to hear from many that Ireland had a good game, I really think he needs a chance.

I listened to the first 65-70 minutes then had to go out, as soon as I left the house we scored two goals... maybe I shouldn't pay attention to our games more often.

[AstonMartin82]

Ireland was all of our MOTM sitting in Lower Trinity behind Big Eck.... Bannan got the vote off the sponsors

and he did work his socks off but I thought Ireland played well tonight.

Great passing football again, like with Walsall.

Oddly enough the more youngsters we brought on the stronger we looked.

Impressed with Herd, Lichaj, The Fonz & Weimann9 who had a stunning shot after a powerful run tipped over the bar (except the ref refused to give us a corner!)

Not Marc Albrighton's best game by any stretch of the imagination, but showed a few nice touches.

The ref was dreadful AGAIN. Denied us a clear penalty and allowed a blatant pass back to the goalie.

Never mind we won eventually so onwards and upwards.

I'm glad you said that because a number of people were writing him off after hearing on the radio that he had missed a couple of sitters. As if you can make any sort of judgement from radio commentary...

[Danwichmann]

Good result. We were far more comfortable than the 0-0 score suggested for much of the game and played some good stuff as well, no hoofball in sight!

Ratings:

Guzan: 7 - Not the busiest of nights but did what he had to do without any fuss.

Lijah: 7 / Herd: 6 - Got a bit confused between our two full backs to be perfectly honest. Both did reasonably well getting forward and weren't troubled at the back too often. Lijah edges it as the better of the two for taking his goal and I think it was him that was unlucky to see a long range effort well saved.

Clark: 7 - Looked comfortable and cleared up Hereford's few attacks without fuss. Decent distribution.

Dunne: 7 - Ditto

Makoun: 5 - I've defended him quite a bit, but he was poor last night and gave possession away too often, too easily. On the positive side,also managed some fantastic through balls and passes that I'm not sure anyone at our club is capable of.

Bannan: 7 - Hard working display and decent showing in the centre.

Ireland: 8 MOTM - This is what we need to see from him in the PL! Ran the show, worked hard and really looked like a player who wanted to be on the pitch last night. Seems to understand exactly where Bent wil run and played some great through balls for him, his passing was crisp and incisive and he made himself available to recieve the ball and keep possession ticking over time and time again. Deserves to start against Wolves.

N'Zogbia: 6 - Largely anonymous.

Albrighton: 7 - Lively start and end to the game, faded a bit in the middle.

Bent: 6 - Signs of a promising understanding with Ireland

Subs:

The Fonz: 7 - Got the second that killed the game off.

Wienmann: 7 - Lively running and did well to nod down for The Fonz's goal.

Beye: 8- Good cross with his first touch to combine with the others subs and get the second goal. A couple of other decent balls said he was unlucky not to start this one.

[mjmooney]

Beye - 10

:shock:

[Danwichmann]

Beye - 10

:shock:

In fairness, I don't think he put a foot wrong in the 10 minutes he played. If he played the same way over 90 minutes he'd be a 9 or 10.

[villatillidie1980]

Second round of the cup against the lowest ranked side in the competition, it was there to be f***ed up. So from what I've heard and read, I think we have done what we had to. Ok, not in the most glamorous style, but never the less we're in the next round and that is all that matters. Put it this way, I'd rather be in our situation than a couple of the other PL side who played last night.

UTV

[Pelle]

Good to be through. Job done and some fringe players got the chance. Good to hear that Bannan was the motm. I like his style of football. Gifted.

[hogso]

Was impressed with Weimann, looked composed, confident, good control and ability to run with the ball, and very strong. A ready made replacement for Heskey? I hope so.

Sad to see Marc getting so frustrated, things just aren't going well for him at the moment. Looked better in the 2nd half on the left though, especially when he cut inside rather than trying the cross without beating his man.

Herd and Lichaj did well as the fullbacks, Dunne and Clark didn't put a foot wrong.

Only disappointments were that Zog didn't impose himself on the game more, when I saw his name on the starting XI (along with Bent) I thought he'd rip his man to bits and create a hatfull of chances for himself and DB. Didn't happen though. Really didn't like the look of Makoun in the first half, but he did better in the second.

Oh and loved my seat on the halfway line in the doug upper, 2nd row. What a view! Don't think I can afford to move my ST there though

Beye - 10

:shock:

It's true, he was fantastic. Great cross which led to a goal, and a great run to the box - as someone pointed out earlier it was very Kyle Walker-esque. Want to see him start the next CC game to see if he can do this on a more regular basis

[JulieB]

Beye looked great when he came on.

Albrighton and N'Zogbia were our worst performers last night IMHO.

What was so nice was that the more youngsters we brought on the stronger we looked because you can tell they've played

together for years and know where to play the ball.

[Alec]

The second half was getting increasingly uncomfortable before the breakthrough and I thought we played much of the match at the same tempo as a rpe-season friendly, which made it a lot easier for Hereford to do a containing job (in fairness to them, they impressively kept their shape for the duration and their fans created more atmosphere in their section of the North stand than the Villa fans did throughout the rest of the ground).

Guzan - 6/10 Not much to do, but looked solid enough.

Herd - 6/10 Decent at the back and had a couple of testing moments in the second half.

Dunne - 7/10 Marshalled things well and guided the young players around him through the game effectively.

Clark - 7/10 Composed and elegant - could be a very accomplished player at the highest level once he learns not to be pulled out of position. No such problems last night though.

Lichaj - 7/10 Very good on the whole and adds physical presence in a position where we are used to the comparitively smaller likes of Young or Warnock. Threat at set-pieces - as evidenced by his goal.

Makoun - 6/10 Neat and tidy, always comfortable on the ball but not much drive or urgency to his play which he sorely needs to break into the first team.

Ireland - 6/10 Some very good touches at times and got into some very promising positions. Has a tendency to float in and out too much and, like Makoun, not much of an inclination to take responsibility and drive us forward to get a result.

Bannan - 7/10 Always bright, always hungry for the ball. Looked the most likely to create something and provided good deliveries from corners and set-pieces. Sometimes guilty of trying one too many 'Hollywood' passes, but this formation suits him and I hope McLeish now gives him a full run of games to prove himself.

Albrighton - 5/10 Visibly frustrated with himself at times and wasted a number of opportunities with porr crosses. He just needs to keep working and play his way back to some good form.

N'Zogbia - 5/10 Disappointing and still looking like he is lacking for sharpness. Needs to start doing more frankly.

Bent - 6/10 Caught offside too many times in the first half but not a great deal of quality supply that he could do much with. Always willing to put in a shift but shame he couldn't seize the opportunity to beef up his season's goal tally against this kind of opposition.

Subs;

Delfouneso - 7/10 Looked bright and just seems to keep getting more impressive physically - time to start making more of a mark. Good striker's goal.

Weimann - 7/10 Also looked impressive - strong on the ball and good running with forward with it. Unlucky to see a long-range effort bounce off the bar. Would like to see a few more appearances from him this season.

Beye - 6/10 Closed out the game. Good cross to the back post that was nodded back for the second goal.

McLeish - 6/10 Will be glad to get this game out of the way. Seemed to strike a better balance of mixing youth with experience than his predecessors sometime shave in these kind of fixtures, but Villa fans may not be convinced that he is yet taking the competition as seriously as they would like. When things were just starting to get a little dicey int he second half, there weren't any experienced heads he could turn to on the bench either. Realistically, the League Cup is our best chance of silverware this season - I for one would be perfectly happy to win this trophy and finish mid-table - and each match in this competition, no matter the opposition, should be approached with this in mind.

[sgvillan]

anyone got a link to the highlights?

[djdabush]

anyone got a link to the highlights?

Here's the goals at least

[trevor]

Stephen Ireland was clearly the man of the match for me, he looked a class act, a real pity that he didn't get on the scoresheet but the goalkeeper made some excellent saves during the match. The sponsors gave MOM to Bannan - I can't see it myself, I would describe his performance as industrious Lichaj's tackle for his booking was to say the least industrial! Dunne and Clark played well.

[chappy]

Are AVTV not going to have highlights of this?

[Woodytom]

Went to the game last night - told you we always win when I go

Here are my thoughts.

Guzan - Never tested. Looked fairly comfortable: 6

Herd - Thought he did ok. Tried to get forward as often as possible, but lacks a bit of composure. One or two good tackles in the 2nd half: 6

Dunne - A very solid performance: 7

Clarke - Nothing spectacular, no mistakes: 6

Lichaj - Played well. Defended well. Got a goal, and nearly scoreed a screamer: 7

Albrighton - Poor crossing bar ther odd 1. Looks totally lacking in confidence. Very very hesitant. Last 10 mins he had a run which seem to give him a boost, but overall - nowhere near good enough: 5

Makoun - Something is clearly wrong. this player shouldn't be this poor: 4

Bannan - MOTM easily. Always wanted the ball. So comfortable on the ball. Everything went through him and we lost our way a bit when he was switched to the left before Weimann came on: 8

Nzogbia - yet to settle in clearly. Poor. But Im not worried: 5

Ireland - One or two touches of brilliance. Should have scored 2. Hes either not good enough, or too good for the players around him. Probably needs someone better than Makoun behind him: 6

Bent - looked dangerous early on. Should have scored. Always looking to make a run - faded 2nd half: 6

Subs:

Delfouneso - not too bad. Got a goal, but also looked to attack with the ball at every opportunity. Good effort across goal but should have passed to Weimann when he was free late on: 7

Weimann - Change the game for me. Gave us something a little different. Great touch, great header down for del boy and great shot onto the bar. Looked like something was going to happen everytime he touched it. Always looked forward to seeing this kid since MM said he was the reason we never bought R.Keane. Without jumping the gun, last night as only added to my confidence in him. If hed been on all game and played like that hed have been MOTM: 8

Beye: Looked to get forward. Not really on long enough: 5

[Woodytom]

Went to the game last night - told you we always win when I go

Here are my thoughts.

Guzan - Never tested. Looked fairly comfortable: 6

Herd - Thought he did ok. Tried to get forward as often as possible, but lacks a bit of composure. One or two good tackles in the 2nd half: 6

Dunne - A very solid performance: 7

Clarke - Nothing spectacular, no mistakes: 6

Lichaj - Played well. Defended well. Got a goal, and nearly scoreed a screamer: 7

Albrighton - Poor crossing bar ther odd 1. Looks totally lacking in confidence. Very very hesitant. Last 10 mins he had a run which seem to give him a boost, but overall - nowhere near good enough: 5

Makoun - Something is clearly wrong. this player shouldn't be this poor: 4

Bannan - MOTM easily. Always wanted the ball. So comfortable on the ball. Everything went through him and we lost our way a bit when he was switched to the left before Weimann came on: 8

Nzogbia - yet to settle in clearly. Poor. But Im not worried: 5

Ireland - One or two touches of brilliance. Should have scored 2. Hes either not good enough, or too good for the players around him. Probably needs someone better than Makoun behind him: 6

Bent - looked dangerous early on. Should have scored. Always looking to make a run - faded 2nd half: 6

Subs:

Delfouneso - not too bad. Got a goal, but also looked to attack with the ball at every opportunity. Good effort across goal but should have passed to Weimann when he was free late on: 7

Weimann - Change the game for me. Gave us something a little different. Great touch, great header down for del boy and great shot onto the bar. Looked like something was going to happen everytime he touched it. Always looked forward to seeing this kid since MM said he was the reason we never bought R.Keane. Without jumping the gun, last night as only added to my confidence in him. If hed been on all game and played like that hed have been MOTM: 8

Beye: Looked to get forward. Not really on long enough: 5 - Apologies didnt realise it was him that crossed for 2nd goal: 6

[Brumstopdogs]

Good to see Villa getting the highest attendance in the 2nd round. Despite the poor transfer activity we still turn out in decent numbers.