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Villa Taken Apart By Fantastic Everton

Match Report on Aston Villa (A)

Dave kindly offered to drive to Villa Park for yesterday’s match and it was a welcome change to sit back and enjoy the journey. Needless to say, we tucked into a few beers en-route before arriving at Villa Park and parking up well in time for the game… so early in fact we were in time for the lunchtime match in the pub. A Swansea win and Swansea top of the league as we went into kick off.

I’ve been to Villa Park a few times but this is the first time I’ve had quite a central view of the game. The seats were excellent, the weather nice and warm as referee Michael Oliver led the teams out. Everton looking smart in their white kit – I’m not convinced by the blue beach shorts mind!

Hibbert injured and so not involved with the addition of Steven Naismith the only change from Monday night's heroics against Manchester United. We looked strong. Looking at the Aston Villa line-up and in all fairness I struggled to recognize many of the players in their team. On paper, they didn’t look good.

On the pitch they looked poor also as Everton went for it from the off… so much so that we were ahead after only three minutes. I’d be interested to se how many passes proceeded the goal but it seemed a lovely passing move before Naismith teed up Pienaar who looked up, picked his spot and curled a lovely ball into the corner past Shay Given. 1 - 0 Everton and the away fans in delight.

Everton continued in the same vein, at the same tempo and on another day would have scored again earlier than we did – Jelavic heading two decent chances over the crossbar. We allowed Aston Villa a little possession for 10 minutes or so but they were unable to create anything and before long normal service was resumed – Jagielka, (of all people) getting down the right wing and putting a great cross in for Fellaini to meet. Quite how it got past Shay Given I really don’t know but anyway that was 2 - 0 and nobody could say it wasn’t deserved from Everton.

Ditto for 3 - 0. By this point, Aston Villa were simply all over the place and Everton took full advantage. A nice pass from Baines in to Jelavic and he did what he does best – one touch finishes into the onion bag. 3 - 0 and as the way it was going at the time you could only see Everton getting more goals in the second half…

This wasn’t to be though whilst it was eleven against eleven we strangely looked a lot more likely to add to our goals tally. The red card for Ciaran Clark was unfortunate as I couldn’t quite see how he could get out of Jelavic’s way after the Croat was put through very smartly by Gibson. Regardless he was given his marching orders and it was simply game over.

We took our foot of the gas, made some substitutions and Villa were give the luxury of some possession. The bleeders even went and scored – El Ahmadi trying his luck from distance and the swerve on the ball was enough to deceive Howard who really should have saved.

That was 3 - 1. Everton had some chances to add an extra goal but it wasn’t to be. Aston Villa even hit the post late on which could have resulted in a tense finish but that was that. An excellent away win at a ground where we almost exclusively always draw and when did we last win our first two games back to back? League Cup progress on Wednesday night and a win at West Brom next Saturday would be just fantastic going into the international break.

After the game we shuffled away, the journey back was just as easy as the journey to Villa Park and we were home for roughly 7:30pm. A classic away game and an awesome victory…

You sense something special could well be brewing with this team.

Player Ratings:

Howard: So little to do it was criminal but then he let in a rather soft goal. Needs to keep his concentration levels at a maximum throughout games…goals like that could be costly against better teams. 6

Baines: Nice set up for the second goal but I think he can still step up a couple of gears. Playing within himself I think. 6

Jagielka: Another great, solid performance by Jags with an assist to boot. Certainly justifying his place in the team ahead of Heitinga. 7

Distin: Just as solid as Jagielka. They should both get a rest on Wednesday against Leyton Orient. 7

Neville: Did just fine. 6

Gibson: My Man of the Match. He was excellent throughout I thought. So much so that we looked a little lost without him once he was substituted. Looks very settled. 8

Osman: Was neat and tidy throughout though unspectacular. He did step it up though once Gibson was substituted and got more solid and commanding. A decent game. Typical of what you expect from Osman really. 7

Pienaar: Scored an excellent goal but like Baines I feel he is still capable of stepping it up a couple of notches. Great to have him back though and I’m sure he’ll keep on improving over the next dozen games or so. 7

Naismith: Did OK. Got one assist. You can tell he’s still not all there fitness-wise but the minutes on the pitch will surely help. 6

Fellaini: Another excellent display and a goal from the giant Belgian. He's so difficult to dispossess when he has the ball. Will cause any teams problems the way he's playing I think. 8

Jelavic: Also, despite a nicely taken goal you get the impression he can step it up a bit. Great to see him getting of the mark though. 7

Coleman (for Naismith): Did Ok if not spectacular. Just toiled down the right wing and caused them a few problems. 6

Mirallas (for Gibson): I wasn’t sure this was really the right swap as losing Gibson seemed to set us back a bit. I think we’d have been better putting Mirallas on directly for Naismith. Regardless, great to see a new signing involved. I think he’ll need a bit of time to find his feet. Was unfortunate to stray offside for the goal he had disallowed. 6

Heitinga (for Jelavic): Filled a few holes in midfield with Mirallas going up front. Will presumably play on Wednesday night. 6

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