I was really happy to see us look comfortable for the whole 90 minutes on Sunday. For too many times this season, we have controlled about 70-80% of the game, but somewhere along the line, we tend to drop back about 20 yards and just seem to let a team attack us; whether that was down to Villa's lack of urgency etc I'm not sure, but for me that was one of the bigger positives, to see us on front foot, completely in control for the whole match. I thought that was extremely refreshing to see. Especially with the football we played as well, playing simple triangles round Villa, it was fantastic to watch.
I thought out back four were exceptional again, the confidence that they instill throughout the rest of the team is brilliant, Agger especially. I think with the Agger/Skrtel centre back partnership, dating back to last season we have conceded 5 goals in 13 games. No matter who you are, Barcelona, Barnet or Liverpool, that's an incredible defensive record.
Shelvey and Henderson I thought were fantastic, cool, calm and collected in possession. Looked confident, and looked mature way beyond their years. I feel Henderson is really coming into his own now, always looking for the ball, realising it early, moving straight on and always keeping the ball ticking over.
For what it is worth, I also thought Downing was good if not spectacular. Seemed to want to take his man on and also looked to get a ball in the box, seemed to show a bit more confidence than previous weeks. Part of me says this was to stick two fingers up to the Villa fans so to speak, but hopefully he can push on from this now and be the player for us that he was for Villa last season.
Suarez did what he needed to yesterday, looked a bit sluggish I think, as evidenced by that run against Richard Dunne (Just before he hit the bar), but with two/three days of training in the previous week, that's to be expected, but I thought he looked sharp on occasions and looked bright. Thought Bellamy was very bright, not sure if he was MOTM, but I thought he was very, very good.
Finally, I think you can really see the benefits of the work Clarke and Kenny are putting in on the training ground now, we're passing and moving and Clarke has worked wonders on the defence, the way it should be. Wigan away next, unchanged side for me, bar maybe Maxi in for Bellamy, but onwards and upwards redmen. We're getting our groove back and it's brilliant to see.
