Aston Villa player grades: Jedinak, Grabban falter
By Josh Tonti
Almost all in the claret and blue were not good, but we thought you might enjoy some Aston Villa player grades anyway.
Bleh. No other way to put it. Aston Villa laid an egg at home to a pretty terrible Queens Park Rangers team. Full credit to Ian Holloway’s men, though. They stifled every Villa possession, keeping a clean sheet through a flurry of lethal counters.
Steve Bruce’s unchanged XI looked rather mundane, about 72 hours after a physically and emotionally draining hammering of Wolverhampton Wanderers. In retrospect, it would have been wise to swap a player or two for fresher legs. But this is crunch time so the preferred XI went.
Aston Villa. SAM JOHNSTONE. 5.0. Three goals against, none particularly his fault. Johnstone’s distribution, however, was once again horrendous. Someone needs to tell him to stop hammering it five yards over the farthest forward’s head. Four saves on seven shots, most of the tame variety.. GK
His crossing was a bit wasteful (did mix in a few dangerous swings), but Elmo got himself into plenty of good positions in the attack. Spaced himself very well with Snodgrass on the right wing. Tapered off in the second-half as Aston Villa fell apart.. RB. Aston Villa. AHMED ELMOHAMADY. 5.0
JAMES CHESTER. 5.5. Was great, other than getting beat on Manning’s opening goal. <strong>Scored </strong>a consolation goal, which does matter, by the way. Every goal could be the difference between 3rd and 4th, 2nd and 3rd etc. 5 clearances from the Wales international.. RCB. Aston Villa
Aston Villa. JOHN TERRY. 5.0. John Terry had a weird game. Statistically, he succeeded with 8 clearances and 90% passing accuracy. By eye test, at least my eye test, he struggled. Far too many counters and set pieces went Queens Park Rangers way.. LCB
LB. Aston Villa. NEIL TAYLOR. 5.0. Neil Taylor was fine before oddly being subbed off in the 55th-minute. Bruce switched over to a 3-5-2 with Mile Jedinak transitioning to center back. AVTV noted it may have been a hand injury, but that’s not confirmed. Villa need Taylor at the moment as he is the only senior left back with Alan Hutton and Axel Tuanzebe out injured as well.
3.5. A day to forget for Mile Jedinak. Actually made a bunch of well-timed tackles, but QPR ran around him all evening.. CDM. Aston Villa. MILE JEDINAK
ROBERT SNODGRASS. 6.0. <strong>Assisted </strong>Chester’s late goal. Robert Snodgrass led Villa with six key passes, but he was a little wasteful in 1v1 dribbles. Struggled mightily to defend, conceding a pair of fouls.. RM. Aston Villa
6.0. Jack Grealish ran really hot and cold. At times he looked like Aston Villa’s only hope for a goal, and at others, a liability in conceding counter attacks. I need Steve Bruce to explain why he had Jack playing as the defensive midfielder in a 3-5-2. Or, why Hourihane was more advanced before then.. CM. Aston Villa. JACK GREALISH
4.5. WhoScored loved his performance, but I cannot say the same. 5 successful tackles, but he seemed noticeably absent. Taken off for Birkir Bjarnason in the 80th-minute.. CM. Aston Villa. CONOR HOURIHANE
ALBERT ADOMAH. 6.5. Probably Villa’s best player on a dreadful Tuesday evening. Stretched QPR’s backline for 55 minutes. Had to play left wingback for the final 35 minutes which ended the claret and blues’ chance to win.. LM. Aston Villa
4.0. One to forget. Struggled as a lone forward and in a strike partnership with Keinan Davis for 11 minutes.. CF. Aston Villa. LEWIS GRABBAN
Player statistics provided by WhoScored match center. Aston Villa go again Saturday with an away clash to Bolton Wanderers.