Glensider has already more than brilliantly covered the game in his match report so I’ll not go through the motions of trying to repeat it!: Glensider at Blackburn
It was however a great day out, I have never in my life been up the M5 or M6 without some form of delay so expected to be hit hard on the way home, but nope, the football gods really were on our side yesterday as the journey home was as easy as the journey up and what a happy camp we had inside the car with Jonah and Young Jonah for company! We’d met up t’north with Deanovilla and there were mixed views on the proceedings to come. Some feared the wheels were about to come off and experts, such as myself obviously (!) were pretty confident (but then again, I did say that it was my confidence that troubled me!)
To be fair from the get go, as admitted by Blackburn boss Big Sam, there was only really one winner and with the amount of missed chances the score could have been far more severe in our favour. I thought the fans were immense, in fact – as YJ said – we really were the 12th man and should have been awarded the man of the match vote. The noise from Villa fans away is immense and great fun (mostly).
I thought there were a few outstanding displays yesterday, Gareth Barry I take for granted will be great but have never taken for granted or expected Zat Knight to be great but recently he really has turned a corner and yesterday I thought he was outstanding. I’d thought we’d got an average defender from Fulham. Maybe he was and maybe the coaching staff – along with hard work from himself – have uncovered something very far from average? It is no wonder Jason Roberts was subbed, Zat had him in his pocket all afternoon and there were no signs at all of the nervous type of performance from the giant (Villa fan) defender and there were certainly none of his lapses of concentration.
So well done Zat Knight for forcing my (and other Villa fans) words straight back down my throat. Just can’t beat it when a player proves you wrong I don’t think. Great attitude and long may it continue.
I also thought Emile Heskey put in some great effort and although he didn’t really trouble the goal (was that goal right to be disallowed by him mind you?) he did put in a lot of work.
And as for James Milner, well that man is tireless, he nearly capped the afternoon with a second goal but putting it kindly he did rather miss-hit it when scoring looked the easier thing to do! However the lad runs on Duracell, he just never stops.
So Villa are now 7 wins on the trot and marching on. A club record and an achievement only 3 other clubs have done, Spurs, Chelsea (twice) and Arsenal. Now for our 8th away win, look out opponents, Villa really are hungry and playing as a great unit.
Happy days as a Villa fan, just how proud are we of our mighty claret and blue?
My player ratings as decided between myself, YJ and Jonah.
Player Ratings
Brad Friedel
really not a great deal to do
Luke Young 7
consistent and tough
Zat Knight 8
showing great form
Curtis Davies 7
becoming very consistent
Carlos Cuellar 5
not great, hopefully in time he’ll settle in
Ashley Young 6.5
not at his stonking best but still a stonking great player!
Gareth Barry 8
a Villa great
James Milner 9
fabbo and worth every penny spent on him!
Petrov 6.5
another good game, some passes went astray but hey ho, we all have slightly off days!
Emile Heskey 7
solid, look forward to his next goal, hopefully against Moscow and then another against Everton and then… you get the picture
Gabriel Agbonlahor 6.5
not in the game for periods but always gives the defenders something to worry about and given the chance, took it in style.
John Carew 6
(on for Heskey 69) Ok, gives the defenders something to think about, look forward to seeing the unplayable JC take the field some day very soon
Craig Gardner 7
(on for Cuellar at half time) good solid performance at right back, might be worth keeping him there?!?
Beefburger at the stall outside -2
Beefburger at the stall outside 3
bland!
Beefburger at the stall outside 4
after smothering it with tomato sauce and ketchup
Beefburger at the stall outside -2
once it started repeating on me!
