Player ratings at Villa

[goldstone]

Boy, we certainly do know how to take our foot off the pedal at the end of the season. Three playoff defeats in the last four years and now this. One point from our last three games of the season and no goals from open play. Just as well we got promotion wrapped up before we went walkabout.

Another poor performance today. Villa had many more chances than we did and if not for Stockdale (a man-of-the match performance before he gifted them the equaliser) they could well have had a two or three goal lead before the penalty. Playing against ten men for 25 minutes we should have been going all out for more goals and not adopting this frankly ridiculous defensive attitude.

Great season, but the poor ending has taken some of the gloss off it.

Stockdale 7. Some great saves ... and then THAT goal.
Bruno 7. OK
Dunk 9. Another great game.
Tomori 8. He's a good 'un. Let's get him in for next season.
Pocognoli 5. Did his very best to gift them a goal on more than one occasion in the first half. Disappointing.
Stephens 7. Good game, but too many sideways and backwards passes particularly later in the game when we needed to push forward.
Sidwell 6. OK
Murphy 4. Did nothing of note. I had hoped he would be given a start to show what he could offer ... based on today the answer is "not much".
Knockaert 6. Another below par performance. He can play so much better.
Murray 7. Great penalty to give us hope, but otherwise he had trouble keeping the ball under control on too many occasions. Not at his best.
Baldock 7. Great to see him back. Awful miss in the second half which would have sealed it for us.

Subs:
March 7. A few good runs and crosses, but inconsistent.
Rosenior 5. Looked rusty and off the pace.
Hemed N/A

 

[Buzzer]

Stockdale 7. Great saves but sometimes distribution was poor. Think he was unsighted for the goal.
Bruno 6 Played his heart out but kept backing off defenders and was skinned for pace
Dunk 8 Great performance
Tomori 8 MoM for me. The lad's a natural CB
Pocognoli 4 Terrible first half, absolutely shocking but improved in second half going forward.
Stephens 6 Looked solid most of the time but gave the ball away in key areas a few times. Not much playmaking either.
Sidwell 6 Started very brightly but faded and gave the ball away far too often.
Murphy 5 Offered little bar a couple of decent runs
Knockaert 6 Slightly better than Murphy but not much. Good chasing down and harrying though
Murray 7 Some good attacks but could have got into more attacking positions from crosses. Also poor challenging for aerial balls.
Baldock 7 Looked dangerous at times but not enough. Also guilty of watching Villa defenders head the ball away. Should have buried that shot.

March 7 A good performance off the bench
Rosenior 6 Struggled to get into the game when he came on.

 

[desprateseagull]

I think a long hard season took its toll, on everyone.

Bruno had a few knocks earlier in game, maybe his body is telling him to go easy now!

Stocky bossed it, up until the howler.

 

[dazzer6666]

Stockdale 7. Great saves but sometimes distribution was poor. Think he was unsighted for the goal.
Bruno 6 Played his heart out but kept backing off defenders and was skinned for pace
Dunk 8 Great performance
Tomori 8 MoM for me. The lad's a natural CB
Pocognoli 4 Terrible first half, absolutely shocking but improved in second half going forward.
Stephens 6 Looked solid most of the time but gave the ball away in key areas a few times. Not much playmaking either.
Sidwell 6 Started very brightly but faded and gave the ball away far too often.
Murphy 5 Offered little bar a couple of decent runs
Knockaert 6 Slightly better than Murphy but not much. Good chasing down and harrying though
Murray 7 Some good attacks but could have got into more attacking positions from crosses. Also poor challenging for aerial balls.
Baldock 7 Looked dangerous at times but not enough. Also guilty of watching Villa defenders head the ball away. Should have buried that shot.

March 7 A good performance off the bench
Rosenior 6 Struggled to get into the game when he came on.

Great summary....can't really argue with any of that although Knocky barely warrants a 6 - he's been very poor in the last 3 games.

Baldock did enough to show how much we've missed him recently and was pretty lively given he's been out a while.

 

[big nuts]

Stockdale 5
Bruno 6
Pog 4
Dunk 7
Tomori 7
Sidwell 8 MOTM
Stephens 7
Murphy 5
Knockeart 6
Baldock 7
Murray 7

March 6
Rosenior 6
Hemed 6

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Stockdale 6
Bruno 8 - goal wouldn't have happened if he was on
Pocgomoli 5
Dunk 7
Tomori 6
Knockaert 6
Stephens 8
Sidwell 7
Murphy 6
Baldock 6
Murray 6


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jack Straw]

Stockdale 7. Great saves but sometimes distribution was poor. Think he was unsighted for the goal.
Bruno 6 Played his heart out but kept backing off defenders and was skinned for pace
Dunk 8 Great performance
Tomori 8 MoM for me. The lad's a natural CB
Pocognoli 4 Terrible first half, absolutely shocking but improved in second half going forward.
Stephens 6 Looked solid most of the time but gave the ball away in key areas a few times. Not much playmaking either.
Sidwell 6 Started very brightly but faded and gave the ball away far too often.
Murphy 5 Offered little bar a couple of decent runs
Knockaert 6 Slightly better than Murphy but not much. Good chasing down and harrying though
Murray 7 Some good attacks but could have got into more attacking positions from crosses. Also poor challenging for aerial balls.
Baldock 7 Looked dangerous at times but not enough. Also guilty of watching Villa defenders head the ball away. Should have buried that shot.

March 7 A good performance off the bench
Rosenior 6 Struggled to get into the game when he came on.

Exactly how I saw it.

 

[Seagullssss]

No idea how the CBs are getting such high ratings...?

An 18-year-old caused them quite a lot of problems and on two different occasions should have scored. They weren't bad, but 9/10 rating? That's high praise in a game which Villa dominated!

 

[Pavilionaire]

In any other set of circumstances I'd have taken a point at Villa.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Stockdale 8 minus 2 = 6
Bruno 7
Pocognoli 6 minus 1, minus 1 = 4
Dunk 7
Tomori 8 MOTM
Sidwell 5 Played quite well overall but SO many free kicks given away. 4 on the edge of the box??
Stephens 7.5 Please stay
Murphy 5
Knockeart 5
Baldock 6.5
Murray 6.5

March 6
Rosenior 6

 

[BUTTERBALL]

Stockdale 7. I thought he was superb until the mistake, made some excellent saves and handling was superb. Such a shame about the error, he didn't deserve that.
Bruno 7 Good solid game although not able to get forward as much as usual
Dunk 7 Excellent
Tomori 7.5 Getting better and better, great strength and pace, just need to work on the passing
Pocognoli 4 Dire, his worst game, almost cost us 2 goals. Still not sure about him.
Stephens 7.5 All our attacking play and best moments went through him in the first half, not quite as effective in the second. We'll miss him massively if he goes.
Sidwell 8 MOM Very good, worked hard, passed well, won some key tackles and roared on his colleagues. Worth another year.
Murphy 5 No end product at all
Knockaert 6 Not as effective as usual but had a tough opponent in Amavi
Murray 7 Worked his socks off and cool for the pen.
Baldock 7 Lively but should have scored that vital second goal for us

March 8 Our best attacking outlet when he came on, superb.
Rosenior 6 Didn't have loads of time to get into the game.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Sidwell 5 Played quite well overall but SO many free kicks given away. 4 on the edge of the box??

Sidwell 8 MOM Very good, worked hard, passed well, won some key tackles and roared on his colleagues. Worth another year.

As above - he gave away minimum THREE free kicks right in front of goal, including the foul that crocked Hogan and the one that Hourihane nearly scored with. If he does that three times per game next year, against the likes of Hazard, Eriksen, Mata, De Bruyne, Coutinho, Lukaku, Ozil, Ward-Prowse, Brady, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, then its going to be a very long tough season!

 

[BensGrandad]

Stockdale 5 should have been 8 MOM but a keeper letting a ball through his legs
Bruno 6 Steady but got caught for pace
Tomori 7.5 good performance and a great prospect.
Dunk 7 Just say he was Dunk says it all
Pocognoli 5 Very poor in all areas.
Knockhaert 5 very poor going forward frustrated chasing back
Sidwell. 6 Fair performance but gives away too many free kicks.
Stephens 7 usual commanding self oh how we will miss him if he goes.
Murphy 5 offered nothing at all.
Murray 6 Not his best performance but kept trying and good penalty
Baldock 6 Showed his lack of match fitness.
Subs
March 5.5 slight improvement on Murphy but not much
Rosenior 6. Did his job effectively for the short time he was on the pitch.
Hemed n/a not on long enough


Tommy Elphick 2 should have tripped Murray when he passed to Baldock

 

[Wardy's twin]

We have big problem playing 442 when our wingers don't turn up, leaves far too much for the two CMs. Murphy & AK were absent for most of the time they were on the park. Pocognoli improved when March came on. sidwell had a good game had far too much to do.

 

[Marshy]

As above - he gave away minimum THREE free kicks right in front of goal, including the foul that crocked Hogan and the one that Hourihane nearly scored with. If he does that three times per game next year, against the likes of Hazard, Eriksen, Mata, De Bruyne, Coutinho, Lukaku, Ozil, Ward-Prowse, Brady, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, then its going to be a very long tough season!

Agreed, Sidwell is always giving away free kicks in very dangerous areas. I personally would move not renew his deal after giving it some more thought, He is not going to get any better, we should look for more legs in central midfield with a bit more quality.

 

[Notters]

Stockdale 5
Bruno 6
Pog 4
Dunk 7
Tomori 7
Sidwell 8 MOTM
Stephens 7
Murphy 5
Knockeart 6
Baldock 7
Murray 7

March 6
Rosenior 6
Hemed 6

In terms of saves alone, I think it was the best display I've ever seen from an Albion keeper. There were about five or six crackers. From where I was it looked like he was completely unsighted for the goal too. There were a couple of poor kicks admittedly. But how can it be a five? He was still my MOM. Without him we could have been about 5-0 down before we got our first.

Think he was unsighted for the goal.

So glad it's not just me.

 

[Trigger]

Stockdale 5
Bruno 6
Pocognoli 5
Dunk 6
Tomori 7
Sidwell 6
Stephens 6
Murphy 5
Knockeart 4
Baldock 6
Murray 6

March 6
Rosenior 6
Hemed 5

 

[Buzzer]

In terms of saves alone, I think it was the best display I've ever seen from an Albion keeper. There were about five or six crackers. From where I was it looked like he was completely unsighted for the goal too. There were a couple of poor kicks admittedly. But how can it be a five? He was still my MOM. Without him we could have been about 5-0 down before we got our first.



So glad it's not just me.

It was almost as if we were watching the match from the same spot!

 

[Notters]

Stockdale 8 Yep I've gone and done it
Bruno 7
Pocognoli 5.5
Dunk 6
Tomori 7
Sidwell 7
Stephens 7
Murphy 6
Knockeart 5.5
Baldock 6
Murray 6

March 7
Rosenior Not long enough
Hemed Not long enough

 

[BensGrandad]

I dont think that he was as much unsighted as failed to adhere to the golden rule taught to keepers Keep your legs together and your body behind the direction of the ball.