Match Thread: Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers, Sat 30th March, 3pm | Page 8 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers, Sat 30th March, 3pm

Well what a contrast between halves!

First half I thought we were OUTSTANDING. The Man City of the Championship. Blackburn couldn’t get close enough to us to even attempt a tackle and on the rare occasion they got near us they were left for dead. If we’d been 3 or 4 up by halftime no one could have claimed it wasn’t deserved.

Second half we sat way to deep and allowed a Mowbray team to do what they want - control possession. Even then they only scored through a ‘keeper error. Whilst the second half performance was disappointing I did see a huge positive - we saw it through! We can’t steam-roll teams every week (despite the first half suggesting that’s exactly what would happen) but we didn’t throw away the win when things stopped going our way. That resilience should not go without credit.

RATINGS:

Steer: 5 - not much to do and you could claim that credit should be given to the free-kick taker for ‘calling his bluff’ and not shooting at the space he was being offered. However, had he stayed still instead of taking that step to his left he’d of had a straight forward catch and saved a lot of nerves on the pitch and in the stands.
Elmo: 7 - solid at both ends.
Mings: 8 - outstanding (again). The man is an utter colossus and utter quality with the ball at his feet.
Hause: 7 - another good showing.
Taylor: 7 - best performance for a while. Offers nothing from an attacking perspective though.
Whelan: 8 - the renaissance continues, I always felt he was undervalued but never thought he had these performances in his locker. Dominant, great passing, proper leadership. MOTM
McGinn: 8 - gave away stupid free kick for their goal but other than that showed why he’s a cert for player of the year. Tireless work rate mixed with genuine ability. I gave him a standing ovation for that 100 yard run to the corner flag at the end which relieved the pressure. Should of scored (a hatrick).
Grealish: 6.5 - never done a .5 rating before but Jack was excellent first half, dictating the tempo of the match and throwing himself into 3(!) crunching tackles. Completely anonymous 2nd half, head seemed to drop and was rightly subbed.
Green: 6 - his run lead to the first goal but, after that, once again, promising situations evaporated time and time again when he should have done better. Though, he’s still young and I used to say the same about Albrighton...
El Ghazi: 7 - typical winger, looks sublime one moment but utterly anonymous the next. I get the feeling that if we could get him ‘at it’ more consistently we’d have some player on our hands - but I guess that’s why he’s playing in the Championship.
Tammy: 7 - great to see him back on the scoresheet, worked really hard BUT my God did he waste a lot of great opportunities!? Failed to finish the game off by missing when it should have been easier to score.

SUBS:

Adomah: 6 - some nice touches but wasted opportunities at the same rate as Green had been doing.
Hourihane: 7 - added an element of calm when required. Set up a glorious chance for Tammy to finish the game.

MANAGER:

Deano: 7 - first half I was singing his praises. Team noticeably sat back after halftime and I can’t imagine that wasn’t due to being instructed to do so which played into Blackburn’s hands. Thought he could have made changes sooner BUT who am I to argue with 5 wins on the bounce? After 4 wins in tough games it would have been so ‘Villa’ to come unstuck against the likes of Blackburn at home!

Special mention - the reception Angel and Laursen (who must have given Mings tips on attacking a cross at halftime) was spine-tingling. Fantastic to see a genuine fan-favourite and one of the finest players I’ve seen play for our club being welcomed back with open arms.

It’s great being a Villan right now!
 
Oh! One more thing! What the hell is that utter shite carry-on with the Lower North stand not giving the ball back about? This rubbish never happened before the Newcastle fans did it at Villa Park a few years ago - can we please set our sights a little higher than emulating the ‘toon army’?!

Utterly cringe-worthy, counterproductive behaviour - in the end Mings had to appeal for the return of the ball (and didn’t look happy about it). Tin-pot behaviour that makes us look pathetic! ?
 
Well it was a lot closer than I thought it would be, and a lot closer than it should have been (we should have been out of sight after 25 mins) but 3 points is 3 points and I think seeing out a nervy last 10 mins for a 2-1 win v Blackburn at home is just as, if not , even more important, than thrashing the likes of Derby 4-0 - you know for a fact, in times gone by, we wouldn't have won that.

There were some utterly outstanding, and some not so good perfomances.

Mings, Hause and McGinn were just truly wonderful in different ways. Mings is just so so so classy. I am bemused as to why he is in the Championship, but thank god he is. If we go up, and keep him, he could go onto be a true legend like the guy who was on the pitch at half time.

Hause is just so solid - what a find !.

McGinn, well those older than me talk of the Bremners, Mortimers and Cropleys of this world (who I remember but was a little too young to appreciate them) , but I cannot remember who works as hard as he does, and with the quality he has got (admittedly, at this level). I know what people say about Jack, but over the last 10 years we have had Barry, Delph and Milner - you could see their quality, and it is no surprise to anyone, they went onto win leagues - McGinn is the next one.

On the subject of Jack, poor yesterday, his worst game since his return. I can only put it down to one of three things - 1. He is carrying an injury...2. Southgate being there either made him freeze, ohe tried to do too much again, or 3. Him and Whelan just don't work - they both want to sit deep, and Whelan is the man for that - if they both play, Jack needs to be further forward. Within 30 seconds of Hourihane being on he was on the edge of the box teeing up Abraham for a glaring miss.

But - plaudits all round, there was very good (as above) there were bits that could have been improved (Jack, Andre) - but WE WON, we are 5th and if we are still there come May 6th - I will be chuffed to bits........

Oh..... forgot.... 39600 and with virtually no away fans - truly remarkable. Surely Mings and others must think "I want a bit of this, I would rather play here in front of this, in the Championship, instead of in front of 10000 at Dean Court in the greed league
 
Great game and terrific atmosphere! Got a bit too fancy later in first half which we were nearly made to pay for in the second. Midfield three lost control in second half for whatever reason but you can’t knock 5 wins in a row. All played well, must bear with Green who made himself available at all times.
 
Well it was a lot closer than I thought it would be, and a lot closer than it should have been (we should have been out of sight after 25 mins) but 3 points is 3 points and I think seeing out a nervy last 10 mins for a 2-1 win v Blackburn at home is just as, if not , even more important, than thrashing the likes of Derby 4-0 - you know for a fact, in times gone by, we wouldn't have won that.

There were some utterly outstanding, and some not so good perfomances.

Mings, Hause and McGinn were just truly wonderful in different ways. Mings is just so so so classy. I am bemused as to why he is in the Championship, but thank god he is. If we go up, and keep him, he could go onto be a true legend like the guy who was on the pitch at half time.

Hause is just so solid - what a find !.

McGinn, well those older than me talk of the Bremners, Mortimers and Cropleys of this world (who I remember but was a little too young to appreciate them) , but I cannot remember who works as hard as he does, and with the quality he has got (admittedly, at this level). I know what people say about Jack, but over the last 10 years we have had Barry, Delph and Milner - you could see their quality, and it is no surprise to anyone, they went onto win leagues - McGinn is the next one.

On the subject of Jack, poor yesterday, his worst game since his return. I can only put it down to one of three things - 1. He is carrying an injury...2. Southgate being there either made him freeze, ohe tried to do too much again, or 3. Him and Whelan just don't work - they both want to sit deep, and Whelan is the man for that - if they both play, Jack needs to be further forward. Within 30 seconds of Hourihane being on he was on the edge of the box teeing up Abraham for a glaring miss.

But - plaudits all round, there was very good (as above) there were bits that could have been improved (Jack, Andre) - but WE WON, we are 5th and if we are still there come May 6th - I will be chuffed to bits........

Oh..... forgot.... 39600 and with virtually no away fans - truly remarkable. Surely Mings and others must think "I want a bit of this, I would rather play here in front of this, in the Championship, instead of in front of 10000 at Dean Court in the greed league

Think you are over analysing Grealish.
He had a quiet second half. First half he was fine.

Players have these games sometimes. Just happens. Didn't think he was trying to do too much at all. Seemed like he was doing what he has been for 5 games but just didn't work out for him for 45 mins.

He's not injured and he can play with Whelan. That was proved against Boro.

I'm glad he was below par 2nd half. Means Southgate wouldn't be that impressed. Means he won't get picked for England. Means he won't get a dream move to Leicester.
 
Good to see Whelan getting the praise he certainly deserves. Never rated him at all but since Smith arrived he's stepped up. Could be that for the 1st time in umpteen years he's actually being asked to do something other than hare around hacking at people. Looks like he's enjoying himself as well.

I said earlier that one of the negatives was Greens final ball but I still think we should stick with him. He did well in the run up to the 1st goal and played a lovely through ball that led to Mcginn hitting the post so it's not like he did nothing. As mentioned above we made a terrible mistake with Albrighton so let's not do the same with Green. Thankfully I think we've got a manager that will want to improve him rather than bin him off and sign Tonev, cheers again Paul.
 
Have to agree with Hotlelower , Jack wasn't his normal self yesterday, I think he's carrying a knock. I'm thinking the captain's armband has started to become a burden. He was ok the first half if a little less livewire than normal did more tackling than he normally does.
Second half he wasn't at the races and yet again neither was Villa.

I'm hoping it was just an off game by his high standards because our promotion hopes lie with him.

Him SJM and Whelan are the mix that makes us so dangerous, they all need to be fit for the last 7 games
 
By the way I thought Martin Laursen and JPA looked very well and got a tremendous reception.

I can't imagine Gabby looking that well in 10 years time.

Both looked in great shape. Laursen still looked like he could pull his boots on and put in a good performance at centre back. Angel only retired 3 or 4 years ago I think and I still believe that we'd have been better off keeping him than signing Harewood and Heskey.
 
Fantastic day down VP yesterday....haven't been for a while...it was buzzing like the old days....nearly 40 k .....getting the bug again...should have ben 4/5 up in first half...superb day...:utv:
 
One thing. We've made a habit in recent years of flopping after an international break. Looks like we've largely overcome that, although maybe there was just a bit of that in the second half.
 
You have to give some credit Mobray, he pushed up on our playmakers which are Mings and Hause and made us play long and despite having 4 on 4 at times we don't have a forward player who thrives on the long ball. just kept coming back. Disjointed our play it through the midfield tactics and made it a very even game second half.
 
Have to agree with Hotlelower , Jack wasn't his normal self yesterday, I think he's carrying a knock. I'm thinking the captain's armband has started to become a burden. He was ok the first half if a little less livewire than normal did more tackling than he normally does.
Second half he wasn't at the races and yet again neither was Villa.

I'm hoping it was just an off game by his high standards because our promotion hopes lie with him.

Him SJM and Whelan are the mix that makes us so dangerous, they all need to be fit for the last 7 games

It was an off half 57.

He has set very high standards since returning, perhaps the best and most consistent run of games in his career so far. Any drop off would be noticeable. And the blues shambles will have had a bit of an affect I imagine. He's packed alot in a short time back .I honestly don't think that the captain armband is weighing heavily, the opposite in fact.

Fear not. He is gonna be the difference.
 
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Think a few missed a couple of great runs Green did. I think his first winding run into the box, albeit not leading directly to our first goal, was the start of the pressure to lead to that goal.

He's been in and out due to awful injury after awful injury. He did a few poor crosses, for sure, he also did a couple of very good ones.

Let's give him a minute before making him another to write off?!?!?!?
 
That first half was as good as I’ve seen in years. As good as against Boro and Derby that is. The improvement in our players is a credit to Deano’s and his staff’s work on the training ground.
Just one area I think we could improve is in our full backs, particularly Taylor, standing off opposition wingers. They give them a bit too much time and space for my liking.
A small moan among the general praise.
 
To be fair i dont think anyone is writing Green off.

My thinking is that I just don't see a great deal with him and never have to be honest but like I posted yesterday we have to persevere and learn lessons of the past with our youngsters and hope, and by god I would rather see him there than a Bolasie.
 
It looked like a great game on the official highlights. Loads of chances. We could have won 6 - 1, or 6 - 4, or.... well, any combination really. Still, we won and that's all that matters at the moment.