Aston Villa are one step closer to a repeat of the 2002 FA Youth Cup victory having reached the quarter finals with a superb 5-0 hammering of the Tractor Boys at Villa Park.
Villa stuck to a 4-4-2 formation with Albrighton (midfield) and Delfouneso (striker) the stand out performers for the claret and blue. Here are villatalk.com’s player ratings:
Parish (6) – Not a great deal to do, but looked a little unsure on crosses. He would probably have made up for that with shot stopping, but there were no shots.
Simmonds (7) – I’ve seem him before in his one and only reserve appearance and he looked the same now as he did then, a promising hardworking defender with a bit of grit and determination.
Clark (8) – Probably the best compliment I can give him is that he looked older than everyone else. A calm, sensible, dominant defender with a very bright future.
Roome (7) – This is the first time I’ve seen the flat headed youngster play and he looked decent enough, good in the tackle and didn’t get caught out positionally.
Baker (8) – Another one I hadn’t seen before and a very pleasant surprise. Tackled anything that came near him and supported attacks well. He’s a good size and seems a good athlete. He’s one to keep an eye on.
Albrighton (9) - Fantastic tonight, he played in a huge number of accurate crosses from the right wing as ever and always looked a danger down the flank. What impressed me more was the work he got through defensively and his desire to win balls back. Chased lost causes and seemed to find most of them. He’ll still be wondering how he ended up with a booking against his name.
Forrester (7) – Busy and inventive, he needs to develop the art of finding a yard of space. If he can do that he’ll be able to dominate games with his range of passing and vision.
Hofbauer (7) – A good performance from our number one Austrian, he’s not as flashy as some of the other members of this team but he’s quietly productive from the middle of the park.
Bannan (9) – A goal and two assists for King Barry and he got better and better as the game went on. His passing was excellent tonight and he might have scored more than once coming in for crosses. The highlight was his goal, but there was much to be admired elsewhere. Barry makes this team tick.
Collins (7) – Not seen him before, but I know he’s our top scorer at this level and you can see how. He’s a big strong willing lad with a desire to score goals. Took his goal well, ran hard all night and could have one or two more. Promising.
Delfouneso (9) – This is the first time I’ve seen Delfouneso play at his own age level and he was superb. If you sat down and designed a striker, you’d list all the things he has; there really doesn’t seem to anything missing. He took all of his goals with a calm assuredness (think Anelka) bullied the Ipswich defence (think Adebayor) and worked hard at linking up play (think Drogba) and just to put it into perspective for you he was the second youngest player in our starting eleven. This young man can be anything he wants to be in football.
August 3, 2008 at 9:00 am
I agreed with you