Aston Villa 0:1 QPR
It was interesting watching us against Aston Villa in the Cup. I wondered how we would perform against Premiership class opposition and learned a lot from the match.
Villa weren’t at the races, that much was clear, but they still had quality in their side that was always a danger to us.
It was the pace of the game that interested me most. The players on both teams had much more time on the ball. Villa granted us that, which allowed us to play football and take control of the middle of the park.
With five-men in the midfield, we packed it and Villa didn’t really find the answer to breaking that barrier down. We also pressed quickly when they had the ball and ushered them into forced and unforced errors.
Having said that, we didn’t create a great deal of chances ourselves, but we still generally made more than Villa did. I kept thinking to myself that if we could fashion out one golden chance and get it on target, we would be able to take something away from the tie.
In the end, Damion Stewart stepped up to the plate. I didn’t think it was our corner in the first place, but the referee awarded it to us despite Zat Knight’s protests. It was whipped in and not cleared properly and Daniel Parejo planted the ball on Stewpeas head and that’s all we needed.
Stewart, bless him, played out of his skin. We looked comfortable and not out of place against Villa. From a technical perspective it was fairly even and their direct style suited us actually. They are more direct than most of the better Premiership teams and play less technical football. But at the same time, they are direct but at a slower pace than Championship football. So this worked in our favour and they didn’t seem to capitalise on the height of John Carew or Zat Knight. We did really well to snuff their aerial threats out of the game.
I was also pleased with Parejo’s performance. Sure, he misplaced a few passes here and there, but he tracked back well and got stuck in with some excellent tackles.
I thought Gavin Mahon did great too in a positional sense. He helped us maintain shape and when our creative players ran down a blind alley and had no where else to go, he was always on hand to take it from them and keep us the ball. Martin Rowlands and Fitz Hall also had good games.
I’m still slightly concerned about Damien Delaney. I think he’s missing that final quality at the moment from his game. It’s form. He’s not in the best of form and he let his man cross far too easily all ngiht and didn’t really have any quality in his attacking play or passes. We don’t have many other options at left-back though, so hopefully he can pick up soon.
The word of the day for the performance was resolute. If we can continue playing with as much professionalism and discipline, then we are going to be thereabouts in the Championship at the end of the season.
If I was to offer any constructive criticism to the guys, we hit it long too often in the sense that we panicked when there weren’t options on. With one man up front, the ball never really stuck with Patrick Agyemang and on the night his first touch let him down. You can’t afford that against Premiership players and ball retention is important at that level, or any level!
But other than that, it was a really pleasing display. Fourth round? Oh my. 
