John Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 A welcome clean sheet which broke a run of 28 league and cup games for us without one along with three very well taken goals left us victorious in last night’s game between the first League Cup Finalists in this 150th anniversary year of the Football Association. So there was to be no happy ending for The Miller’s last night and no sting in the tale of last night for us. Although they gave a good account of themselves and battled well throughout they were unable through toil alone to get the better of us and it is Aston Villa who will go through to the next round to face another team we have previously met in a League Cup Final. Is there a trend developing in these draws and should we defeat Spurs could it be Leeds, Manchester United, Norwich, Everton or even Small Heath we could be matched up against in Round 4? Rotherham supporters arrived at Villa Park in numbers last night and their team did everything they were able to send them home to South Yorkshire happy. But unlike Bradford last season this trip to Villa Park was to prove their cup final as a confident and in form Villa team swept them aside as we had hoped would have happened in that two legged semi-final last January. But we are made of sterner stuff this season and our football at times last night was very pleasing to the eye and played at a level that our visitors were unable to match. Having accomplished our mission in the first hour the substitutions we then made insured that Delph did not pick up another booking and gave other players a first team run out but they also disrupted the flow of our game for a time which in turn saved Rotherham from what may have been a wider margin of defeat. This is clearly a cup competition that Lambo has shown by his team selection last night that he has his sights on and one that could add some silverware to our trophy cabinet after too long a gap without the club doing so. Beating whatever team Spurs choose to put out with goals from one of their summer targets that they chose not to pay the money for would be very, very sweet. My player ratings from a game that has left us 4 cup ties from a Wembley appearance and that produced a 3 – 0 home win as was also the case back in 1961 are: Jed Steer – 6 – A clean sheet and an untroubled quiet debut. Leandro Bacuna – 6 – Looked much more comfortable in the full back spot than he did in our midfield where he had started on Saturday evening. A much improved performance. Ron Vlaar – 6 – Solid enough on those infrequent occasions that he was tested. Jores Okore – 7 – Looking better with each game he plays and Jores was so steady at the back last night. Joe Bennett - 6 – A decent performance on his return to first team action. Karim El Ahmadi – 6 – Our midfield currently looks more effective with him in it than when he is out of it. Fabian Delph – 7 – Finished off a splendidly worked move to give us a three goal cushion on 53 minutes. The ball was pinged from one Villa player to another in the midfield until Delph played a one-two with Benteke whose nicely chipped ball found Fabian running between two defenders into the centre of the area, he then took a touch to his right and drilled his shot past the keeper. We look forward to more goals from him but to less yellow cards such as the new one for his collection that he picked up for a rash and unnecessary challenge near the half way line on 34 minutes that may well have contributed towards his substitution on the hour. These regular cards if not addressed will see him sitting out chunks of this season in the stands under suspension which given his present importance to the team we can ill afford. Ashley Westwood – 7 – Sprayed the ball around very nicely last night. Gabriel Agbonlahor- 6 – Hit a perfectly weighted cross for Benteke which presented him with our second goal last night. Flashed a shot wide of the post from around 30 yards 4 minutes later and made a good run from inside his own half a couple of minutes after that finding Westwood inside the box who tried to place a shot which was blocked by a defender. Andreas Weimann – 7 – Worked tirelessly last night and hit our crucial opener on 19 minutes. Having picked up a misplaced Arnason pass just inside his own half he then had a ball he was looking to play into the box blocked by the same defender but he then made no mistake when the ball fell back into his path and he hit a super shot over Shearer and into the corner of the net. Andi just failed to bring the ball under control on 88 minutes which would have left him with just the keeper to beat. Christian Benteke – 7 – MOTM - It seemed almost unfair on the Rotherham defence to play him last night as he was always going to be more than a handful for defenders who ply their trade in League One. He met Gabby’s fine cross on 40 minutes to give us our second rising to power his header into the net and past Shearer in much the same way as Andy Lochhead so regularly did at the same ground. Scored one and made one job done in the 67 minutes he played! Substitutes: Yacouba Sylla – 6 - Replaced Delph on 60 minutes and looked comfortable enough in his role. Nicklas Helenius– 6 - Replaced Benteke on 67 minutes and hit a shot wide on 89 minutes from what had looked like an offside position. A goal would do a lot for him. Aleksandar Tonev - 6 - Replaced Gabby on 67 minutes. Looked bright and a player that would benefit from a couple of starts. Up for the cup Villa! John Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Very good summary, though im giving Steer 10/10 simply for the cleen sheet (not that he had to do much) its been a long time coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggy_333 Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 I like reading your right ups John but I think you're a bit harsh with your ratings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillzz Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Really good report - but I think Westwood was the stand out player last night, deserves more than a 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 Thanks all. Westwood was very close to MOTM for me as well and I thought about the odd 8 rating but my harsh side won the day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 29, 2013 Moderator Share Posted August 29, 2013 I think John's ratings are fair in that you shouldn't get 9s and 10s against a side like Rotherham. Given that it was a league cup game at home to lower league opposition the performances should get lower numbers than they would if they had been against a side like Man Utd for example. If you are giving someone top marks against Rotherham then you've nowhere to improve to when they open a can of whoopass on an actual top side. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 I personally thought KEA was deserving of an 8 last night. Agreed with the rest apart from Bacuna, who I'm not impressed by so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggy_333 Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 I think John's ratings are fair in that you shouldn't get 9s and 10s against a side like Rotherham. Given that it was a league cup game at home to lower league opposition the performances should get lower numbers than they would if they had been against a side like Man Utd for example. If you are giving someone top marks against Rotherham then you've nowhere to improve to when they open a can of whoopass on an actual top side. You should be rated on how well you play regardless of the quality of opposition imo. Should have seen a couple of 8's in there :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 29, 2013 Moderator Share Posted August 29, 2013 I think John's ratings are fair in that you shouldn't get 9s and 10s against a side like Rotherham. Given that it was a league cup game at home to lower league opposition the performances should get lower numbers than they would if they had been against a side like Man Utd for example. If you are giving someone top marks against Rotherham then you've nowhere to improve to when they open a can of whoopass on an actual top side.You should be rated on how well you play regardless of the quality of opposition imo. Should have seen a couple of 8's in there :-)If you think a hat-trick against Rotherham is just as impressive as a hat-trick against Real Madrid then fair enough. The fact is Rotherham will allow you to do things that a better side wouldn't. So Delph's take-down and goal; while it was brilliant; would have been put into row Z by Vidic. Which is why I said if you start giving high marks you leave yourself nowhere to go with future ratings against better teams. I'm not being critical, I'm trying to put the game into a broader context. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanBalaban Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Nice read from the Rotherham fans about their trip to Villa Park 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Those were three cracking goals whatever the quality of the opposition. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 By the way, Villa ground down the Miller's what? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfisher Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Steer 7 Bacuna 7 Bennett 7 Vlaar 7 Okore 8 IKEA 7 Westwood 8 *[Man of the Match] Delph 8 Weimann 8 Benteke 8 Gabby 8 *using the age old champ man rating system, i.e quality of opposition isn't considered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted August 29, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 29, 2013 (edited) Nice read from the Rotherham fans about their trip to Villa Park Quote of the year... Considering they're both in the same town, Villa fans are completly different to the morons at "Small Heath FC" (Birmingham). Edited August 29, 2013 by Nigel 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meregreen Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 Steer 7 Bacuna 7 Bennett 7 Vlaar 7 Okore 8 IKEA 7 Westwood 8 *[Man of the Match] Delph 8 Weimann 8 Benteke 8 Gabby 8 *using the age old champ man rating system, i.e quality of opposition isn't considered. Those ratings are a tad generous. Frankly we didn't have to be particularly good to beat a game, but limited, Rotherham side. A lot of our players barely broke sweat. You simply have to take account of the opposition when judging these things. I gave most of our team 6's because thats all they needed to deliver in order to win comfortably. My three exceptions were Weiman , Benteke and Okore, who all got 7's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfisher Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 Steer 7 Bacuna 7 Bennett 7 Vlaar 7 Okore 8 IKEA 7 Westwood 8 *[Man of the Match] Delph 8 Weimann 8 Benteke 8 Gabby 8 *using the age old champ man rating system, i.e quality of opposition isn't considered. Those ratings are a tad generous. Frankly we didn't have to be particularly good to beat a game, but limited, Rotherham side. A lot of our players barely broke sweat. You simply have to take account of the opposition when judging these things. I gave most of our team 6's because thats all they needed to deliver in order to win comfortably. My three exceptions were Weiman , Benteke and Okore, who all got 7's. Well, I'm 33, I spent far too many of my teenage years playing champ man. For gaming purposes a mark was given for performance, irrelative of opposition. As far as I'm aware, if there is one, then that's the standard for marking. *I haven't played the game for over 15 years I may be behind the times, but this seems the standard. Championship manager had a significant cultural impact on a certain generation of football fans, and the marking system is one thing footie fans (of my generation at least) understand. 6 hmm...?? 7 good 8 excellent 9 superb 10 awesome * I hope somone knows what I'm talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted August 30, 2013 Author Share Posted August 30, 2013 "By the way, Villa ground down the Miller's what?" I see your point darrenm... Turning to the ratings I do agree with BOF that the opposition does need to be considered although that in itself would not necessarily lead me to lower player ratings as a whole. I would add that I do not use the Championship Manager marking system having started doing these player match ratings before that game was introduced Kingfisher. I use 1 (appalling), 2 (dismal), 3 (very poor), 4 (poor), 5 (below average), 6 (average), 7 (good), 8 (very good), 9 (excellent)& 10 (awesome) which may clarify why my player ratings are a little lower than your own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 By the way, Villa ground down the Miller's what? Yeah, sounds painful .... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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