Player ratings vs Villa

[PaulJ123]

Schwarzer 6- didn't really have a lot to do, but claimed well from corners where he looked shaky vs Southampton
Riether 8- never stops running. One of if not the best RB we've had in the prem.
Hangeland 6- did ok, nothing spectacular but did his job
Hughes 6- see Hangeland
Riise 8- him and riether were outstanding today. Did well defensively but really added width to our game. With Richardson looking to go inside (too often), we're reliant that riise gets down the wing when he can
Rodallega 5- he just never really contributed. He's wasted out wide in my opinion, would rather have seen kaca or Dejagah start
Baird 7- he did a decent job in the centre of the park. Great run to score though to get a vital win
Sidwell 6- typical feisty performance from him. Had a header which he should've scored from
Richardson 5- I don't understand why he starts over kaca.
Petric 6- good movement and looked a danger
Berbatov 6- he needs to play closer to goal where he's most dangerous. There's no point in him dropping back and playing CAM, him UP FRONT with Petric could be deadly

Subs:
Diarra 7- brilliant player, assured on the ball, great battler
Dejagah 7- really really impressed from his debut. Bright future
Karagounis 6- good experience to bring on in that situation. Won a couple of fouls, did well

[MurphLegend]

i agree for the most part, except sidders was awful in my opinion. and i thought rodallega put a shift in - tireless, getting down the channels, running it down.

berba drops deep because he wasn't getting involved enough. when diarra came on, the midfield tightened up, and berba got to roam a bit. before that we were shambles in the midfield. with diarra bossing the center, berba is free to find those little pockets of space. without somebody controlling the tempo, he was coming to collect

[Walsh]

my internet went off in the 60th minute or around there so I missed when Dejagah came on and I haven't seen the goal yet... I just thought it wasn't going to be our day and was going to be a bore 0-0 was so happy when I heard we scored on Sky Sports News and I wasn't shocked when moments later they said Villa should have scored.

[Burt]

Generally agree, although thought Rodders put in a decent shift running the channels. He just had one of those days where from a scoring perspective he couldn't hit a barn door. But he did contribute.

Diarra looked good when he came on, just the sort of midfield controller we need now that Murph has moved on.

Richardson was pretty ordinary. Not sure why he started to be honest.

[sunburywhite]

Just got back, traffic was awful
More or less agrre, thought Hughes had a stomer though, controlled everything in the air. Hangerland looked back to form and made some good blocks
JAR was tireless until he got clumped
Also agree about Richardson not doing much
Sidwell should only come in for the last ten minutes of a game when you are looking to shut it down. With him and Baird in the center of the park the ball goes square too often
My MOM was Diarra, totally changed the game when he came on. It wasn;t that he did anything spectacular but the one thing he did all the time was pass the ball forward which gave us momentum

[Alan_C]

Reither MOM for me.
Diarra made the difference, Richardson started because of what he can do (Southampton is the example). Sidwell is a shocking player, I don't see him as a first team or on the bench level player in this squad when all fit. With the present glut of left sided players I wouldn't be shocked to see Diarra and Richardson become our centre midfield pairing as the weeks go by.

[MJG]

Reither was excellent and while he has a way to go to match Finnan in the best RB stakes he is looking good.
Richardson seemed very tentative today. Was not on the same wavelength as Riise or Berbarov.
Big fan of Dave, but when he plays as a wide  midfielder I think we just have to accept he switches off on the defending side at times.
Petric started well but faded. Hardly touched the ball after HT. Needs to stop looking for a foul.

All three subs did well and while I was scratching my head at the formation we got the result.

[Max Headroom]

I have said this several times over the pastfew weeks and after yesterday more so...... Our central midfield needs to be Diarra and Karagounis. When they came on we went up a gear...... Sidwell and Baird are solid, but they don't make themselves available enough to receive the ball, so the other players don't have options.....

Reuther was excellent as was dejagah and Diarra added an extra zip