Here's my thoughts:
Harper, 4. I've always supported him but I'm starting to get concerned and he can't have many days like today. The penalty looked stupid from where I was as the player was running into no mans land.
Perch, 8. He did nothing wrong and he looks like he could turn out to be our best player in his position, he's got loads of pace and can pass the ball.
Williamson, 8. I don't think he did a thing wrong all day and him and Coloccini were massive for us, he reads the game really well.
Coloccini, 8. I was really pleased for him as along with Williamson, he had a massive game and like Williamson read the game really well. I think having him on the left of centre works well with Jonas and Enrique.
Enriques, 8. He was outstanding today and had proven that he's one of the best in his position, even in this league.
Routledge, 6. I'm not sure what to make of him, he sees plenty of the ball but his crossing was poor today and I thought that it got to him and towards the end of the game he'd even stopped trying to get a cross in.
Smith, 7. He had one of his best games for us today; it's a pity he didn't play like that more often.
Nolan, 6. How he scored 2 goals I'll never know, the first was one of the most fortunate goals that I've ever seen as he should never have been given a second go at it but the Villa defence were as bad as I've ever seen at this level. To think that our defence has been used as a measure of shitness, not any more after today. I watched him put in by Jonas with a ball that should have been perfect but he didn’t reach it before a Villa defender who shouldn't have had a chance.
Barton, 8. His goal was brilliant and just what we needed at that time, it was going in from the second it left his boot, they had no chance with it. I also thought that his corners and free kicks were much better than the ones taken by Ryan Taylor when he came on.
Gutierrez, 8. I thought that he had an excellent game, he held on to the ball much better than against Man U and delivered some good balls into the area, if only we'd had somebody playing up front with Carroll to take advantage of the balls into the box.
Carroll, 10. This is the best that I've ever seen from him. I thought that he was finished at the start of the 2nd half because of all of the hard word that he'd done in the first 45 minutes but he surprised me as he played as well in the second half as he had done in the first. I didn’t expect todays performance from him in his early days, he must be one of the most improved players in the country since Christmas and has proven today that he could become a genuinely class number 9.
Shola, 5. I’m not sure that he did much.
Ryan Taylor, 5. Barton was much better when taking the free kicks and corners than Taylor was when he came on.
Xisco, 5. I thought that he'd blown it just before making the goal as he was in a similar position and blew it. The through ball for his assist was as good as you could expect to see.
Hughton, 9. I thought that his team selection was piss poor but the result proves that he was right. I think Villa were as bad as we were good and hope that we don’t have to pick our starting 11 too many times at home because it’ll probably not work too often. The substitutions were bizarre but again, they worked.
Team Performance, 9. I have no idea if we were that good or if they were realy shite.
