Aston Villa fans have voted for their Man of the Match after Tuesday’s penalty shoot-out Carabao Cup defeat in London.
Villa supporters submitted their player ratings via our AVF ratings form, which we’ll be inviting you to do via our social media throughout the 2025/26 season.
The process is simple. We’ll share a link at full time to ask fans to give every Villa player a score out of 10 – without a zero because we’re grown-ups and so are you – before adding in my own ratings from Aston Villa Review and taking an average.
These average scores will be used for Power Rankings each month and, ultimately, to crown a Player of the Season.
Marco Bizot – 6.2
Villa’s goalkeeper got a reasonably solid set of scores. His distribution isn’t at the level of the player he replaced – though it does imbue the team with more urgency – but his handling was decent and I don’t think there was much he could have done with anything that went past him.
Matty Cash – 6.0
Another slightly above average performance from the Villa right-back, who did a lot of his best work on the press high on the right flank and whipped in a couple of good crosses. His tendency to turn inside, which I think is as much tactical as it is a personal choice, doesn’t do him or Villa any favours.
Ezri Konsa – 7.2 – MOTM
Konsa scored a 7.2 on average, which is a little on the low side for my money. A consummate performance from a defender whose best games are now undeniably of international standard.
Pau Torres – 5.8
Conversely, every time Torres has played this season the only thing he’s done convincingly is show why Tyrone Mings is the superior player. Torres can pass the ball but he releases those passes so slowly that it’s a pointless exercise anyway.
Ian Maatsen – 5.8
Maatsen’s 5.8 average is much lower than the rating I gave him. The left-back did a lot very well, I thought, and Villa looked better in possession for his inclusion.
John McGinn – 6.0
McGinn is a central midfielder who plays best in the centre of the midfield. Who knew?
Lamare Bogarde – 6.4
Bogarde is another whose fan rating of 6.4 feels a little low after what I thought was a second very impressive performance in a row. He’s playing himself into contention, injured midfielders or not.
Harvey Elliott – 6.4
Elliott scored a goal on his full debut, just about. He played in pockets no other Villa player has troubled this season and there’s loads more to come from him.
Jadon Sancho – 5.0
Villa’s latest debutant got on the ball, hit the post and looked to be incisive in the final third. It was a positive start, albeit in flashes.
Evann Guessand – 4.2
Guessand is becoming a divisive player among Villa supporters already. I just see him as a bit rough around the edges but there’s a lot to like. He picked up a yellow card for an untidy foul again.
Donyell Malen – 3.8
Malen got his start at centre-forward and couldn’t make a mark. Pre-season feels like a very long time ago and Malen is starting to look like a player for whom there is no plan.
Morgan Rogers – 4.4
Rogers had his moments against Brentford, more so than in any other Villa game of 2025-26 so far. I wasn’t blown away, but I did see some encouraging signs.
Ollie Watkins – 4.0
When you leave your striker on the bench for a non-priority cup tie and bring him on, you do it because you need a goal. Through little or no fault of his own, that’s not something that’s happening at the moment.
Boubacar Kamara – 5.0
Kamara made a surprise appearance off the bench after injury, grabbing a few minutes before a big Premier League game at the weekend.
Emi Buendía – 5.0
A bit of fight, a bit of bite and some clever touches off the bench.
Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba – 5.8
Villa’s new JJ wasn’t on long enough to get a rating from me but I like what I’ve seen from him so far.
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