Villa v Blues MotM poll

Grealish for me. The lad lot that 2nd half up and just dominated.

Richards was outstanding last night. We would of been beaten by half time without him, thanks to Sherwood's ridiculous team selection.

Some stand out performances last night:

Ayew
Grealish
Veretout
Amavi

But Richards was an absolute beast.

Richards is awesome an absolute steel on a free transfer.

A good second half showing.

There were lots of good performances on display yesterday.

Richards and Clark incredibly solid, especially in the second half.
Veretout, I thought, was incredible at keeping possession and keeping the play moving.
Rudy won everything first half and just needed some intelligent runs off him.

Ayew proved a lot of people wrong yesterday I believe with some incisive play and linking with the others but

Stand out player has to be Grealish. He was everywhere and seemed to give everybody else the confidence to run at them and take them on. Brilliant

Grealish was outstanding, indeed, took the fucking piss at times and I loved it - and it was clear so did he.

Ayew was a revelation when he came on, with Grealish he changed the game. He turned them inside out and tore them a new one. Very unlucky not to score, virtually everything went right for him.

However, neither of them get it, it is Richards for his 94 minutes of monstrous presence. He put some manners on Donaldson in the first minute and was still in full-on Balrog mode in the 94th.

There were some good cameos - Amavi was good; Gestede's bullet header (just as well, if he doesn't score he doesn't bring that much yet) and Clark.

Yes, Clark but only for his 2nd half. He was gash in midfield, but that was partially Sherwood's fault for sticking him there. CC showed some stones to put that behind him and be so solid next to Richards throughout the second half. I was pleased for him.

Richards was very good, remember the doubts we had about him playing centre back?

Pi55 poor first half, but after the break, Grealish, Ayew & Clarke were very good, Veretout gave the ball away a little but definitely his best performance so far, perhaps the French league imports are getting fitter or getting more comfortable with their surroundings?

For me on Saturday, Clarke needs to start before Lescott & Veretout ahead of Westwood, Gestede was pretty average last night again (motm in The Sun?) but he offers a little bit more than Gabby (shite once again) & he bossed Liverpool in the Cup last season!

VillaBill wrote:Gestede was pretty average last night again (motm in The Sun?)

I saw that, just goes to show you how clueless the writer is. I can only think they have a rating system whereby they award another point for getting on the scoresheet. Maybe in one of the infinite number of universes theoretical physics tells us could exist was Gestede the MOTM.

The parallel universe where we beat the filth 10-0 and he scored every one of those goals. Every one was a mazy 40 yard run from within his own half finished with a rifled shot from the edge of the box culminating in him going in goal after Guzan gets sent off and saving a 94th minute penalty to preserve our clean sheet.

In this universe he was a nuisance to their defenders but wasn't very quick, had a lousy touch though he kept on going. He then scored a bullet header which made me think, to paraphrase Alan Partridge, "He's got a head like a traction engine!".

I would also go for Grealish he turned the game when he came on but I also thought Ayew played well.

However, neither of them get it, it is Richards for his 94 minutes of monstrous presence. He put some manners on Donaldson in the first minute and was still in full-on Balrog mode in the 94th.


'Full- on Balrog mode' Love it!!

Unfortunately, I've only managed to see brief highlights but our French imports seem to be finding their feet and I was particularly pleased to see Ayew stepping up to the plate. With the likes of Gana and Traore to play their part we really do have the makings of a very dynamic and exciting side

Whilst we have to acknowledge that Blues are only a championship side, it's nice to see that (maybe) Tim has worked out how best to play when we're missing our midfield engine.

I'm sick and tired of "transition periods" and "waiting for players to get up to speed" but if we can afford to wait for Ayew and Veretout then we really could turn out to be quite a decent side indeed.