Aston Villa v Everton Post-Match Thread

[hipkiss92]

what was the attendance, looked like there were a fair few empty seats.

[CJ]

What a rollercoaster of an afternoon! Outstanding defensive performance against a strong, mobile Everton team who probably deserved at least a point (not withstanding misses by Albrighton and NRC for us).  Not going to go through individual performances as that was a great team effort (OK, maybe Downing should be singled out for special shell-like mention)

Who the fcuk was that ref though - dreadful decision making and definitely Everton's 12th man. Everyone near me was sure he was just itching to give them a penalty.  How many bookings for us vs nil for them?  And where on earth did he get the 5 mins added time from - spiteful rebuke for us chanting how unfit he was to referee?

[CJ]

what was the attendance, looked like there were a fair few empty seats.

Official attendance was just under 35,000 - but I believe that includes e.g. season ticket holders who didn't actually go.  It looked a lot less than 35k to me

[carlos the third]

what was the attendance, looked like there were a fair few empty seats.

34,725

[tarzansbrother]

I find it laughable that after the defensive shambles of the last 2 games any of our defenders get slagged or told they had poor games. For me Downing was poor again and we won the game because we had a right back that could finish. Anyone know  what Ireland pulled out the game with?

[Ads]

A tweaked hamstring.

[Rancid custard]

Brad 7 - solid job under pressure

Luke 7.5 - covered every bt of the defence and took his goal wonderfully

Jimbo 8 - MOTM Vital blocks, clearences and headers, lead by example

Dunne 6 - Did just enough, bit of a quet one

Warnock 6 - started out well, faded got back into it late on

Ash 7.5 - tireless running and a great outlet, not too selfish either

NRC 5.5 - didn't really get into the first 20 minutes, some good runs,some good tackles, still atrocious passing, got forward to help when he could

Petrov 6 - Faded in and out, was in danger of a lower score until he got stuck in for the last half hour

Downing 3 - Giving NRC and Stan a real run for their money in terms of who's devised the best cloaking technology. Didn't see him attack much, didn't see him defend much.

Albrighton 7.5 - Put in a good shift at both ends, unlucky not to score, his tackling was a bit off key, but job done, shows he's not above getting back and helping out.

Big John 5 - Bad first half, did better in the second

gabby 3 - well, he ran, didn't really get a chance considering we were defending for 45 minutes.


Some shite refereeing to boot, the main gripe is playing like the visitors at home again, but strangely I thought we'd hold out, This was not always the case of the 2nd half onslaught we always used to face under MON...


 

7 very harsh on Brad, 5.5 very harsh on Reo and 3 for Gabby!! Bloody hell Rancid you're a hard task master!

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with the win and all that, you know if it was still MON it would've all come falling down spectacularly in the 2nd half, I think to be fair I've judged them on the tactics deployed rather than each individual tackle/pass/position. NRC, Petrov and Downing all score low because, well, we're not renowned for creative through the middle of the park stuff, as long as we rely on getting it wide for Ash/Marc to beat the last man/ cross for Carew to header or Gabby to latch onto our central midfield will always be a thankless task.

In retrospect though I can't give Gabby and Downing the same score, Downing goes to a 2 and Gabby gets a 4.

[Lizz]

That was a hard fought win today.  Bit nail biting at the end.  Not the prettiest of games but more exciting that a lot of last season's home games and 3 points in the bag.

Totally agree. The 2 home games so far this season have been far more exciting than most of last season's home games. I also thought the referee was awful. I kept thinking an Everton equaliser was inevitable. Fortunately it wasn't.

[mattjpa]

to summarise today, i thought there were alot of positives to be taken from it:
Carew seemed to have a bit more about him, looks like he may be getting a bit sharper.
The defence were rock solid...all five were very good. Clean sheet is very pleasing
NRC took his chance and won us the game today, superb performance, needs a bit more confidence in the last third though. Deserves to keep his place
Despite confidence being down and a massive air of uncertainty around the place we have dragged a victory out of the mire against one of our main rivals-no mean feat.
People are caining dunney a bit, but he isnt match fit yet. he also took a big knock against beckford and had a yellow card for most of the game.
Well done Luke Young. Im very pleased he is staying

[Gareth]

the only thing I will say to defend Petrov (because I am using hindsight and not screaming or wincing at every set piece) is that he was marking Cahill for all the corners and free kicks and unlike other years he didnt get any free headers.

Downing is a wuss

[5ft811st2 Durham]

A slightly fortuitous win, but it was against a side who should finish in the top six or seven.

Given that ten of our starting eleven were MON signings it does tend to expose the gross exaggeration I keep reading on this board that MON "spunked" Randy's money. Fair enough some signings haven't worked, but evidently many have. 

[Mac]

I have never rated Downing.  Ever.  I was so disappointed when we spunked £12M for him.

[Legion]

Petrov at least did his best. I like him. Downing does sweet F.A. Useless. Anonymous. Inconsequential. Inept. Inadequate. Not good enough.

[Ads]

I think people are being unduly harsh on him today. Against West Ham when we had a lot of the ball he was excellent, with his delivery in particular. Today when we didn’t get hold of the ball at all really, he drifted out of the game, which is what you’d expect. When we did have possession we fed it through the centre via Young.

Neither widemen played well and Albrighton in particular will have hopefully learnt something defensively from today’s game.

   

[Somniloquism]

I can't agree with people saying the match was more exciting then some of last seasons. The only difference between this match and say Spurs or Citeh last season was we managed to hold on to the 1-0 lead and that was down to luck as much as Everton's poor finishing/ some good defending. 18 corners against and 31% possession was definitely MON playing style statistics.

And I hope the "We should have signed Beckford" argument is put to bed after that display.