---
title: "Villa player ratings: Sheffield United (A)"
canonical: "https://readastonvilla.com/2018/09/01/villa-player-ratings-sheffield-united-a/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Sheldon Muchmore"
section: "Features & Analysis"
published: "2018-09-01T16:45:35Z"
modified: "2018-09-01T16:49:28Z"
---

# Villa player ratings: Sheffield United (A)

Just when Aston Villa fans thought they couldn’t see a worse performance than the one they saw against Burton Albion in the Carabao Cup, Bruce’s first team players decided to make Tuesday’s starting XI look like Real Madrid.

Bruce, in his infinite wisdom, decided that he needed seven defensive players on the field, but, despite this, it still took just 6 minutes for Sheffield United to open the scoring.

If Villa fans thought things couldn’t get much worse than that, they were sorely mistaken. The Villa players were all over the shop and Sheffield United were picking them off at will.

The home side doubled their advantage in the 23rd minute when Duffy was allowed to go on a run and pick his spot from 22 yards. The game was then put to bed when Norwood scored in the 41st minute.

Sheffield United rubbed further salt into gaping Villa wounds by adding a 4th goal four minutes after the break. El-Ghazi pulled a goal back in the 61st minute with a fine finish, but it was nothing more than a consolation – if you can even call it that.

Villa played a bit better for the remaining 25 minutes, but by then, it was far too late. This might just be the result that costs Bruce his job.

Here are our Villa player ratings for today’s embarrassing performance against Sheffield United.