Aston Villa v United: Player ratings

January 05, 2008

INTO THE NEXT ROUND: Wes Brown, Cristiano Ronaldo and Anderson celebrate

Van der Sar: Safe hands and commanded his area well when called upon 7

Brown: Kept the lid on potential threat of Ashley Young 6

Ferdinand: Whether it was big man Carew or speedy Agbonlahor he stood his ground 8

Vidic: Ditto his defensive sidekick. On top of everything Villa threw at them 8

Evra: His attacks were quelled but his defensive duties were performed admirably 6

Park: Little of the fizz that highlighted his New Year's Day comeback 5

Anderson: Couple of surging runs promised much but came to little 5

Carrick: Lot of safety first stuff but killer balls at a premium 6

Giggs: His first half miss would have haunted him but his assist and second half display got him off the hook 7

Ronaldo: Was having a frustrating match at times but he kept going and it paid off 7

Saha: The Frenchman ran into a lot of brick walls. Nothing to get teeth into in area 5

Subs:

Rooney (sub Park 70) Livened Reds up 7

Hargreaves (sub Saha 79) Steady impact 6

O'Shea (sub 90) No time for mark

Nani, Heaton not used

Aston Villa: Carson, Bouma (Gardner 83), Mellberg, Laursen, Barry, Young, Carew (Moore 64), Agbonlahor, Davies, Petrov (Maloney 75), Reo-Coker

Goals:

Aston Villa: None

United: Ronaldo (80) Rooney (89)

Bookings:

Aston Villa: None

United: None

Referee: M Atkinson - Handled it well. 8

Attendance: 33,630

Agree with the ratings? Have your say.

Submit Comments | Comments (53) |

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neal 07, Birmingham (irish born) (05/01/2008 at 19:40)

Saha maybe should have put his teeth into the massive chip he seems to have on his shoulder...his attitude stinks!!

shape up or ship out Louis

iyke tevez, lagos nigera (05/01/2008 at 19:46)

M.E.N better get a good analyst that understands the game of football to do your ratings. You guys keep upsetting people here.
How on earth can anderson get a 5. He clearly played very well and deserves an 8. Ronaldo too.
Nice to see Rooney back looking very refreshed. Saha didnt play well but was better than his previous games. He lacks confidence still.
Carrick still havent learnt how to do the easiest thing in football i.e pass the ball to your team mate. although he improved as the game went on. Cant wait to see scholes back in the team.

Red Dawn (05/01/2008 at 19:47)

I can't agree with alot of these ratings.

The entire defence deserved 8, and the goalkeeper 7 considering he had little to do.

Park deserved more than a 5, as he was probably our best player going forward in the first half, so I'd give him 7.

Anderson played well in the first half, but faded in the second, so again I think 5 is a little slack. I'd give him 6.

Giggs was awful in the first half, but very good in the second. I think 6.5 is about right.

Ronaldo was very poor for the majority of the game, and the amount of times he went over looking for free kicks was not very sportsman like. However, he was involved for both goals, so I'd give him 6.5 if I could for that alone, although it was a deflected shot that led to Rooney scoring.

Carrick played OK. He was solid enough, but gave the ball away a fair few times and wasn't very creative. His job was more or less to sit in front of the back 4, and he did it well enough. 6 for Michael.

Rooney changed the game when he came on, he was outstanding. Even though he was only on for such a short time, I think he deserved 9 for the impact he made.

Saha just didn't get the service - period. He had no impact on the game because of that. 5 for Louis I'm afraid.

oddpeder (05/01/2008 at 19:47)

Well, thank good we made it in the end, because this has difficulkt... Great game by back four and VdS. Terrible game by Carrick and Saha - the only thing they did was playing the ball back, back and back agian. Ok game by Anderson, had some glimps of his potential. Everything turned with fantastisc display by Rooney, and when he came on, Ronaldo also seemed to wake up... Ronlado and Rooney means victory, give MoM to them both!

Riquelminho (05/01/2008 at 19:52)

Anderson 5? Park 5? Carrick 6? Giggs 7?

I don't know if the person rating this game was watching the same game I was watching. Anderson was arguably our best attacker in the first half and his passing and vision was excellent. He didnt put a foot wrong today. Easily deserves 7.

Same with Park- he was a bundle of energy and played well. 7

Giggs looked pretty tired and besides the assist did pretty much nothing besides miss that great chance in the first half- 6

Carrick- not a good performance and passes backwards rather than forwards far too often. Some of his passes had my heart in my mouth.-5

Honestly, the ratings are far too harsh, especially considering Villa packed men behind the ball and made it very difficult.

Sheesh! They get the ratings wrong every week!

Red Lou, Malta (05/01/2008 at 19:52)

Giggs a 7??!! - he had maybe 5 minutes of good play out of the 90 and, to be fair, crossed for Ronaldo to score the first goal. Other than that he had another 5 performance. And to give Anderson a 5 is also unjustified. He deserved at least a 7.

Steve in Brussels (05/01/2008 at 19:54)

Anderson and Park 5?? cannot agree with that. For being out for such a long time I was fairly happy with his contribution and showed some good vision with a couple of backheels and flicks. Anderson I thought did pretty well with even a few surging runs through midfield.

In summary a professional performance. we defended well and wore them down like Italians. Carrick did well in the holding role but Ronaldo was not great today either and Saha was poor. Basically I had a feeling Villa might nick it 1-0 until Rooney came on and gave us another dimension. At that point Ronaldo and the whole attack came alive.

That Valtinho is why we all rate Rooney so highly as we do Ronaldo so cannot see why you always seem to not see his quality. Both are different players in style but when they are on form they share one common trait - they are very difficult to stop - and that is why defenders hate playing against them.

mjw, New York (05/01/2008 at 20:02)

I would have given Park a 4 (he seems so tiny against opposition players); Giggs a 5 because other than assisting with a goal, he made some atrocious errors; and 3 for Saha - of which two points would be for dressing in the correct away gear. Play Saha again and not sign Berbatov? As we say in New York: "Pu-leassseee!"

shen (05/01/2008 at 20:05)

It was a dour game and Rooney probably swung it for us. I dont think Ronaldo was a 7, even though he scored it was one of his worst performances, maybe a 6 at most. Carrick was probably a 5, he gave the ball away so much and he didn't do anything out of the ordinary, he cut out a few attacks but I would expect Kleberson would have been able to do at least that. Anderson was a 7, made a couple of surging runs and always looked lively on the ball and linked things well, although he still has a lot to learn, at 19 he is impressive. I have been watching Carrick get better results than Anderson for the last few weeks on this site now. Me thinks that maybe Carrick is shagging someone from the M.E.N.

Danny, Wilmslow (05/01/2008 at 20:10)

Anderson was an 8 Giggs 5 makes you woner if you saw the same game.

Mrs Fullaway`s lodger (05/01/2008 at 20:15)

Can Lee please make some decent ratings? The guy from MEN is back to his useless best.

I found Giggs to be alsmost at the top of his game except for the close miss at the end of the first half, would give him a very good 8, Carrick was abysmal in the first half, maybe a 4, Rooney turned the game on his own when he came on, at least a 9 or a 9.5! Rio was pure class, along with Vidic both an 8. Scrappy game until Rooney came on but that was all that Villa allowed, they were getting tired when the Roo came on.

Give it your best Lee!

Mrs Fullaway`s lodger (05/01/2008 at 20:17)

Oh yeah, I didn`t think Saha was that bad. He`s obviously not yet on form, but he will be soon! A 6 for today, with glimpses of a 9 to come!

Teledon (05/01/2008 at 20:35)

Carrick again rubbish-too many give aways and no aggression. He made a few decent passes but lacks conviction and does not inspire confidence. At least Anderson tries to get the ball back when he loses it and tries to tackle. Saha is lazy, no effort off the ball and no purpose on it. I hope Alex trades Carrick and Saha in the summer for more steel in midfield and more purpose and endeavour up front.

Dev, Johannesburg (05/01/2008 at 21:12)

Ok ratings but a bit harsh on Anderson, who I think did as well as Carrick. Rooney really ignited the team after a composed if dreary display which kept Villa at bay in the first half. Agree that Giggs played well in the second - besides making the first goal, and other telling passes, he showed his defensive qualities when he tracked back to make a desive tackle late in the second hal. OK, Barry, he had some misplaced passes, but so did Ronaldo.....

Sorry to see Saha not perform again - but still think he does well with Rooney partnering him. Predicted 2-0 but thought it would come way before the final 10 minutes. Still, Villa never looked like they would score, so it was only a matter of time.......

Junaid Adesegun, Bayswater (05/01/2008 at 21:31)

I think Carrick dominated the game very well and sniffed out attacking threat of Ashley Young. He should have been rated like 8 and I feel the same of Anderson. Dont forget his solo runs too.
I feel Ronaldo is getting selfish bcos he wants to score always. He refuses to release when the team has space to score. If not for the goal, should have been rated 5 or 6.

bleeding-red-always, salford (05/01/2008 at 21:36)

If giggs can geta 7 and carrick a 6 then surely Anderson deserves a 7. I thought he waz gonna score his first goal when he mad that run in the first half.

red since i can remember (circa 1976), Malta (05/01/2008 at 22:01)

neal 07, shut up will you? you obviously have it in for Saha. you're sounding embarassing!

SAPPER, MANCHESTER (05/01/2008 at 23:42)

Disagree with the ratings.
Giggs does not ddeserve the rating as nine times out of ten gave the ball away, only let of slightly by his assist.
Ronaldo may have scored but well below par. Saha not even a 1 as he was awfull thoughout the game whenever he got the ball within a seconde or two Villa had it back, not the player he was and so far no amount of game is going to make him any better.
Defence was very good and diagree with Evra's ratint he was a 7 aleast, and so was Park he was like the energiser bunny never stopped and I woould not have taken him off but either Saha or Giggs would have come off before him.
Agree with Rooney coming on because until he did there was no chance of us scoring or even making any chances, why was it so long before he came on though.
Anderson was also worth more than he got, and Carrick less as he gove the ball away to much as well.
Glad of the result though, perhaps it will gee them up a little bit.

arletta red, USA (06/01/2008 at 00:33)

Does Giggs own stock in this paper? A 7? His passing % had to be 50 % at best. He has no moves that can get by anybody anymore. My fav ManU Player of all-time, but it is time. Saha a 5 is a gift. Boy, sure glad we got rid of Rude. Ronaldo is our best player, but Rooney the most valuable as he showed today. We need more creativity in the middle, but all in all in alright if uninspired performance.

Steve, Glossop (06/01/2008 at 00:47)

Ok it wasn't a good display til the last 20mins. I thought Ryan played ok- 7 Anderson in the 1st half brought spirit-7. Ronaldo- 7 again showed us he's superb cos the later it gets the better he is at getting a matchwinner. OH produced a sublime quick pass late on he could be a great player for us. Carrick was to be fair generally good ok i thought he stalled our flow alot in the 1st half playing the usual meaningless return passes & I may have been trippin but i swear i saw him running down the touchline late on. Michael my boy you can ahieve all your dreams at United it's up to you money isn't everything- 8 IMO United's man of the match.

Devil's Own,, malaysia (06/01/2008 at 03:09)

Anderson and Park got 5? Doesnt seems right to me.

pok, singapore (06/01/2008 at 03:45)

Carrick was bought to make killer passes and unlock defences. This season he has been making too many square and safety passes. What happen? You don`t need a 17 mil pd man to do that.
Pok, S`pore

pok, singapore (06/01/2008 at 03:50)

Giving a 7 to Giggs and 5 to Anderson is ridiculous. The Brazilian is having a far more effective game. Park is doing alright until he tired out.
Pok, S`pore

i bleed Man United, Botswana (06/01/2008 at 05:16)

Van der Saar was solid came out well to catch corners 8.Patrice was constantly going forward and good defensively 8,Rio and Vidic handled both the pacey Agbonlahor and the aerial threat of Carew well 8 for both,Wes was good defensively but some of his crossing was poor 6,Ronaldo didn't have much space but when Rooney came on he controlled the game more 7,I thought Carrick was poor in 1st half losing the ball etc but he was better 2nd half 6,Anderson was always there,defending and attacking,passed to Giggs to cross for goal, and yet again he showed his turn of pace with his "super run" as against Liverpool 8 ,Park tried hard but nothing more 6,Giggs missed 1chance and overall wasn't great,except for cross 7,Saha was poor,came too deep for ball, got it, then lost it,when crosses came he wasn't there , 5.Subs, a 8 for wonderboy changed game completely, involved in both goals, great finish,I feel I can't rate him 9for 20mins of magic tho.good defensiv work from hargreaves 6.Wayne Rooney man of match

Gerry, Glastonbury (06/01/2008 at 09:21)

VDS had very little to do in all honesty and so a 6 for me. Evra gets a 7 for an excellent first half, though less involved in the second half. Carrick was the best midfielder and deserves 7, he played the Scholes role and did it very well. Anderson overall was disappointing. Giggs was a 6, he was OK but no more than that. The same applies to Ronnie, he achieved little until he scored but is always likely to be the one that gets the breakthrough. Other thoughts:
Saha had very little to go for and was generally well marshalled. Wes does give the ball away a lot but is a very solid defender and played his part in what was an excellent back four performance, Villa never had a serious attempt on goal.
Our two centre backs were tremendous. The Roon was the difference and a very good cameo from him.
I couldn't believe the crowd, 9,000 down on capacity? Was this just because it was televised? The league game here was a sell out!

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