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There were no signs of rust today as Villa returned from the two week absence and put in a confident, dominant performance to beat Blackburn 4-1 with two goals from Ashley Young – one from the spot – Stewart Downing and a Grant Hanley own goal, turning Marc Albrighton‘s low shot/cross into his own net.
All five goals came in the second half, Nikola Kalinic grabbing a late consolation with nine minutes left – possibly receiving a fortuitous deflection sending the ball looping over Brad Friedel’s head – only to see it cancelled out almost immediately by Ash.
Starting XI, Albrighton on the right, Downing on the left
It may have finished 0-0 at half time, but Pires was at the heart of almost everything Villa did going forward and managed four shots from dangerous positions, forcing a couple of decent saves from Paul Robinson, and drew a couple of yellow card earning fouls.
Villa started the second half as they finished the first; with Stewart Downing on the right and Marc Albrighton on the left. Aside from an early scare right after kick off, Brad Friedel being forced into making his first save of the game, it was Villa looking to take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Ash opened the scoring from the spot after being tugged down robbing a ponderous Keith Andrews of possession in the box, after Kyle Walker‘s cross had been blocked.
The second goal came just after the hour mark, the culmination of a series of five corners, the last one finding Albrighton lurking in space on the left, cutting inside and firing a right footed shot/cross into a crowded six yard box, Grant Hanley’s instinctive block diverting the ball past his own keeper.
The third was a classic counter attack just two minutes later, Ash unleashing Stewart Downing cantering into space down the right before heading toward goal and firing a left footed shot to the far post.
Blackburn’s goal had more than a touch of fortune about it, Kalinic’s speculative effort taking a wicked deflection off Richard Dunne, looping over Brad Friedel with a stunning amount of dip.
Any hopes of a late comeback were short lived as Ashley Young restored the three goal cushion barely a minute later after being left criminally unmarked sauntering into the box to collect a short pass from Downing and thump past Paul Robinson from all of 12 yards.
Blackburn finished the game with 10 men after Ryan Nelsen was dismissed in injury time for a second bookable offence, taking Ash out with a desperate sliding tackle from behind.
Inverted wingers, Delph at left back following Baker's injury.
Robert Pires left the pitch to warm applause with roughly 15 minutes left to play, Stan Petrov on as his replacement. I missed Heskey coming on to replace Darren Bent with seven minutes left, but I found a new stream in time to see him going close at the near post.
Overall, there’s much to be extremely pleased about. Villa were always in control during the first half, although the game started in fairly low key fashion, building steadily toward half time. The second half was about just engaging the next gear and cranking up the pressure before Blackburn, who offered very little today, finally buckled.
Call it confidence if you like. There may have been a little swagger at times, but the players looked infinitely more comfortable in what they were supposed to be doing than was the case a month or so ago. Patience too a key quality, but that stems from confidence.
Most importantly though, it’s three sweet, sweet points, up to 12th in the league, looking up instead of down, and there are quality options beyond the starting XI.
We’re six points behind the top six with 10 games to play and can’t be written off going to Eastlands on Wednesday, despite City’s strong showing in their last few games.
We’re back. On every level.
Villa starting XI: Friedel, Walker, Dunne, Clark, Baker, Albrighton, Pires, Reo-Coker, Downing, Young, Bent. Subs: Marshall, Heskey, Petrov, Bradley, Agbonlahor, Delph, Herd.
Blackburn starting XI: Robinson, Salgado, Nelsen, Hanley, Olsson, Andrews, Jones, Grella, Pedersen, Emerton, Santa Cruz. Subs: Bunn, Roberts, Givet, Mwaruwari, Kalinic, Nzonzi, Diouf.
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13 Comments to “Aston Villa 4 Blackburn 1: Quality performance, three points, 12th place”
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Whilst I thought we were pretty efficient, I thought it was only because Blackburn were very poor.
Indeed, it reminded me very much of the West Ham game.
The first half didn’t inspire me at all.
That said, once we went 3-0 up (which in all honesty wasn’t a fair reflection at the time imo) they offered very little.
I’m not knocking it, as as you well know it’s all about results for me.
I’m still not convinced about this better football we’re supposed to be playing either.
It’s not very often I’ve disagreed with you though, so I’m somewhat confused.
good point about falling into the west ham trap. i don’t think a three goal advantage flattered us today though. robinson was pretty busy. maybe not making world class saves, but he had to work today and it wouldn’t have been unfair if we’d gone into half time with a lead.
but you’re right, blackburn were pretty abject. on that note, i don’t think they deserve even a goal from today.
“better football is subjective, but i think from a technical perspective, there are many improvements. a lot of it is just organisational; i watch off the ball, more so when we don’t have possession, noting how they retain their shape, how aware they are of each other, how disciplined, etc., and i see a marked improvement on where we were towards the end of 2010.
That’s a good point Dan.
Robinson did have to work, but it was mostly long range shots, which a keeper should be saving all day,imo.
I particularly kept my eye on Bent today and his movement is very good.
A cut above Gabby, for instance, sadly.
There are a few positives, don’t get me wrong, but it still isn’t clicking for me.
We look very much like our league position, give or take a couple of (higher) places.
Interesting to hear the good words for Pires – after incessant television commentary about how is lack of pace was dragging the whole Villa offense down. I thought he had some fine touches and good movement, but there certainly were opportunities lost because he was a step slow.
I agree with Badger – Blackburn was so lifeless and incompetent, it is difficult to use this game as a measure of anything. Love the three points, though.
it’s funny, stewart, i watched live via a stream of the sky italy broadcast, not a language i really know and i was pretty satisfied at half time.
during the break i tweeted: “and that’s half time. 0-0 villa by far the better side, robert pires has been fantastic today & forced a number of important saves.”
and as the 2nd half kicked off: “bent & ash kick off the 2nd half. more of the same & three points, surely.”
then i watched the “re-live” of the international feed used by fox featuring tony gale co-commentating and he described pires as “going missing”, just one of many criticisms, besides being generally down on everything villa did, and i wondered whether i had seen a different game earlier.
i have to wonder how many people allow their opinions to be shaped by what commentators say.
i thought pires was excellent in the middle and final thirds of the pitch, he might struggle against tougher opponents, his fitness levels are clearly superior, but he is still 37. as i said above, smart use of the squad to use him in a game like this.
I was watching the Fox feed live. As I said, I thought the observations of “Tony” (now I know the last name) were reasonable based on a few early plays where Pires seemed slow, but the mind-numbing repetition was annoying, and the comments to the effect that all Villa’s frustrations were due to Pires’ inadequcy, was a bit over the top.
It was Bent (and perhaps Downing) who missed the best chances in the first half, but, like you, I thought surely they can get this right in the second half, and once they have a lead Blackburn would be forced to open up, and more goals would come. And so it went.
Most gratifying to me was some vindication for my man Ashley Young, who showed he is still the straw that stirs the Villa drink.
if it weren’t for wanting to hear the crowd and whatever the mics can pick up from the pitch, i’d mute the sound for most matches tbh.
I think Dan, Badger and Stewart are all correct. We are looking up. We are looking bettter. However, the comfort of this victory is a reflection of the very poor quality opposition.
The key to perspective on this is, that a few weeks back, WE were looking like Blackburn – a team with no belief, no plan and going very quickly in the wrong direction.
indeed. important not to get carried away, but the signs of improvement remain and we can only take one game at a time.
hopefully no one is getting too carried away ahead of city on wednesday, it would be good to retain fairly low expectations and take anything we get out of it as a bonus.
Great result. I was frustrated after the goalless 1st half, but to put 4 away in the 2nd was nice. Moving up the table and shrinking that goal differential looks good.
Saw a mention on an ESPN article about Ash offering the captain armband to Petrov when he came on, and Petrov refusing. Anyone have more info on that?
the patience was a good sign today. there were few signs of frustration and that paid dividends in the end. as i said, that stems from confidence.
didn’t see the armband thing myself, interesting though. i did notice petrov, who was warming up on the sidelines, celebrating with downing after he scored the third though. he looked genuinely happy.
MotD liked Pires. 3rd goal was nice to watch. See Dunne tried to give them a lead there. Bench happiness talk from GH was interesting. Do you think he’s in charge now?
i wondered whether he’d fall victim to the edit, but i think they did his first half contribution justice.
i don’t know how to read all those off the pitch subtleties tbh. i mean, i find myself looking at the somewhat muted celebration for the final goal and ash’s oh-so-serious celebration of the first and i wonder what’s going through their minds.
there was an opta stat circulating about dunne making the most “last man” type challenges which is interesting, but i find myself wondering how many of those challenges he was frantically tracking back to recover his own mistake.
luckily friedel and clark covered him just after the 2nd half kicked off or this game might have been different.
but that’s the trouble with being a central defender or a goal keeper, mistakes tend to lead to goals.