Opinion: Player Ratings Vs. Aston Villa

Tuesday night, Villa Park, two teams, two sets of fans, one winner! Unfortunately for Blues fans, it was the Claret half of the city that walked away the happier of the two.

Looking at the game, you have to say that Blues were unlucky, but Villa showed their quality in the end as they took their first meaningful opportunity and scored from it.

A Jordan Amavi cross from the left wasn’t closed down quick enough by Paul Caddis and the out swinging ball was met by the head of former Blackburn Rovers striker Rudy Gestede, who has now scored two goals in all competitions this season.

Blues did have chances, most notably the Jacques Maghoma one in the second half, but they just didn’t take them.

Taking a look back at the performance, down below are the ratings that I would give the players along with a short sentence on how I feel they performed during the 1-0 loss.

Kuszczak 6- Apart from picking the ball out the back of his net and that one fantastic save in the second half, the big Polish keeper barely had any trouble in goal.

Caddis 6- Pushed forward well when he could to support Maghoma but he should have stopped the cross which led to the goal.

Morrison 7- Had his work cut out with Gestede but he gave him a good battle in the air even if he did lose out most of the time.

Spector 5- Fairly quiet game for the USA international. Lacked any real defensive presence but got the basics done when he could.

Grounds 8- My Man of the Match. He was probably the pick of the bunch. He did everything right that he could. Attacking he looked a threat and defending he looked solid.

Gleeson 7- Looked sharp in midfield and was composed on the ball. Did rise to one challenge though but other than that he had a fairly solid game.

Kieftenbeld 5- Probably his worst game for us. May have been down to the intensity of the game but I am sure he will get back to his usual form on Saturday should he play.

Davis 7- Ran his heart out! Chased every ball down and even offered support to Donaldson when he could.

Gray 6- Another fairly quiet game from the youngster with no end product. A few chances on goal with no finish. Still a lot more to come from him I fell.

Maghoma 6- Missed a sitter in the second half which would have levelled the game. It’s a shame he missed it but you could see the emotion on his face after, he was truly sorry but he just couldn’t say it.

Donaldson 7- Held the ball up well but I felt he should have take more shots in the game! He had plenty of chances when he was facing the Villa defenders to take a shot, but he didn’t.

Subs: Toral (5), Brock-Madsen (5), Solomon-Otabor (4).

Blues fans, what did you make of the players performances? What ratings would you give them? Who was your MOTM? Let us know in the comment section down below!