Brucie Bonus

It may be the most clichéd, obvious, unfunny pun for a title that I’ve ever used. And I’m certainly not claiming to be the first to use it.

It’s safe, it’s obvious, but it’s not particularly exciting.

Which, funnily, makes it the most appropriate title I could have used.

Because that’s what Steve Bruce is.

He’s not going to introduce a style of football that reforms the game, he won’t make us into the most dangerous team in the division going forward, and he’s not going to promise the fans a cup and European football in 5 years.

And that’s a good thing.

Steve rather brings a sense of security, an aura of organisation, and an atmosphere of honesty and logic.

He stops the defence doing their best deer-in-headlights impression as soon as we are required to hold onto a lead, he gets the midfield working hard for each other, and he puts our attacking line into formations and partnerships that yield the greatest return.

On the pitch, he has the experience and tactical nous lacking in Tim Sherwood and Paul Lambert; and the honest, likeable, enthusiastic style in press conferences that Lambert, Garde, and Di Matteo (all of whom having a tendency to be bumbling and incomprehensible) all failed in. It’s genuinely refreshing to have a Villa manager that will both discuss the training and ideas the team have been working on, as well as being honest and self-critical when things haven’t gone our way.

To give an example, he’s held his hands up for isolating Jedinak in midfield against Wolves, and ever since then Miles has potentially been our most integral player. It’s this honesty and learning from mistakes that makes Bruce so damn likeable.

And it’s more than just talk. Steve’s effect on the pitch has been as obvious as Gabby’s diet.

11 points out of a possible 15 is some feat considering the lack of belief in the squad since he took over. Kodija looks capable of becoming the 20-goal-a-season striker we all hoped we’d signed, and it looks like he’s finally established a back 4, even if it meant the bold move of dropping our captain.

We seem to have abolished our curse of throwing away leads late into games, and have even began to steal some instead, and we’re finally not blindly fluffing several clear-cut chances per match.

To accomplish these things in such a short timescale - with a squad so low on confidence – is nothing short of remarkable.

Going forward, it’s interesting to see that Bruce clearly sees places in the squad for the current scapegoats and favourite of the boy-boys, Agbonlahor and Westwood.

Although January will be a better battleground to test this faith, and whilst I find it hyperbolic to call Agbonlahor “as good as any striker in the division”, there’s certainly no sense in dropping a Villa fan that has scored goals in the top division all of his life, even if he did disgrace himself last season. We just don’t have room for that luxury at the moment.

The same goes for Westwood. Fans are all to eager to highlight his short-comings, but he’s shown before that he is capable of holding his own in the Premier League, and we need all of the midfield firepower we can muster (until January at least). More importantly, he’s a hard-working, nice-natured Englishman, which is exactly the type of player Bruce has a soft spot for, so I wouldn’t expect to see the back of him anytime soon.

With all this praise-singing, it’s easy to forget that this was an appointment resisted by many.

Associations with bitter rivals are choppy waters to navigate for any football alumni entering a new club, and there aren’t too many rivalries more bitter than the one between ourselves and our Blue neighbours. Just look at the stir the McLeish appointment created before a contract was signed and a ball was kicked.

There are two key things to remember on this front.

Firstly, Bruce hasn’t squeezed into anything from the Blues’ club shop since 2007, almost a decade ago, and it’s high-time for bygones to be bygones. To give a sense of scale, Tony Blair was PM and England were just moving into the new Wembley.

More importantly, I’ve said it before and it’s worth repeating: We’re the biggest club in the division, but we’re far from good enough to be picky and in too much of a crisis to put emotion over logic.

Wins against Fulham and Reading - once considered a formality - had us stood on the Holte giving an emotional rendition of ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’, in case you can’t tell how hard times have been for us as fans - and what our football means to us.

If you can’t get behind Bruce because of Blues, it’s time to grow up.

I don’t expect him to win us any silverware, but he’s easily the man for the job if we are to return to where we belong – he’s proved that himself in the month that he’s been here.

I personally see next season as the true reasonable target for promotion. I’d love to be proved wrong (for better not worse), but our season has only just begun – perhaps a little too late, and even with the expected foray into the January transfer window, I still see this as (yet another) transitional season.

For the time being, we should be content knowing we’re picking up forward momentum, and have finally, for me, appointed the right man.  

He is a focus on substance over style, and finally shows a significant, positive change in direction from within the club.

It only took 6 years, relegation, the constant shattering of incompetence records, an embarrassingly one-sided FA Cup final, and a change of Chairman to get us to there.

Match Review: Aston Villa 1-1 Leicester City

Everyone was in the same boat on this one.

We expected 0 points, but had a slither of hope we might just pick up an unexpected 3.

We got something in between.

And considering we got that against supposed 'title contenders', I'd say we can be happy. 

Not to say that Leicester turned up looking like table toppers - both teams put in a sloppy, physical display - and ignoring the first 25 minutes ours was actually superior.

We genuinely looked like threatening their goal, and if Jordan Veretout knew how to hit a ball further than the first man from a set piece, or if Ayew knew how to deliver a decent ball after beating his man, we easily could have got more from the game.

But that's what it boiled down to, a game of 'ifs'.

'If' Bunn hadn't saved the penalty; 'if' we didn't have goal-line technology; 'if' the ref had seen Huth swing at Libor; or 'if' Okore hadn't let the ball bounce for the goal, the game would have been totally different.

That's probably more a reflection of football itself than this one-off game, but when there's so many incidents that could have gone either way - a point is probably a fair result. 

Garde's decision to stick with the bold shake-up in the team sheet against Palace was a relief, and my faith in the Frenchmen is slowly growing every week. I found myself not questioning his decision to swap Gil for Gestede after an hour, a sub that would sparked a wave of disgust around the ground had Lambert or Sherwood made it, and it certainly payed dividends as Rudy ultimately found the back of the net (just about).

On a side note, I also finally saw how Leicester have gotten to where they have.

They have somehow managed to combine two of the best teams from 2008 to create a weird hybrid that nobody's quite sure how to play.

They have the incredibly fast pressing when out of possession, whilst hunting in packs of 2 and 3, that is genuinely reminiscent of Guardiola's Barcelona (don't laugh), mixed with the thuggish, in-your-face backbone of Tony Pulis' Stoke team, with players like Huth and Vardy, who have no problem at all swinging for players and pressuring officials. 

This is why they can turn up against 'elite' teams and compete - there's no fear.

But enough about their lot.

We're certainly showing there's some fight left in us, and if we are to have any hope at all of turning our season around, 4 points every 2 games is a good target to start from.

Focus must now shift to our next 3 league games. 

Albion away, West Ham away, and Norwich at home.

7 points is possible, and must be our target going into these games.

It's The Hope That Kills Ya'

El Chapo's been caught, Bowie's dead, and Aston Villa Football Club have won a game of association football.

It's been a weird week. 

I haven't written anything since September 1st, and to be honest it's because there's been very little to write about that hasn't already been said. 

When the only thing you can say about a game is "we were shit and deserved to lose", and hundreds of people are saying the exact same thing, every week, then there's little point in putting pen to paper and adding a drop to the ocean.

But last night against Palace - for the first time in months - Villa stirred and showed signs of life. 

We were controlling, attacking, and didn't panic while trying to hold a lead, very different to everything we've come to expect from what I can comfortably say is the worst Villa side I've ever seen.

Can we attribute this to Remi Garde?

In fairness, who'd have thought that playing a 'proper' centre forward - who can play a bit and has been tearing up the u21's - up front in Libor Kozak would improve our fortunes?

All of us, for months and months.

But at least Remi's finally seeming to get the picture. There's more to our side than just 'lump it to Rudy' and it's seeming like it might be finally starting to show. Players like Kozak and Gil who have been mercilessly overlooked in recent times not only have something to offer the team, but are perhaps people we should be looking to build the team around.

He's also showed that he has the ability to lay down authority when needed - something massively needed when you're trying to run through treacle like we are right now.

Somewhere between punishing Grealish for his unprofessionalism; finally dropping Guzan; and his straight-talking press conferences, Garde proved on Tuesday that the team still has spirit and are willing to fight for him - shown undoubtedly through the tireless, industrious display from the midfield 3 and the celebrations after the final whistle. 

Anyone who's been a Villa fan for longer than 6 months (and I can't imagine we've picked up many glory hunters in that time frame) will know that these 'turned the corner' displays often come to an abrupt halt 90 minutes later.

Saying that, me and my old man had agreed we wouldn't return to B6 until we thought the team could compete, and we've got tickets for Saturday.

It's the hope that kills ya'. 

Start of Season Review

A well-timed international break for a squad stricken with illness and a seeming lack of chemistry, and everyone can finally breathe a big sigh of both relief and exhaustion as the busiest and arguably most pivotal transfer window in the last decade has finally come to a close.

It certainly wasn’t short of action and interest, and you’d be forgiven for thinking the forums were discussing a trip to West Midlands Safari Park than the Villa, with talk of Snakes, Beasts, Frogs, and now Elephants running wild (Sorry Joleon).

Signings have ranged from signing Mark Bunn to Barcelona wonderkids, and most refreshing of all we seem to have finally found adequate replacements for positions needing upheaval for years.

An all-rounder, confident left back in Jordan Amavi; a game-changer in Adama Traore; and a box-to-box powerhouse in Idrissa Gana Gueye.

All the uncertainty around Sherwood’s first opportunity to buy players proved to be misplaced, and only our very own fantastic Mr Fox could turned losing our two best players and a cup final into yet another August of optimism.

This isn’t an absolute certainty however. Amavi’s mistakes against Palace and Sunderland have arguably cost us 3 points, Idrissa seems to run out of puff in pivotal moments of games, and Traore may well be too raw to risk against premier league full-backs.

This aside, 4 points from 4 games isn’t a bad return from a side many will have tipped to go down, and most importantly we haven’t been playing badly. The points dropped certainly aren’t due to a lack of chances or trying, promising in itself. If not for jammy deflections and Micah Richard’s knees resembling a 50p coin we could easily be in a far healthier position on the table.

The team are passing with more confidence and certainty with every coming game, well-balanced by Clark and Richards looking like a formidable force at the back, Adding the experience of Joleon Lescott will undoubtedly strengthen the teams resolve – hopefully we’ll see less of the errors that cost us at Selhurst Park.

What’s impressed me more than the new signings, however, is the continuation from the current players to free themselves from the Lambert-ian football that plagued the club recently. Ashley Westwood has pushed on further up the pitch like we all knew he could, Alan Hutton is continuing to prove himself worthy of the ‘Scottish Cafu’ moniker, and Carlos Sanchez proved against Sunderland that the ball-winning, long-passing, hard-hitting ‘La Roca’ we thought we’d signed is still in him.

Things aren’t all positive though.

Gabby continues to look a liability, Gestede may have a few goals in him but is nowhere near enough a replacement for Benteke, and Ayew and Veretout have gone missing when given the chance on centre stage.

Scott Sinclair's form has been nothing short of inspiring, but we won't be able to rely on him for goals all season. The likes of Grealish, Gil, Westwood, and Bacuna need to start chipping in with a few more from midfield. 

I’ll always be optimistic, and there’s plenty to be singing about right now – but what concerns me most are Sherwood’s comments about the players needing time and asking for patience. It’s a completely valid angle to take but after season after season of transitional periods it gets to a point where results simply need to start coming.

With a hatrick of Midlands derbies on the horizon – what a chance to get off the mark and put any doubt to bed.

Match Review: Aston Villa 3-3 QPR

It was always going to be a weird one for me last night. After having countless people unable to make the game with me, I woke up yesterday morning unable to keep away from a game of such importance.

“Screw it, I’ll go on my own.”

It turns out plenty of people go to Football solo, and if anything it really showed me the power of the game. I got friendly with the people around me; whom I’d later end up hugging and screaming in their faces, and I never felt awkward being on my tod.

This was particularly well-welcomed in a time where we, as Villa fans, have received much negative (not to mention hypocritical and hyperbolic) press for fan behaviour.

I’d always thought of football chiefly as a tool for me to spend valuable time with my Father and Brother, as well as a distraction from the general miseries life manages to throw at all of us – but going on my own proved to myself once and for all that I am deeply, deeply, and irreparably in love with this club.

But enough about me.

What a game of football we experienced last night.

Value was definitely achieved for the price of admission, but I was still left driving down the M42 feeling ripped off.

It was a game we should have won with some degree of comfort, but Villa being Villa, could never make it easy for ourselves, and again proved our reputation of being a team of two halves to be true.

After going a goal behind so early, we showed great character – probably the best thing Sherwood’s bought to this team - in quickly firing back with two of our own, and we really should have kicked on from there and sent QPR back to the capital with a sore backside from a thorough kicking at the home of Football.

But it took Benteke heroics to save us from dropping into the bottom 3 - the most powerful Christian since Jesus himself. (not my own but I love saying that)

Despite this disappointment, and as I will always stress even in the darkest of times, there were some real positives to take from the game.

Gabby proved somewhat that he is capable of turning up against teams from outside the midlands, Benteke showed form reminiscent to his 2012 killing spree of goalkeepers, and we (for the most part) were able to control a game and show attacking intent, something we haven’t quite been able to get in good balance for some time.The team also showed that there is certainly fight and a bit of steel about them, yet another factor we’ve been sorely lacking in season’s gone by – which I again must credit our Cockney maestro for.

I was also really impressed with the fan backing tonight, it would have been understandable to stay away tonight after the disappointment against Swansea and inevitable heavy loss at The Library of Dreams, but the Holte was full and made plenty of noise, not that I’d expect anything else.

This isn’t to say there weren’t glaring concerns in the team.

Defending for all 3 goals was sub-par with more horrendous marking, and the now-routine conceding from a set piece. As dominant as it felt we were, especially in the first half, I never for one second felt comfortable with the defence, and QPR were always a threat on the counter.

We also managed to continue the running theme of being gut-wrenchingly vulnerable at Full back, with Richardson and Bacuna getting caught out numerous times, though the entire blame for this can’t be placed solely on their shoulders. Frankly, the formation tonight got narrower and narrower as the night went on, and our lack of width was troublingly Lambertian – leaving the poor sods exposed as always.

But we’re still in the fight, we’re not in the bottom 3, and we ultimately managed to prevent QPR from getting all 3 points – probably more imperative than winning the game ourselves.

There’s still plenty of football to be played, and I still think Sherwood will see us safely into Premier League football next season, but the games don’t get much easier from here on out; and we can’t keep leaving games thinking ‘we should have got more from that’, that costs dearly in the relegation scrap.

Onwards to White Hart lane.

The Paul Lambert Show – Thanks for the Memories

This time 48 hours ago I was driving over the Aston Expressway, and as Villa Park appeared in my view, something happened that had never happened before.

I was angry.

Normally, I’d glance over and feel a burst of pride looking over at the most beautiful stadium in the world. Sure, those feelings have been slowly diminishing – but they’ve always been there.

This is the result of spending a 6 hour round trip on a coach to Hull on a miserable Tuesday night the previous day only to be served up something reminiscent of a betting scandal. The team not only didn’t look like winning – they didn’t look like they were trying to win.

Little did I know that beneath me the cogs were beginning to turn, and by the time I got home the news would be broken. It was the news that by now, almost all Villa fans had been waiting for, and the news none of us thought the club would make.

For me, at least, and maybe others – the initial wave of relief and joy has been slowly developing a tinge of anxiety.

What we have perceived to be the root of our problems has gone, but what now? With Scott Marshall in charge for Sunday’s game, what will the direction of the team be? Who will they look to for inspiration? What if the rot has run too deep into the club, and won’t subside until we see more significant overhaul? The threat of relegation is still very real.

Regardless, we as fans have a duty to fulfill this weekend, we need to play our part in lifting the team and being less on their backs than we have been recently – but I know that we will be.

As for the man himself, I was thoroughly behind him all along, but my waivering support changed in Hull, the straw that broke the proverbial Camel’s back. Enough was enough. But even with that said, reading over Lambert’s subsequent comments I genuinely have sympathy for the guy.

He was given the incredibly hard task of restructuring a huge club with a (rightfully) highly expectant fanbase on a shoestring budget, and I have a lot of respect for his efforts. For the various flops we’re all aware of, He purchased some potential club greats in Benteke, Vlaar, and getting Guzan to re-sign. This is also ignoring all the players he’s bought through that we have yet to see the best of, in Sanchez, Kozak, Helenius, Westwood, Senderos, Gil, Bacuna, all bought for very little in relation to their talent.

I also had a lot of respect for the game he tried to play during his first year, where we truly saw exciting attacking football, even if its success was hindered by a shaky defence and widely-acknowledged lack of experience. It was only when this clear direction was put aside in favour of an array of odd, under planned tactics in hopeless hoofball and sideways-going-nowhere did it start to seem like the man might truly be out his depth.

He cared greatly for the club and fans, and always wanted to deliver what we were asking of him. It’s such a shame that he wasn’t quite capable; it’s obvious from accounts of him that he’s a very genuine guy who is passionate about his work.

Even if he did greatly underachieve for us, he’s still created some magnificent moments over his tenure. I don’t think I’ll ever forget coming back from 2-0 down to Albion after 10 minutes to win 4-3; Delph’s incredible footwork to beat Chelsea; or putting 6 past Sunderland on a Monday night.

These will be the games I remember when people asking me about what it was like growing up as a Villa fan, and I will always applaud what Lambert was trying to do.

You may have overcomplicated football, broke various records for the worse, and left me feeling more frustrated than I knew I could be in football – but your intentions were always pure. Some of my most cherished Villa memories were from you Paul, and for that I thank you.

Summer 2014 Transfer Roundup

With Villa the second lowest spenders in the league with a roughly £7 million outgoing, ahead only of Stoke, it would be easy to write this off as a characteristically-slow and uneventful window, but with 6 signings, there may well be much for Villains across the globe to get excited about.

Philippe Senderos (Free Transfer – Formerly from Valencia)

2014 had so far been a poor year for Senderos. Leaving soon-to-be relegated Fulham to make just 8 appearances in La Liga for Valencia, before a disappointing World Cup with Switzerland, including a horror-show in their 5-2 defeat to France, made it very understandable for Villa fans to be uneasy as to his contribution to the team, especially with the notion that he may be a replacement for Ron Vlaar, should the captain leave.

But, thankfully, Vlaar is staying put, and has formed an immense partnership with Senderos in the opening portion of the season, shipping just 1 goal in 3 premier league games. He has helped to add a much needed breath of professional-feeling air to the squad, and with his vast amount of vital tackles and last-ditch blocks, the defence is looking its strongest for at least 3 years.

Not to mention that at the age of 29, he could easily have 3 or 4 more seasons at the top level.

Kieran Richardson (Undisclosed from Fulham)

Another signing that seemed relatively uninspiring, and branded as distinctly ‘average’, Keiran has started in the same vein as Senderos; with impressively solid performances.

Expected by many to come in as a wing-back to replace our string of below-par signings in that position, instead Richardson has found himself playing in the midfield three, very much as a replacement – arguably an upgrade - for the recently departed Karim El-Ahmadi. Richardson is similarly a hardworking midfielder with good passing range, but to me is superior due to his consistency; premier-league experience; and set piece delivery, three things glaringly lacking in Karim’s game. 

He has helped give our midfield a bit more ‘fight’ with his stamina and hard-working attitude, not to mention finding himself providing the vital assist to Weimann in one of the best-worked goals I’ve seen at Villa Park for a long, long time against Hull, and to me represents a decent bit of business.

Joe Cole (Free Transfer – Formerly from West Ham)

Signing a recognised England International well past his prime with an appalling injury record understandably has put a lot of people on the fence. 

On one hand, Cole offers a lot of experience and arguably a pinch of class to the side, two things certainly lacking in the side, and he also has proven he can play effectively in the number 10 position, as a creative midfielder in the final third of the pitch, again – a theme of this article – something the side sorely needed.

I’m personally prepared to give him a good chance in a Villa shirt, and will happily accept that it will take a good wedge of time and physio work to get him fully match fit and away from the dreaded injury table we’ve populated far too much in recent memory.

What annoys me most is that plenty of fans have already completely written him off, despite only playing 62 minutes for the club, in a cup-tie that didn’t seem to be treated with the greatest of importance. Providing a pertinent example of the lack of patience and eager pessimism that the current era is producing.

At the end of the day, to me this is another free signing that will be hard to prove as bad value for money in my book.

Aly Cissokho (Undisclosed from Valencia – Estimated at £2 million)

If you asked a Liverpool fan about Aly Cissokho, and his tenure at the club while on loan last season, they’d probably tell you that while he’s a fairly decent defensively, but going forward he was about as much use as a chocolate teapot, with huge deficits in technique and composure, before assuring you in his thick, annoying accent that we shouldn’t expect him to be bombing down the touchline and delivering inch-perfect crosses.

And they would be wrong.

Cissokho looks somewhat a revelation, and a long-awaited answer to our fullback problem. Strong as an ox at the back, decisive and composed in his passing, and not to mention superb in his crossing. The Newcastle game springs to mind as a perfect example of this, where he was by far the most dangerous threat on the pitch, producing 2 or 3 crosses in the first half that a fully-fit Benteke could easily have converted into a hat-trick.

It may be early days, but in my books this might just be the signing to get the most excited about. He could be a huge player for the club.

Carlos Sanchez (Undisclosed from Elche – Estimated at £4.7 million)

Sanchez, or ‘La Roca’ (The Rock), as he had been nicknamed due to his strength, is our big money signing of the summer, and is a vital one, given he might finally be the anchor in midfield we have desperately been crying out for. (far more encouraging than the rumoured plan of training Gary Gardner for that role)

From what little we’ve seen of him, he might not be the most electrifying man in sports entertainment, but he should go on to be a perfect replacement for our glaring hole between defence and midfield. He hasn’t set the world alight, but then again players in that position aren’t supposed to. He’s displayed a great range in his passing, has a strong presence on the field, and clearly isn’t afraid of a tackle. 

As he gets used to the pace and intensity of the English game, he should fit in without too much trouble, and play a pivotal role in the success I believe we are capable of achieving this year.

Tom Cleverley (Season Long Loan from Manchester United)

It was seeming increasingly likely that Tom might be our deadline-day panic signing, and there seemed to be somewhat a feel of relief when that fell through, with £8 million on a player desperately low on form dubbed too excessive and too much of a gamble for a club trying to rebuild itself. 

The news the following day that it was the be instead a loan move instead, seems a much more reasonable and safe bit of business. We will have first option to sign Cleverley, and with his contract up at the end of the season, the gambling aspect of a permanent signing will be removed.

Another player who can be the number 10 in front of the midfield that we need, Cleverley may well go on to reproduce the form he showed at Wigan, when a team with an attack is built around him rather than him playing the role of a passenger.

United fans might claim that Ferguson saw a lot in the lad, but played him too defensively, and given the freedom to push further up the pitch, there’s definitely hope for him reaching the height of his powers with us.

Overall, It’s clear Lambert had identified the same weaknesses in the side that we had in the stands, with 2 creative midfielders, a holding anchor-man, another option at centre half and 2 players able to play at left back being brought in.

All seem capable of being first teamers for top 10 teams, and all have played for their respective countries. For a spend kept to seven digits, that’s far more than I’d hoped for, and to me at least – a good indicator of the progression the club is trying to make.

Match Review: Aston Villa 0-0 Newcastle 23/08/2014

7 days removed from a suprising opening day victory against an unsuprisingly over-hyped Stoke City, proving pundits and Villa fans alike wrong, and there was a strange feel in the airs around B6.

There was optimism.

This was not so much shared by the ticket sales, with the club only barely scraping past the dreaded 30,000 line, a solid indicator of the poor season ticket sales following another disappointing season. Despite this, the team received a loud reception which was maintained throughout – even seeing chants of ‘Paul Lambert’s Claret and Blue Army’; which came as a bit of a shock to me at least, given some of the abuse spouted at him (arguably largely justified) last season. Here’s hoping this is an indicator that the fans as a collective are ready to give him one last crack at getting this team playing.

The unchanged team seemed to pick up where they left off at the Britannia, keeping solid at the back, and seeming overall more professional than the side we’ve been used to. The entire back 5 were a solid, cohesive unit, and all played off each other very, very well. Hutton and Cissokho both tackled well and were dangerous going forward, proving all the reviews from Liverpool fans that the latter lacks passing and crossing technique considerably wrong. Another well-deserved clean sheet is excellent news for a club who have had considerable problems defending in recent years, which I personally believe is down to the summer business – the signing of more experienced players and bringing in Keane to put some fire in their bellies.

It’s vital we don’t get too carried away with this success though, Newcastle managed to miss several clear-cut chances and a better side (or one that isn’t oblivious to what the back of the net looks like – seriously, their finishing was worse than mine) could have had at least two by halftime.

The main problem in the team is going forward, and until the two injured target men come back to hold up the ball it looks like we’re still going to be relying on counter-attacking football, which is particularly frustrating at home, and unacceptable that we mustered 0 shots on target. Delph seemed to be the only player with the impetus and skill to get forward towards the goal, and should have scored if not for a tactical red card.

I think the team may have looked stronger with Joe Cole in the second half, allowing us to play in their half and create chances, rather than hopelessly lumping the ball to Gabby. But saying that, he’s not match fit and in fairness it’s clear this team has a lot more to come as they blend together and the big men come back.

The main positive for me today, aside from the good defending and seeing Darren Bent pull on a Villa shirt again, something I honestly never thought I’d see again, was that all the debutants impressed. Particularly Carlos ‘the Rock’ Sanchez, who seems very useful and it was nice to see a big midfielder who can win headers for a change. With him sitting in front of Vlaar and Senderos, teams should find it very hard to come at us through the middle, not to mention his clear passing ability.

There was plenty to be happy about today, but also lots to build upon. The real test will be next Sunday against Hull, as our ability to impose ourselves and take the game to teams at home will be need to have improved.

Man of the match: Aly Cissokho who is greatly exceeding expectations. Strong tackler, dominant in the air, good passer, and provided some great crosses today that you have to believe Benteke would have scored.