I thought Villa's feet and positioning were really great today. When he was even with the back line, with just he and the back 4, he came back to make himself available for the ball. Offense still needs to run through him, and he's one of the best in the league in some of his hold-up play (which is crazy since he's not a very big guy -- for you). He needed to do better with some of his shots, though. He had some great opportunities, but just couldn't find the net. And that second-half header, if he were just 3 inches taller, it's a goal.
I'm starting to think that Mac might be the odd man out if Lampard is ever fully fit. I'm not sure how fast Lamps is, and I can't imagine he's really that fast, but Mac really doesn't offer too much on the wing in 1v1 situations. He was a back-pass champion tonight because he knew he couldn't get past his man. We'd do well to throw Mix on the left in the future and maybe Khiry on the right for some pace eventually. It's probably the one of the remaining important things this team lacks.
Hernandez had a nice game, and Mena played pretty well, too. Iraola had some nice attacking runs that we're really finally seeing, though Angelino was a little quiet. I wonder if that was part of the plan, keeping Angelino home more often since he can cover more ground, let Andoni go forward and have Mix run his ass off all game. By the way, since Pirlo, Mix is growing out his beard.
All in all, a good point on the road. Happier with 3, but we're going to give every team we face hell. I expect to win out at home the rest of the season. Galaxy had a mid-week game too. Not worried about our fitness, really, but I don't want to see any more yellow cards. We're accumulating a bit too quickly to be missing Villa for a key match.
