Ratings and Reactions: Reading 1-2 Villa

[AValon]

Sylla might just have played himself into the side. Very impressed with him and, of course, the mighty Benteke shares the plaudits for the win.

 

Nice to see Guzan maintaining form too.

 

Minus points? Lowton, Westwood and I'm still not sold on Bannan by any margin. Pity Zog continued his recent dip in form.

 

Good 3 points though.

[VillaAlex]

Guzan 8

Lowton 4 (Worst game he's had for us.)

Vlaar 6

Clark 7

Baker 6

Sylla 7

Bannan 6

Westwood 6

Gabby 7

Weimann 7

Benteke 8

 

Good and crucial win. I worry though, they were terrible and we didn't look far off. Every week we have a poor second half performance, thankfully Reading weren't up to much today and it didn't cost us. There seems to be a mental mindset where we drop deeper and deeper until we cave in. Certainly inexperience has a part in that. Thought the midfield three were all very good, and Guzan as ever was the leader in the squad. Give him the captaincy.

 

Strikers were also very good, but we come to expect that now. Keeping us up on there own, with the lack of goals elsewhere.

 

Lowton needs to look at todays performance and learn a lot from it. I really rate the guy, but he was awful today.

[Borgs]

Reading are of such low quality there had to be a win, so I'm chuffed. Lambert got the tactics right and McDermott had no plan to curtail Villa's midfield dominance.

 

Benteke and Agbonlahor were the best on the pitch and it could be said of nobody that they had a bad game. Weimann could've done a bit better with his chances, if I had to pick out anyone.

[BkkVilla]

Still shaking!!

[switters]

such a vital win. just about deserved overall. Thought we were better with 3 in the middle. Few dodgy defensive moments (not least that horrendous OG) but holding on at the end was crucial and they did it well for once.

 

MOTM Sylla for having such a solid debut. Agbonlahor, Benteke, Vlaar, Bannan also good & Guzan pretty much faultless.

[jackbauer24]

HUGE win. But only half time, we need a minimum of 4 points from these two games (Reading/QPR).

 

It's going to be so so tight, it's between us, QPR, Wigan, Southampton and possibly Sunderland for the remaining two places. You have to think Reading are done for as they've lost big games against relegation rivals and have some tricky fixtures coming up. I also personally think QPR might yet pull off the great escape. To me eyes, it's actually as simple as us or Wigan down.

 

Back to today, Guzan easily man of the match. One silly error for that corner but other than that he kept us in it at times. Benteke good but irritates me how easily he can misplace passes or seemingly stop his runs - he only really attacks aerial balls.

But, like I said, only half time...

[Danwichmann]

 

Despite the referee's best efforts at giving Reading almost every decision we battled hard and held on. Could have scored a few more. Doesn't matter now. The win was vital. Benteke MOTM.

 

Seriously? I think the ref got things right today. On another day we could be gutted that Reading scored an offside goal or got a dodgy penalty but the big calls were spot on. 

Booking Benteke, missing Benteke being fouled in the first half. Card happy for us, not so much Reading. The offside was correctly given by his assistant.

 

True enough, he did get both wrong with Benteke and I know it was the assistant the spotted the offside, still didn't think we had a lot to complain about all things considered. But **** it, we won and I'm enjoying it!!

[Designer1]

Massive, massive win. Over the bloody moon to be honest.

[Ghost]

We were the better of two really poor sides. Thought Sylla was really good. Quite calm and I can't recall a moment where he got dispossessed or lost a physical challenge. Brad was also immense once again between the sticks. Lowton had a bit of a shocker. Has a bad habit of throwing his hands up in the air when he tries to block a shot - that's gonna come back to bite him (and us) sonner or later.

[LockStockVilla]

Good stuff overall! Bannan and Sylla both filled in nicely I thought and the system worked to control the midfield. Vlaar a little rusty. But all good. Roll on next week. Kemannnnnnnn!

[avfcNelse]

Was working today so couldn't watch the game. Did we play well? Deserve the win? Sylla look decent?

[jamdog]

Sylla my MOTM - calm, good awareness, lots of running, good blocks and tackles.That's 5 good performances in a row, an away win, a double over Reading.

 

I'm not Bannan's biggest fan but he contributed well to a midfield that held the ball a lot better than we have many times this season. One of the reasons we didn't concede in the 2nd half was because we slowed the game down to treacle at key moments instead of bypassing the midfield as usual.

 

Overall very happy with that. We are now odds against for relegation with the bookmakers.

[VILLAMARV]

wow. I cant believe we've done the double over someone! well done boys, appalling defensive display from the back 4. But 3 massive points which is all that matters at this point.

Half a job done though, still need to beat QPR for it to matter in the long run

On a slight side note, I like Lowton and have stood up for him on these boards as a decent signing from Lambert. He was one of the worst players on the park today. awful game.

[poitier]

Reading are easily the worst team in this division, a win was vital.

 

Despite our midfield dominance in the second half, we didn't create many clear cut chances until near the end, and all of our defenders were shockingly poor.

 

Sylla was a pleasant surprise, got forward more than I expected.

 

Nothing in this performance fills me with confidence for the QPR game though.

[nobler]

Fair play to Gabby too. He gets his knocks but he's scored some bloody crucial goals for us, the West Ham away game under Houllier having a similar feel. He's very much a player we need in this situation because we know he can step up to the occasion. 

[Ponky]

We did better in the second half than usual for the most part because we were keeping the ball better and hoofing less. Unfortunately Westwood has a habit of getting caught with the ball & giving it  away. He's the main culprit anyway.

 

While we never do ourselves any favours, we have had some pretty harsh blows against us in the dying minutes of games, but today the luck kind of went our way - a combination of profligacy by Reading and Guzan's extremely soft hands.

 

Sylla was very good - was decisive with the ball and was never just standing around waiting for the ball. 

 

Despite an assist and a goal to their names I thought Weimann and Gabby were frustrating. Too much loose passing and clunky ball control.

 

It was a  much-appreciated win though. Hopefully it will give the boys the confidence to buck up their form at home and stop QPR dead in their tracks. 

[villa4europe]

no doubt it was because reading were poor and tactically im amazed they never tried to change it, but i was really impressed with the link up of the midfield 3 and the attacking 3 today, always moving, lots of simple passing, weimann's running was superb and if it wasnt for the 2 missed chances id have him MOTM, thought benteke was good, gabby worked hard, sylla looked really comfortable, guzan was surprisingly shakey at times

 

i think it looked like 2 seperate units playing well together, nzogbia blurs the lines, he's looking for benteke for link up,his play with westwood / sylla is pretty non existant, think if we are going to use him its got to be in the top 3 and not the middle

 

defence is still shakey, kanu and blackman should have had a couple each, but it was that kind of game

 

was offisde, was a benteke booking (little was spot on) the shirt pulling on benteke was shocking at times, the 2 reading penalty shouts were laughable so he got that right, also cant remember a game where the officials gave so many throws the wrong way

 

great 3 points, arsenal and utd up for them next isnt it? thats them ****

[Ghost]

Was working today so couldn't watch the game. Did we play well? Deserve the win? Sylla look decent?

Played "meh", "yes", "yes".

[The_Steve]

 

 

Despite the referee's best efforts at giving Reading almost every decision we battled hard and held on. Could have scored a few more. Doesn't matter now. The win was vital. Benteke MOTM.

 

Seriously? I think the ref got things right today. On another day we could be gutted that Reading scored an offside goal or got a dodgy penalty but the big calls were spot on. 

Booking Benteke, missing Benteke being fouled in the first half. Card happy for us, not so much Reading. The offside was correctly given by his assistant.

 

True enough, he did get both wrong with Benteke and I know it was the assistant the spotted the offside, still didn't think we had a lot to complain about all things considered. But **** it, we won and I'm enjoying it!!

Call me a pedant he's certainly better than other referee's we've had this season. Such a massive relief to win today.

[Condimentalist]

Guzan - 8: I **** love this guy. Makes saves, catches crosses, shouts at his defenders. Top quality again and a calm head behind a shocking defence.

 

Lowton - 3: I like the guy but he was truly woeful today. Miles off his man time and again, if he plays like that next week we're in trouble.

Vlaar - 5: He's just not the player that we would like him to be. Lost his man a couple of times and his defensive headers are poor. Hope it's just rustiness, he'll need to be better next week.

Clark - 6: Was hoofing it a bit in the first half but grew as the game went on and was a calm head amongst some pillocks.

Baker - 6: Dreadful own goal but otherwise solid as usual and got forward well - in fact he put a couple of decent balls in which is more than can be said for Lowton.

 

Westwood - 7: Good work from him today. Had plenty of time on the ball but used it well. I think it was his weighted pass into Weimann that led to our first goal.

Sylla - 7: Solid first start from him. Made tackles when he needed to without diving in, added some presence and didn't give the ball away too much. One lovely effort on goal and one wayward.

Bannan - 7: Really neat and tidy and the midfield and was instrumental in the winning goal. 

 

Weimann - 6: Couldn't shoot for toffee all game but played a big part in both goals and worked hard throughout.

Benteke - 9: What can you say about this guy?? The complete forwards performance, bullied the shit out their defence, scored a goal and was a constant outlet. Wonderful player.

Agbonlahor - 7: Started dreadfully but took his goal exceptionally well and was then really decent in the second half.

 

 

 

N'Zogbia - 4: Wasteman. Just when we thought he might have started to turn the tiniest of corners. Everything he touched turned to fetal matter.

 

 

But, really, **** all of that; WE WON!!