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Ratings & Reactions : Villa v Arsenal


limpid

Who was your man of the match?  

75 members have voted

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

    • Guzan
      0
    • Vlaar
      0
    • Clark
      8
    • Srevens
      1
    • Lowton
      1
    • El Ahmadi
      1
    • Westwood
      32
    • Bannan
      8
    • Agbonlahor
      11
    • Benteke
      6
    • Weimann
      5
    • Lichaj (for Vlaar 51)
      0
    • Holman (for El Ahmadi 63)
      1
    • Albrighton (for Weimann 90)
      1


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I've seen notable improvements in Lowton,Westwood,Stevens,Bannan,Guzan,Clark,Weinmann.

Despite the worrying league position I think its exciting watching all these young players grow... god knows what Benteke can achieve, if like the others he continues to improve.

The experience is always a concern, but I still think Lambert is doing the right thing... there is more chance of hanging on to your best players when they have grown together, for too long we have had players just using us as a stepping stone/and improvement centre.

The fact they are all similar age also adds to the team spirit and cameraderie.

We just need a few points to blow the worries away and concentrate on the exciting times ahead.

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Decent performance. Worth noting they had 1 shot on target all game whereas we came very close through Holman, and Gabby had a good chance second half. Westwood MOTM for me, continues to surprise me but long may it continue. In the first half I actually saw signs of improvement from KEA, but he faded badly.

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KEA was no-where near as bad as is being made out. He worked hard for the team, put in a few clever passes but had to hold back after his yellow.

Westwood & Bannan are starting to look like a decent partnership, and Wiemann, Gabby & Benteke work well upfront. I just don't know what we need to change to start making the chances count? Experience? A creative player in the middle?

Either way, it's hard to not be pleased after that performance.

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all the Pundits saying it was a bore draw, i didnt think that at all i enjoyed the game.

Thought we was the better side and should have shaded it, thought The Crowd today was great, could hear the holte from the north and the north was joining in at times really loud, i allways take a look at the away fans when both ends are singing and you can see them looking at the holte and north in awe. They would love to have our supporters voices at their church.

2 good results this week and any talk of relegation will be gone, cmon the Villa

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all the Pundits saying it was a bore draw, i didnt think that at all i enjoyed the game.

Thought we was the better side and should have shaded it, thought The Crowd today was great, could hear the holte from the north and the north was joining in at times really loud, i allways take a look at the away fans when both ends are singing and you can see them looking at the holte and north in awe. They would love to have our supporters voices at their church.

2 good results this week and any talk of relegation will be gone, cmon the Villa

Believe me. Its the only time a Villa match has been on T.V. and I havent mind my mum talking at me in the background.It was truly dire

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Westwood was very good, plays proper football and when Bannan can get in it, the two of them look like they could do some damage. Bannan needed to cut out the hollywood crap, which he seems to have mostly done over the last few months making him an effective weapon and far better at making decisions on keeping the ball, he does get overrun too easily though and often gets beaten without doing much.

Gabby and Weimann worked hard, Gabby looks a threat because he can run, albeit he looks like a toddler chasing a beachball. Weimann offers very little beyond workrate, he's game but not really a threat because he lacks quality and generally has his head down and disappears down blind alleys and loses the ball. Benteke spent the 90 minutes equally between being a carthorse and a World beater, it seems any given ball up to him can be gathered in or bounce off him, regardless of difficulty. He is equally likely to chest it down, flick it over a defender and back heel it into midfield as he is to stand there and awkwardly allow the ball to skew off his knee to a defender. He was definitely better in the second half when Gabby and Weimann were getting closer to him though in fairness.

Stevens is fairly solid but you're not going to get a lot else from him, once over halfway it is nosebleed territory. Lowton looks a bit lightweight but seems to cope with this level with ease, not sure how much is to come from him but he is tidy barring the mistake he makes every game, can't fault him for the transition he made to centre half. Vlaar is a rock and a monster although Giroud's movement into midfield was killing him and he was horribly out of position at times, fortunately Arsenal had nobody to exploit the hole he left behind and Vlaar is one of those defenders who always seems to get a foot in and find the right position in the end to thwart an attack. Clark gets better and better, looks composed, is a natural leader and every bit a Premier League central defender, still not sure how he fares against the big strong forward in the Andy Carroll mould but otherwise he is great.

Arsenal were not impressive at all. The game, certainly in the first half was congested into midfield, about 20 yards either side of halfway, they had nothing to hurt us and created very little. Giroud is a bit of a donkey, I'm sure he can finish but never looked likely to do us any damage, the whole team looked devoid of pace and seriously missing someone who could get in the box and do any damage. Cazorla is a great player but didn't seem to fancy the hussle and bussle of the middle of the park, Ramsey is never going to be the player he looked prior to his injury (PA of 175 in FM, don't make me laugh!!!) and that backline looks like it could be got at, although I quite like Koscielny. I'd love to see Oxlade-Chamberlain playing off the front, he is a cracking little player but doesn't get the ball in a position where he can do much damage out on the right.

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all the Pundits saying it was a bore draw, i didnt think that at all i enjoyed the game.

Thought we was the better side and should have shaded it, thought The Crowd today was great, could hear the holte from the north and the north was joining in at times really loud, i allways take a look at the away fans when both ends are singing and you can see them looking at the holte and north in awe. They would love to have our supporters voices at their church.

2 good results this week and any talk of relegation will be gone, cmon the Villa

Believe me. Its the only time a Villa match has been on T.V. and I havent mind my mum talking at me in the background.It was truly dire

Watching a game on TV in your living room with your Mom in the background would have an effect on anyone's judgement. My judgement was affected in a positive way, as was the majority of those around me in the middle of the Upper Holte. There's a large gap between a match being a cracker and dire, which is where this game stood. A solid 7 out of 10 game that would have been an 8 if Holman's rocket had crashed in under the bar.

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Managed to find myself on the Arsenal special from New Street. Glad no one asked me the time!

Decent performance but shame we could not get a winner. KEA was awful and the dive disgraceful. I hope Holman starts in his place on Tuesday.

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Good game from us, and we could have sneaked one past them with a little more luck and better use of the final pass. Saying that, they had the biggest chance of the game through Koscielny who really should have scored. Holman showed what he is all about, with a lot of energy but he lacks the skill. Good shot from him mind, but it was rather straight at their keeper and if it had gone in it would have been all eyes on the Polish guy. Why oh why he hesitated so long to pass for Gabby on the left side I will never know, the pass came 2 seconds too late and that was a changing moment. A quicker pass and I think Gabby would have scored it, but it took too long and Arsenal could get their men in position to block. Nice passing play between Holman and Benteke before that happened, not something we will see often at Villa Park this season I am sure! We met Arsenal at a perfect time, right after Champions League and you could easily see that they were tired. Also lucky for us that Wilshere, Walcott and Vermaelen were out of the game. We could have nicked it, but I am very happy with a point as every point will matter the world to us this season. They managed to create something at the very last moment of the game, thank god they didn't have Bendtner there to score - as he always seem to do against us in the dying moments.

Guzan - 7

Did what he was supposed to do and made a few good saves when rarely called upon (!). Keeping a clean sheet against Arsenal is always very good.

Lowton - 6

Decent, a few hasty clearances when nowhere near an Arsenal-player that made us lose possession. Needs to get that out of his game

Vlaar - 7

Think he was the best defender before limping off, a very composed and International defender. Seems very calm, something that only benefits the youth

Clark - 7

Very good display as well, calm and tough in his challenges

Stevens - 5

Like Lowton, no confidence on the ball and would rather clear it away than pass it calmly to his own player to establish play. Our weakest link, but not terrible

El Ahmadi - 5

Didn't think he was very good and the yellow card for diving didn't help him much. A guy that plays with aggression, so he was always afraid to get another one

Bannan - 6

Probably the one we saw the most given all our set-pieces and crosses. Didn't really capitalize on any of them, but he has the confidence at least

Westwood - 6

Decent enough, and seems to be confident on the ball unlike the other young players from lower leagues. Nothing special, but positive indeed

Weimann - 6

Had a goal disallowed for offside and a good shot/cross from the left in the first half. Pretty energetic and decent display, although fades away sometimes

Gabby - 7

Ran a lot all day, chasing hopeless balls to put pressure on their defenders - which is very important against a team like Arsenal. Could have finished better

Benteke - 6

Didn't exploit Mertesacker's weaknesses to my liking, but did well all day. Calm when collecting the ball and good link-up play. No real chances though, isolated

Subs:

Lichaj - 6

Decent enough, but should have had a point less for his moustache :)

Holman - 6

Lively, good passing game with Benteke and good shot. Does wobble around with the ball too much and it cost us directly as Gabby was ready to fire

Albrighton - 5

Not much time on the ball

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I wish gabby played like that every week, would have given him MOTM but in my mind that's how he should play, so I gave it to Westwood thought he was the best midfielder on the pitch

thought they were poor no real driving force, missed diaby who with his strength and ability would have made it a different game vs our relatively small midfield, but **** em, their fans obviously expected to smash us but I think we always at least play well bs arsenal even we don't get a result

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Watching a game on TV in your living room with your Mom in the background would have an effect on anyone's judgement. My judgement was affected in a positive way, as was the majority of those around me in the middle of the Upper Holte. There's a large gap between a match being a cracker and dire, which is where this game stood. A solid 7 out of 10 game that would have been an 8 if Holman's rocket had crashed in under the bar.

A crazy statement. Could you talk us through the highlights then? Nah, neither could the pundits. There werent any. Thats why they were talking about Martin O'neill resigning when he hadnt actually.

Holmans rocket goes in - an 8? Wow. What games a 9 & 10 then? What score would you give the game last week v Man Utd?, The 6-4 v Blackburn? Bayen Munich 1 - 2 Man Utd in the champs lge final? Are you saying that at best, they are only 2 points above yesterdays game had Holmans shot gone in? Like I said, a crazy statement.

i appreciate that 0-0s can be exciting, and people see it differently, dependent on how/where they watch it. However, this was a very poor/dull game with very little quality from either side.

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A crazy statement. Could you talk us through the highlights then? Nah, neither could the pundits. There werent any. Thats why they were talking about Martin O'neill resigning when he hadnt actually.

Holmans rocket goes in - an 8? Wow. What games a 9 & 10 then? What score would you give the game last week v Man Utd?, The 6-4 v Blackburn? Bayen Munich 1 - 2 Man Utd in the champs lge final? Are you saying that at best, they are only 2 points above yesterdays game had Holmans shot gone in? Like I said, a crazy statement.

i appreciate that 0-0s can be exciting, and people see it differently, dependent on how/where they watch it. However, this was a very poor/dull game with very little quality from either side.

Well i was at the match and i thought that for a 0-0 it was a decent match, neither team really deserved to lose so a draw was a fair result.

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A crazy statement. Could you talk us through the highlights then? Nah, neither could the pundits. There werent any. Thats why they were talking about Martin O'neill resigning when he hadnt actually.

Holmans rocket goes in - an 8? Wow. What games a 9 & 10 then? What score would you give the game last week v Man Utd?, The 6-4 v Blackburn? Bayen Munich 1 - 2 Man Utd in the champs lge final? Are you saying that at best, they are only 2 points above yesterdays game had Holmans shot gone in? Like I said, a crazy statement.

i appreciate that 0-0s can be exciting, and people see it differently, dependent on how/where they watch it. However, this was a very poor/dull game with very little quality from either side.

The atmosphere was good and, as I wrote, helped my perception of the game; the same as your enviroment didn't. I marked the game in the context of what I was watching - a struggling Villa team more than matching a team that is consistently good enough for the later stages of the CL year after year. What's clear is that it's a better experience to watch us at Villa Park than on TV in the company of so-called 'neutral' pundits and background interference from mother.

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A very very well deserved point yesterday and nothing more than we deserved given the last 2 games circumstances were we deserved atleast one point from them 2 games.

Hopefully we can use this last 3 games experience and more playing time together as the same team will do us good sted going into the Reading game.

I would play the same team and possibly allow Bent an appearance on the bench. Why disturb a strong unit that's just all got used to each other more in the last 3 games to accomodate who has a good track record of scoring on paper but cannot provide the goods on the pitch in our new style of play.

.

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