Rating and Reactions: Villa 2-1 West Ham

[Avflife]

West Spam are the worst team I've seen at VP this season, just looked to play the ball in the air to Carroll when they had a midfield of Nolan, Diame and Joe Cole. Onto Villa, what a game to watch from the Holte, think all emotions were experienced throughout the 98 mins. Could have given MOM to a few players but going give it too CNZ, for the assist and blinder of a free kick, but could of given it too Delph for his workrate or Guzan for his saves throughout and especially at the end. Bowery looked out of his depth, out of position on his first PL start and Gabby is needed back for Arsenal away, going assume he had the same illness as Westwood has/got. We need to improve though as for the first 15 mins of the second half we got domainted by them.

3 points is the only thing I care about though, UTV VTID 

Just a last point where the **** did Big Sam did that West Spam 'dominated' the game 

Edited February 11, 2013 by Avflife

[birdistheword]

Pne of the best perfromances Delph has put in for us.

[maqroll]

I swear this team is gonna give me a heart attack. Three massive points and hopefully some kind of corner turned.

[CI]

Where was Gabby ?

[PompeyVillan]

Guzan - 9

 

He came out and collected pretty much every corner and freekick that came into our box. He was dominant and relieved a lot of pressure from the defenders. He stood up and was counted. Excellent game.

 

Lowton - 6

 

An unremarkable game from Lowton today. Was neat and tidy and defended what was put in front of him. 

 

Clark - 8

 

Had an exceptional game, against a physical West Ham. Showed that he is capable at playing against strong players, and that on his day he is a capable defender. Surprised me. 

 

Vlaar - 7 

 

Led the team from the back, headed and kicked everything that came near him, including Andy Carroll. 

 

Baker - 7

 

Defensively was excellent, didn't offer too much doing forward, but I didn't think that mattered. Tactical clash of heads with Carroll that fired Nathan up and made Carroll shrink. 

 

Westwood- 6 

 

Worked hard and stuck to his job.

 

Delph - 7 

 

He's getting better and better by the game and seems much more natural as a more attacking presence than defensive. It's great to see him have the confidence to run at players, when in possession of the ball. 

 

N'Zogbia- 8

 

Had a hand in pretty much everything we did in the final third. Looks confident, and motivated. Long may it continue

 

Bowery- 6

 

Worked hard and showed glimpses of promise, but clearly is a centre forward. I think he was put in today to give us more of a physical presence, which he did. He didn't look comfortable or natural when running at players, but did work really hard. 

 

Weimann- 5

 

Missed a sitter and generally was a bit lacklustre. Didn't really make an impact and struggled to get involved in a meaningful way out on the wing. He's not really quick enough. 

 

Benteke - 6

West Ham defended against him quite well. His overall play was ineffective but he had nerves of steel from the penalty spot. 

 

Overall a gritty and a bit of an ugly win. But a win, at home. And we hung on. I couldn't be more pleased. I think performances have been improving, and defensively going 'back to basics' with Baker at left back really helped us today. I'd keep him in there for the next game. Gives us a solid base to work from, and I think we have enough going forward to be able to compensate for having an less effective attacking presence at full back. 

 

N'Zogbia in that free role could be the key to us staying up. Long term, I don't think it's an effective strategy, but this season it could be enough for us. He finds little pockets of space, runs at defenders a lot which clearly unsettles them, and makes some key passes. Sooner or later he'll score a screamer too, he's getting closer.

 

I'm becoming more confident that we're going to stay up, firstly because despite what everyone says about us, we're mentally resilient and we're fighting. We were whimpering after the Chelsea spanking, but we've picked ourselves up and 'gone again'.

 

We need to keep going though. 

[KiwiVillain]

Baker was an absolute warrior today, MOTM for me!! Vlaar and Clarke were strong too but thought Lowton wasn't up to it. Zog was good, was responsible for both of our goals, great free kick but did drift in and out a of the game a bit. Delph was frustrating...did some great stuff but often pushed the ball too far ahead of himself and ended up losing it or having to make 50/50 challenge to get it back. Weimann should have scored but he worked hard the whole time he was on. Bowery looked a little lost to me and I think Gabby would have made a big difference if he was available. Thought Guzan had a strong game today too.

Was absolutely convinced that we were going to let it slip in the last few minutes but well done to the lads for hanging on! UTV

[Shillzz]

Dawkins > Bowery

 

Baker > Bennet

 

Bent didn't do a lot, but his positioning did help us to push them back and create space between their defense and midfield. Oh, and a goal line clearance.

 

Clark MOTM, closely followed by Guzan and NZogbia.

[CI]

Thought the ref had a very good game. He deserves credit

[AVFCAM]

People who are knocking Dawkins are doing so based on a very small amount of game time.

I thought he looked ok on the ball, was scared to run or run at players, and did very little wrong.

For someone a lot on people on here were calling useless, he did ok. I think he may prove to be a handy option.

Absolutely elated with the result. Totally exhausted from shouting so much. Really good stuff from the boys once we got the penalty to the final whistle.

I'd forgotten how good it felt to go home with a win!

[rjw63]

Just got back, via the curry house.

 

Make no mistake, we were shite until the penalty. Wet Spam were amazingly shite and a decent team would have slaughtered them.

 

We seemed better at 1-0 than 2-0. Two goals up and we look scared shitless.

 

Midfield was non existent. Defence put a good shift in. MotM would be Zog, Baker or Guzan, certainly not Delph.

 

But really I don';t give a **** because we ACTUALLY WON A GAME

[butler50]

Big big win, especially after yesterdays results, defended better and scored threw set pieces (who cares ha) love to see us kick on now but fear arsenal away may just be too much, but you never no!!!  VTID

[Avflife]

Where was Gabby ?

Out with the illness Westwood was suffering from all week

[claretman]

That has to be the most horrific spell of injury team I have seen at vp this season. The tension was unbearable.

You could tell by the reaction of the players at the end that they knew how massive this was.

Delph has finally put a run of games together which show why he was once rated, Clark didn't get bullied, Zog provided an outball regularly. All positives.

Weimann will be having nightmares until he next scores-wasnt himself, Bowery out of his depth a little but too early to write off.

Pheweee

[CI]

Great win followed by a great chinky

[Shillzz]

Thought the ref had a very good game. He deserves credit

 

Yeah I also thought he had a good game, by which I mean he gave most of the 50/50 decisions in our favour.

[peterms]

Midfield was non existent. Defence put a good shift in. MotM would be Zog, Baker or Guzan, certainly not Delph.

I thought the midfield were pretty good, especially considering they are mostly lower league or inexperienced or both. Delph was excellent, as he has been a few times lately.

[vandaq]

Loved it, they really put in a great performance today and it showed. Yes it was a weak first half but we were the better team. N`Zogbia shows once again how much of an important player he can be for us and I am really glad he got his goal today. It had been coming for the last couple of games and it was a pure joy to see that one go in. Totally unexpected, and it was the exact thing we needed at that time. Baker played like a champ today, really liked him as an LB today, but anything would be better than bennett really. Benteke had one of those matches again, which reassures my thought of him moving to another club might be a bad idea. Still a perfect penalty but mind you that was it. Clark also did excellent today and no mistakes(at least from what I can remember) Good match by him, lets hope he keeps that up. He has showed us countless times that he has what it takes, he just has to be more reliable like he was today. Guzan, once again shows how important he is and has a terrific match once again. Really pleased with having him as a gk. And the celebration he did really transcended over to me, just a magical feeling. 

 

I think bowery showed potential at times, I think he actually can become a good player even if he did several things wrong and that was not his position. Not ready for PL yet, but maybe next season he will get there. Dawkins seemed decent, but there was to little of him to give him any rating. Looks like he was better than I expected. Shame we didn`t get to see more of sylla, I really wonder how good this guy is.

 

All in all, a perfect weekend. So happy that we got 3 points, and it really felt good to have some joy after a villa match again. Lovely. 

[OutByEaster?]

When you say midfield are you talking about the two or the five?

 

I think it's difficult to describe our midfield - we either play 4-2-3-1 or 4-2-4 depending on how you look at it.

 

I think Delph did well and Westwood not so well (although he has been under the weather) - for me, that's the midfield.

 

If you're including the others I think N'Zogbia is enjoying his role behind Benteke and it shows, Bowery looked a little awkward but tried and Weimann had an off day but still gives you waht he's got.

[nobler]

@DavidGoldWHU

Disappointed for the fans who traveled hundreds of miles on a miserable day to lose to a team in the bottom three. We should do better.

 

[AVFC_Hitz]

I thought Bowery did some good running today. I think the occasion got to him.