Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers Post-Match Thread/Ratings

[tarzansbrother]

Thought they all did well but there are issues. Warnock diving in cost us a goal, stay on your feet should be whipped into him until he is begging for his life, the stupid, stupid man.

The centre of the park is like a great chasm for sides to walk through. Delph did well, and so did Petrov at times, but we were wide open too much.

Good finishing though, and a decent display. Would like to see NZogbia given the Gabby role if he is not fit next week, with Albrighton down the right.

It was Young and Albrighton who went to ground, not Warnock.

Warnock had a very good game. His tackling was excellent as well.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Chelsea 2 Baggies 1.
We are top of the league in the sunday morning papers.

[Michel Sibble]

Confident first half with Gabby trying his luck and scoring one.
Defence look reliably solid for the first time.
Heskey scoring was a bonus (probably reflects badly on B'burn)
2nd half threatened to become "same old, same old" with B'burn scoring.
Bent doing what he does naturally, securing the game.
Hometown refereeing (that town however, in the North West) as usual.
MarkyMark with a bit of composure will do better, he risked the game once too many with his tackles.
Bannan put in a shift.
Zogballs looking good.
McLeish looking calm. Kean looking over his shoulder.
Crowd resembling Aston Hall at night-time.
Good 3 points.

[gaucho1966]

Very weird seeing the team come out after half time and nobody clapping for ages. First time I've ever seen it.

[PeterWithesShin]

We played some lovely stuff at times, but Blackburn were truly woeful, I doubt we will play anyone as bad as them again this season. We did seem to start each half slowly, which against a better side could be costly, especially how slowly we started the second half. Thank fuck Bent scored when he did as we were looking second best at the time.
After all the doom and gloom over playing Heskey and Gabby, both were very good today, the Gabby goal was awesome. Just hope his injury isn't too bad.

Special mention to the ref, who was a bit of twat. His booking of Villa players making their first fouls while ignoring the constant Blackburn fouling was annoying to say the least.

A pretty poor attendance I thought, although the Brigada boys seemed to have fun in the corner of the Lower Holte with their two-sticks. Blackburn away support continues to be wank, 500-600 max, although singing "empty seats my lord" at them did make me cringe considering how many empty seats there were in all the other stands.

[woody4866]

considering it was the 1st home game and the lads put a good shift in (yes even Heskey) I thought the crowd was very dissapointing - very poor atmosphere IMO

[Tony]

The only thing that was worse than Blackburn today was the ref. I thought we had a stonewall penalty when Robinson flattened Gabby but haven't seen a replay yet. And the inconsistency in bookings was appalling - how David Dunn and Hoilett stayed on the pitch let alone not get yellow cards was mystifying when we seemed to pick up yellows for pretty innocuous first time fouls.

David Dunn surely gets the Mark Van Bommel award for not getting booked despite serial twatishness.

The penalty incident, a penalty would have been harsh as from where I was sat Gabby seemed to foul their defender, after that though, there was no way Gabby was fouling the keeper, very bizarre decision from the ref, although I suppose this may have evened out Gabby's initial foul.

[gaucho1966]

I was very pleased today. It was nice to be confident about Clark coming on. Thought he did well. Blackburn were woeful though. Might put £20 on them being relegated.

[taylorsworkrate]

First half was good at times, Gabby's goal was a corker. 

First 20 minutes of the second half a real worry.  Blackburn were on top at that point and they are one of the worst teams i've seen in the prem.  After Bent scored we settled down.

Delph looked good, composed and full of energy.  I think Zog looked promising, plenty of pace and direct.

[brian green]

Just home.   Random impressions.   Blackburn were poor and will struggle this season but you can only beat what is put in front of you.   Gabby's goal worth the journey.   Barry Bannan a star in the making and when we sell him to Man City for 20 million the perceived standard wisdom will be that he is not worth it because he is too small.   Double plus there because not only did BB change the tempo of the game it showed that AM knows how to make incisive substitutions.   Impressed with Collins.   Zog showed in flashes but clearly is not match fit.  Delph justified MOTM selection.   Heskey laboured at the coal face and mined some nuggets in his normal output of assorted rubble.   Shame to see Marc Albrighton struggling to find his touch an uncomfortable mix of ball watching punctuated by rash tackles.

Good performance all round but sterner tests await.

[eric woolban woolban]

If the away team had bought their full contingent the crowd would have been 35.5k / 36k.

[CT]

Reminded me very much of W Ham at home last season. They looked like relegation fodder too!

That's not meant to take anything from us though - I thought we put in a really good shift.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Very happy. Good performance, when we got going (I think in both halves it took us a while).

Fabian Delph was very good - though with the amount of sliding challenges he did, we'll be losing him through yellow and red cards throughout the season.

I'm normally first to criticise Petrov, but he had a good game, helped by him knowing that Delph was holding the midfield, allowing him more opportunity to go forward.

Gabby was looking good, with his energy he can always play like that.

I know people criticise Heskey (and I'm one of them), but I think the reason AM plays him in this position is because he does have a high work ethic and he closes others down a lot and making himself available. With a better first touch he may have had 2 goals. I think, if Bannan, as he showed he can do today, or Ireland put in the work rate of Heskey, then they'd start instead of him. Bannan looks like he will, and we'd be a much better team for him playing. Not so sure Ireland would be up for it though.

Only Blackburn, but we were comfortable and I look forward to hearing a positive result from the game next week (I'm in Rome so miss the match - boooooo!!!)

[wombat]

Blackburn 7/4 for relegation. I'm having a tenner tomorrow! Awful.

You've got to beat what is put in front of you and we did quite easily.

Which was nice.

[Big Dick Edwards]

An interesting game. We started both halves too slowly but finished both playing some intelligent passing football. Collins and Dunne were dominant defensively and Heskey and Gabby both played better than I was expecting in their withdrawn attacking roles. N'Zogbia oozed class at times, Delph and Petrov did well in centre mid. Four points is a good start with Wolves coming up next.