Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers Post-Match Thread/Ratings

[Michel Sibble]

Legion, you are slacking...

Good performance against relegation fodder surely?

[PaulWinch again]

Good stuff, all three strikers scored which was nice. Given injured again? Top of the league!

[Irreverent ad]

As i predicted in the pre-match thread, 3-1 and top of the league!

[eastie]

top of the premiership! good solid display in defence , impressed with petrov, delph and nzogbia and goals for gabby , bent and heskey too, a good day at the office.

Great gabby goal and nice to see him play so well-good cameo from bannan as sub and well done to all, fans players and staff-enjoy your weekend guys!

[Matt Collins]

SG 6
LY 6 (CC 6)
JC 7
RD 7
SW 7
SP 7
FD 8*
CN 7
EH 7 (BB 7)
GA 7 (MA 6)
DB 6

[The Left Side]

Well played, young team and lots of energy... Petrov looked like his old self and the defence looked solid even if it was Blackburn, all the strikers scored so a good day all around.

[Summers]

Gabby's goal was a bit special.

[D.boy]

3 points and some well taken chances. Job done.

[citizenDJ]

Watched this one in the pub and although I've had a few pints, I'd say that we looked very comfortable for most of the game - the first half especially.

Delph looked very good again, while I'm giving credit to McLeish for playing a formation which really suits Petrov at this stage of his career. Excellent goal from Gabby, Bent did what Bent does, N'Zogbia looked very handy and Bannan, when he came on, was top stuff.

A pretty good performance overall, but I will temper the praise just a little because Blackburn were crap.

[Dave]

Good shift from Gabby, N'Zogbia, Delph and Petrov.

Heskey scoring today doesn't change the fact that he shouldn't be playing as an attacking midfielder.

[Holtenderinthesky]

Hard to know what to make of it having won against a truly dreadful Rovers team.  I remember getting carried away after beating West Ham 3-0 last year only for them to go down and us nearly join them.  Still, a good and much needed 3 points and a good game for Gabby and Delph.  Wolves will provide a much sterner test though so we will have to be on our game.  Bannan look a good player, hopefully he will come in to the 1st 11 b4 too long.

[Summers]

Good shift from Gabby, N'Zogbia, Delph and Petrov.

Heskey scoring today doesn't change the fact that he shouldn't be playing as an attacking midfielder.

A point worth highlighting. Heskey had a good game, but it's not a good role for him. Especially with Bannan and Ireland getting splinters.

[citizenDJ]

Heskey scoring today doesn't change the fact that he shouldn't be playing as an attacking midfielder.

Agreed, wholeheartedly. I had named Ireland in my pre-match line up, but after today I'm convinced Bannan should be given the attacking midfielder role.

[Matt Collins]

I'd love Bannan in that position. But Heskey's energy and commitment were vital to our early supremacy.

[Monty]

The team and opening exchanges left a lot of worry. However, this was soon tempered by the quality of Petrov and Delph on the ball, and Eck's selection of Gabby on the left (which I know I backed last week, but I don't know who else did) was vindicated as Gabby did what he does best, and has space to do on the wing - pick up the ball in the final third and run at the defence, making them shit themselves. Despite his goal, Heskey still showed why he should probably not start, and you can't help but feel that Bannan or Ireland in the first half would have had better first touches in crucial situations. Eck made the change, and Bannan really looked the part when he came on, linking really nicely with Zog and Delph, and involved in the period of possession that preceeded the Bent goal. I hope Eck noticed this, especially if he wants us to play the stylish possession football we did at times later in the game.

We conceded a goal that was good from their point of view, but possibly preventable, and we perhaps dropped off and sat back at the end, but after we went 3-1 up they never looked like getting anything and some of the football was good, especially, as I say, when Bannan was on the field. Good win, good basis to build on, and may Eck carry on proving me wrong!