Yes, unlucky.
That’s the opinion I came away with after watching this one.
The first half was very average stuff and frankly, it bored me to tears. We created nothing bar a weak Ayew header and I don’t think we even got a corner.
Wednesday were by far the better side and they created what seemed a lot more chances, but in reality they hardly had a decent effort, a shot hitting the crossbar apart.
Which was all quite worrying really, as I thought the midfield looked particularly weak. I know the line-up was supposed to be a 4-4-2, but if you look at the actual players who started, it doesn’t seem like that to me.
The second half was much better though and we were easily the better side, putting Wednesday under serious pressure for long periods.
I’m not really an analyser of games as such and I much prefer to just watch things generally, but today I’m going to try and break things down a bit more specifically and rate each player.
I don’t really like pinning myself down and it’s only an opinion, remember;
Gollini; 5
I thought he was poor today, simple as. He made one decent stop, but went for a ball when he had no chance, which left the goal wide open. His decision-making looked terrible and of course, he was at fault for the goal after an awful attempt at a clearance. He quite clearly cost us the game, but I’ll put it down to nerves. Looks massively inexperienced and needs to seriously improve quickly.
Hutton; 6
Didn’t get going at all in the first half and while he was better in the second, he was still ineffective going forward and worse in defence. Got embarrassingly turned all over the place by Forrestier at one stage.
Elphick; 8
As soon as I saw him geeing up the players during the pre-match huddle, I was impressed. To then see him with a bandage on his head encouraging the fans and still heading the ball with gusto told me exactly why RDM signed him. We have our leader and he was also reasonably solid in a defence that didn’t look particularly happy.
Baker; 7
Didn’t really do anything wrong and was mostly pretty solid overall.
Cissokho; 6
I’ve liked this player up to now, but thought he was poor today. His crossing was poor, although in fairness he looked a bit better defence-wise. Doesn’t look confident at all, to me.
Westwood; 5
A five because he’s purely average. Perhaps I’m biased as I’ve never rated him, but I just don’t see it at all. Had a shot which he should have buried and that’s all I remember. How some rated him as a Premier league player is just beyond me, as he just does nothing, in my book.
Gardner; 5
Another player I’ve always liked, but just poor again and looked like he was at risk of getting sent off. Incredibly disappointing, because he’s highly rated at other clubs, but we never see it for the Villa. Trying too hard, maybe?
Bacuna; 5
Was he actually playing in the first half?
Got more involved in the second half, but didn’t do much.
Ayew; 8
Looks a class apart compared to the rest of the side, but he’s wasted on the left. He seemed to go more inside in the second half, where he seems more effective, but looked too greedy at times. Should have done better when he created a chance at close range on the left, but looked our most threatening player.
McCormack; 7
Didn’t seem quite on top of his game and was subbed. I suspect he has a niggle, but I saw enough to convince me he looks like he’ll produce.
Gestede; 6
I have high hopes for him, as this is his level. But we’re not giving him the right service, so it’s hard to condemn him completely. He won one ball and headed it down perfectly for McCormack to run onto, which is exactly what I’d want from him.
Subs;
Tshibola 7, can’t say I saw much either way, but he was definitely a better option than Gardner today.
Grealish 7, caused problems, but often went too deep in helping out on the defensive side. What’s the point of that?
If you’re going to reinforce the defence, get a defender or defensive mid on.
Green, 7, again hard to mark, as he was just helping out at the back too. If you’re going to give him minutes, get him doing what he does best!
I don’t know, you can probably mark all the players up or down a point or so, but hopefully I’m not too far off.
The main thing is I don’t believe losing today was a major worry.
Wednesday got to the play-offs last season remember and they’re much more geared for this league than we are currently. We’ll add a couple more players at least and today was interesting because of the players who didn’t start, in my opinion.
Regardless of what the official reasons are, I suspect the likes of Gabby, Richards and Lescott will not be getting a look in.
I see the press are saying that we’re just up to our usual standard, but I didn’t see it like that at all.
We were unlucky to lose and overall might have actually have done enough to have won it, which would have been a great result.
Another important thing is that we were still trying, even after we conceded.
From what I saw today, I’m encouraged.
We’ll be up there come the end of the season and Holloway will be eating his words.
