Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Reading

[TRO]

Agree even when doing well under MON we hit a 40k glass ceiling

The doing well was relative and down to interpretaion.like the curates egg good in parts.

I thought the football was unconvincing, smash and grab...all about pace and not much ball control.

However we did accumalate points.

The doing well was relative and down to interpretaion.like the curates egg good in parts.

I thought the football was unconvincing, smash and grab...all about pace and not much ball control.

However we did accumalate points.

Ps I would suggest that had we played convincing football you would have been locked out.

[pacbuddies]

Probably the worst home performance of the season. A much needed 3 points but January must yield some quality signings otherwise this season will be one long struggle.

[il_serpente]

Guzan 8 - Flawless performance from Guzan, came to collect balls at the right time and took the pressure off the centre backs. Pulled off a couple of neat saves with his feet and just looked solid.

Lowton 7 - Was impressed with his contribution, as I was with the entire defense. I didn't think he showed too much going forward, but he was solid in defense, which was far more important. Looking like a really good signing.

Clark 7.5 - Marshalled the defense well, and probably deserves an 8, but I thought we allowed too many crosses to drop between the posts. Was playing a little out of position however and looked very assured.

Baker 7.5 - Very similar to Clark, just with a couple of extra last ditch challenges. Is looking every bit the Premier League player, but in all honesty I'd still rather see Vlaar alongside one of them.

Stevens - Not really on long enough to earn a rating.

Westwood 8 - MOTM - Thought Ashley was fantastic yesterday, was very impressed with him. His passing is always crisp, and he has the ability to get the ball into the feet of someone in the final third better than any midfielder I can remember in the last 10 years, perhaps with the exception of Gareth Barry. As much as I like Bannan, I'd like to see Westwood paired with someone with a bit more steel so he doesnt have to be so concerned with the midfield battle. Oh, and an assist too.

Bannan 6 - Some people have been very critical of Barry, and he did have an off day. But he still put in a hell of a lot of effort, it just wasn't coming off for him on the night. He did do a lot of good work defensively and there were a few occasions when it was left to Barry to sort out defensive muddles. Going forward he wasn't as good as he can be, but I don't think he really benefited from playing with Holman either. Still our best option for this position going into the next game though.

Holman 7 - He gets a 7 because his individual display was quite good, but I don't think his selection massively benefited the team. He shows a lot of effort and determination but doesnt link play like Ireland can. I think he played a little too far forward in the first half and because of this never really got much time on the ball. He was probably our most threatening player while he was on the pitch, but replacing him with Ireland made the entire team more of a threat.

Weimann 6.5 - Really do like Weimann, but this wasn't quite his best game for us. Wasted a chance in the first half that he really should have buried, and was also slightly wasteful when in possession, particularly in the final third. I still think he is our best option for this position ahead of Abrighton and NZogbia though.

Gabby 7 - Put a shift in for the team, a lot of good defensive work, but as always with Gabby, his decision making was lacking a little bit of sharpness. There's not a cat in hell's chance I'd take him out of the team though, specially to be replaced by some lazy-arse like NZogbia. He does need to learn to run off Benteke's flick ons a bit though.

Benteke 7.5 - Gets an extra point for his goal, but I don't entirely agree with the universal praise of his performance last night. Up until his goal I thought he looked a bit lazy, like he wasnt really up for it. That said, he's a striker and he basically won us the 3 points, we weren't exactly carving Reading apart. You can see how good he is though, I just got the impression that he wasn't really up for it last night.

Ireland 7.5 - Changed the game when he came on, it's easy to say he should have started, but I'd have started Holman too. His ability to find space infront of the back 4 is something that sets him apart from our other options in this position, bringing him on made things much easier for Bannan and Westwood. Needs to start the next game and be kept in the side, even if he suffers the odd below par performance.

Albrighton 4 - Sorry but the kid offers nothing, apart from helping to bundle the Reading defender out of the way of Benteke's header ofcourse.

Lichaj 6 - I'm not really convinced by him, his positioning leaves him vulnerable and I thought he was the weak link in defense.

Almost exactly how I saw it. I watched the game after having read the first 4 pages of this thread and expected to see a dire display with Bannan and Weimann playing abysmally and Holman running a lot without showing any skill. Instead, i thought it was a reasonably entertaining match but lacking the right decisions at times that kept it from being a good performance. Holman impressed me with good vision, decision and skills. Bannan was definitely not at his best- some bad play and some very good play. Weimann's decision making let him down, as did his finishing on the golden chance, but still didn't think he was woeful...just didn't pull off a few plays that could have made it a very good performance. Westwood has a specific role to play and does it very well without looking spectacular.

[keefa3011]

Yeah, I agree with Shillz too, but we (as a team) need to get people closer and beyond Benteke if we're going to start climbing the table. Particularly Gabby and Weimann, who need to be looking to take a chance on him winning flicked headers. Tbf, he wins most of them, so it's not a huge gamble!

I thought Bannans corners were a lot better last night, he seemed to be trying to whip them in rather than float them up. Ironic really that Westwoods corner was floaty and we scored from it

What impresses me most about Westwood in comparison to Bannan is that he seems to have a picture in his head of what he is going to do before the ball has reached him, and he seems to have great vision. Let's just hope he can remain consistent and keep improving, because I think Bannan will improve with him.

[8pints]

Morale remains high as we continue long-term project.

-- Paul Lambert (In the programme)

And another clean sheet.