Definitely two points lost. Can there be any doubt that we were a) the better team, b) had the best chances and c) most of the possession. But as Sam Allardyce says, you have to put your chances away and I’m afraid we didn’t. Virtually every header or shot went straight to the Villa goalkeeper. I still can’t get over the chance that Carl Jenkinson headed lamely into his hands.
Villa were a poor side, and although they came into the game more in the second half, they rarely threatened our goal – the main exception being when Adrian pulled off a world class point blank save from a Villa player who volleyed from not far off the penalty spot. It was one of those games when you just knew that a goal wasn’t going to come, no matter how hard we tried. And believe me, we tried very hard. Neither Valencia’s trickery or Sakho’s power could deliver that final touch. Andy Carroll too had two chances right at the end but each time he was thwarted.
Let’s look on the bright side. On any other day we’d have won this game. We’re fourth. We’re unbeaten in five. We kept a clean sheet. And we had two performances which commanded a 9/10 – from Alex Song and Ginger Pele, James Collins. Both were truly outstanding. What a signing Alex Song is turning out to be. He singlehandedly controlled much of the game. His tackling and passing were both sublime. Sign him up permanently, please, David Sullivan.
I also thought both Adrian and Aaron Cresswell were outstanding. Cresswell had a nightmare against Stoke but he bounced back well and was a constant menace to the Villa right back on the attack. I have been Adrian’s biggest critic but apart from nearly scoring an own goal from a dodgy Winston Reid back pass he didn’t put a foot wrong. OK, Villa were crap in attack, but he repelled everything they threw at him.
Finally, it was great to see Andy Carroll back on the pitch for ten minutes. He won his first header and looked very confident. It would have been a fairytale if he had scored the winner, and the fairytale nearly came true. Those ten minutes will have given him a real tonic.
Adrian 8
Reid 7
Collins 9
Cresswell 8
Jenkinson 7
Noble 7
Song 9
Kouyate 6
Downing 7
Sakho 6
Valencia 7