Maybe a little generous in midfield but I don't care - we were incredible (and Villa were awful). Friedel - 7 - Couldn't give him a higher score as he had so little to do. Walker - 7 - Another good performance. Showed his speed and strength by sticking with and even outrunning Agbonlahor every time he tried to dribble. (Also I have no idea how he got to that pass from Parker). Kaboul - 8 - As Commentator said, so many defensive headers. Solid again - Dawson will have to up his game to regain his place. King - 7 - Controlled the defence well. I'm never scared when he's involved. Has he ever had a bad game for us? BAE - 7 - Didn't see him so a single thing wrong. I love the little turns he does to play his way out of the defence. Some good crosses too. Lennon - 8 - This is the Lennon I remember! Dribbling down the right at will, tracking back. Glad to have him back. Modric - 10 - We say it all the time, but he controlled everything. That chance that put Adebayor through (which he should have scored) epitimises our little magician - took it from the defence, ran forward, then put in a chance for the strikers. Parker - 9 - Again and again and again, he gets there to make a tackle. Sometimes out of nowhere. Came forward a bit more with a few shots too - though most were off-target (he's out of practice!). I really like Sandro but he's got his work cut out to earn a regular spot in the team. Bale - 9 - Just like Lennon, back to the player we remember from last year. So many successful dribbles, created lots of chances. As Pundits were saying, doing more tricks, rather than just running fast. Van der Vaart - 8 - I wish he had scored that early chance. Such incredible skill and creativity - probably good we took him off when we did with that hamstring scare, just to be safe. Adebayor - 8 - He seems to be constantly smiling. Enjoying his football, tracking back and working hard, pressing the opposition constantly. And of course the two goals, though he should and could have had more. Subs: Defoe - 6 - Not much time to have an influence. I can only remember one wayward shot. Sandro - 6 - No time to have an impact - was just to show Modric how much we love him and want him to stay? Let me know if you agree/disagree.
Good assessment, although I, too, would have rated Bale as MOTM. He is simply world class. Little wonder that Barcelona want him. Tonight's performance will have added £20 million to his price tag. I've started my own thread on this subject. He, Moddy, VDV, Lennon and Parker have got to be just about the best combined midfield in the EPL, at the moment. Yes, City have some expensively assembled players, but I wouldn't swap out any of that 5 for any of theirs. Our midfield play like they are psychically linked, at times.
Modric was MOTM in my view. He is sheer class. I've even started to forgive him for this summer and wanting to leave.
He didn't do any of those 'little turns' against Hutton, which I thought was very intelligent for a man who doesn't watch football or footballers. Walker putting Heskey on his arse twice in the first ten minutes set Walker up as the dominate player from that point onwards. He got to that ball because he had 6 Weetabix for his breakfast. Try and think of a mistake by one of our players. Still thinking?
Modric and Bale were at their devastatingly best, Lennon's finally looking like the player of 2 years ago and Parker typically running himself into the ground made them all candidates for MOTM but for me, I'd give it to Kaboul. He was an absolute beast in the air, also made a fantastic tackle on Agbonlahor after catching up with him and making a great sliding tackle and his overall game was extremely impressive for me. A few of us in Park Lane seem to have a little gimmick going on in which whenever a ball is crossed/ floated in to the box, we'll shout "Younesss" and literally out of nowhere he'll manage to header the ball out, a bully in the air. Every game he's improving and playing alongside Ledley is definitely a contributing factor towards that. The team as a whole (except Friedal who may have well sat in the stands as a spectator! ) played brilliant last night and no doubt the attacking bunch will get the plaudits and rightly so but for me Younes was top drawer. When you've got a player like Gallas on the bench, you know there must be something special with your centre back pairing and with Dawson to still come back it's looking rosy at Spurs for a change
I couldn't serperate Parker, Bale and Modric for MOTM. Parker again had yet another one of those never putting a toe wrong all game and whilst he wasn't put under too much pressure there were still a couple of moments where I thought it might open up for Villa but he was always there to nip it in the bud. Modric's passing was flawless all game and should have had a couple of assists when he set Bale and Adebayor through in the second half. Bale's off the ball movement was the most impressive thing about his performance. He rendered Villa's tactics to counter him useless by dipping inside to get the ball and when Hutton came inside to crowd the midfield he was out there getting chalk on his boots, in space for an easy out ball. There was also the movement for the corner and goal that Neville pointed out at half time, which really showed how far he's come on, he never showed that much of a football brain 18-20 months ago.
There were 2 that I noticed, not at all bad going. VdV gave the ball away once in the second half, and then legged it back to try to win it back, Parker also gave the ball away once for a simple pass to the left side (either to BAE or Bale). I think we can just about forgive both of them.
LDL. Brad isn't technically a top keeper any more, I suspect. But his presence is enormous for us, he has pleasantly surprised me, as I had great fears over his age. Marks per position 8; 7 8 9(Kab)7; 7 9 9 9 (emergency); 7; 9 I'll give MOTM to Ade, cos his goals meant so much to him and us. But probably it was Modric Bale Parker or Kaboul - so hard to choose.
When King absolutely robbed Agbonlahor early on in the first half I almost stood up and clapped in the pub! As others have said, Walker's pace to get to Parker's pass was unbelievable. How we didn't score more I'll never know, I really wanted Parker to score at the end as it would have been a much deserved and overdue reward for his tireless efforts. I think lots of teams underestimate Modric when he runs with the ball as well, he doesn't often use obvious skill (stepovers and the like) but he seems to ghost past people like they're not there sometimes. He's brilliant to watch.
Very hard to say who was MOTM,although i think Modric had his best game of the season.Agree with previous comments about Kaboul he is a beast in the air and soon will be the best CB or very nearly in the EPL.Friedel should get a special mention for having to stand on his own all game,are we sure he wasn't sitting in the crowd and jumping down onto the pitch when on the rare occasions Villa got near our goal.
