Dave hands out his marks from the 1-0 victory at Villa Park!
Fabianski – Fortunate with the disallowed goal as he was nowhere near it. Villa struggled to test him thereafter. 5
Johnson – Took a knock early. Coufal came on for him after 22 minutes. 6
Kehrer – Much more solid than he looked on his debut against Brighton. 7
Zouma – Never properly tested by Villa but was competent and went about his work with no fuss. 6
Cresswell – Tried to whip some decent balls into the box but there was nowhere in there to get on the end of them. Good in the tackle. 6
Emerson – Positive in possession and tried to get the team going but faded as the half went on and was substituted for Benrahma at half time. 6
Rice – So poor in the first half, his passing was all over the place and his touch deserted him. A changed player in the second half, playing the ball to Fornals for the goal, and driving forward. A performance of two halves. 6
Soucek – Doesn’t look anything like his normal self. Struggling to impose himself on games. 5
Bowen – What’s happened here? No longer the electric threat he was last season; was well marshalled by Lucas Digne throughout the game, including when he was sent through one on one and was denied by a superb tackle. 4
Scamacca – Balls just flung up to him. Did his best with it, and tested the goalkeeper with a long-range shot, but he was awfully quiet. Antonio replaced him on 64 mins. 5
Fornals – He’s not a left winger, and the Hammers lacked width as a result, but he made the breakthrough, shooting from range, seeing it take a deflection, and looping into the net. 6
Subs
Coufal – On for the injured Johnson. All over the place in possession at times, at one point kicking the ball out of play when attempting a pass. 5
Benrahma – Replaced Emerson at half time as Moyes switched formations. Tried to make things happen. A constant threat. 7
Antonio – On for Scamacca after the hour. Pressed throughout but didn’t have a chance to shoot. 6
Zouma made clearance after clearance, especially in the second half. He reminded me of Oggy! 6 is too low. The new boys haven’t developed a rhythm with the old guard yet, but give it time. The introduction of Benrahma and Antonio brought the side to life — it woke up Dec too, and we actually completed a few passes. Our passing is still generally terrible, though.
Well, our first win wasn’t going to come with us playing like Brazil as this is a work in progress and a win is a win, however it comes.
Once this rebuild of a team starts to gain an understanding of each other, along with all the tweaks that will come, we will soon start showing our true potential.
It’s a MASSIVE word these days… Patience.
COYI