Scott Sinclair scored a brace of goals yesterday to make it five goals in two games for him but his goals did not bring us the win we needed.

We have conceded five goals in our last two home games and you cannot expect to win games too often when the defence is leaking goals like that.

We conceded an early goal but equalized within two minutes and were ahead at the break. Another goal looked likely and it would have settled the game for us. We were not short of opportunities to add a third but our visitors left Villa Park with what may prove to be a rare away point for them this season.

We now have four points from four games and this sort of point accumulation is on a par with another bottom six finish. We are now treading water whilst we wait and hope for our new signings to gel together to provide a winning side. There continue to be some signs of encouragement and we played some nice football at times yesterday but we do need to start picking up more points now to keep clear of the relegation zone that we have spent too many seasons in of late. I think we will not be looking over our shoulders towards the end of this season but I wonder just how good a team we would be now if we still had Benteke up front. I guess if we did we would not have most of our new signings though.

This was not a must win game or a six pointer yet but it was the sort of game we really need to be winning.Sunderland’s half time substitutions and their strong start to the second half gave them an equalizer 7 minutes after the re-start. We were the better team overall yesterday but we were unable to claim an elusive home league win and our bottom of the table visitors left happy to have doubled their points tally. We will just have to beat them up there again!

My player ratings from a game that we started missing the creativity of Grealish and Traore through injury and Gil through choice are:

Brad Guzan – 5 – Positioned himself too far to the right of his goal for me and was unable to get anywhere near to Villa’s well placed 9^th minute free-kick. Brad tipped a Fletcher header over the bar on 49 minutes.

Alan Hutton – 6 – Did his best work when getting forward which he did on a regular basis. Alan was solid at the back when tested.

Michah Richards – 7 – Unlucky to get a touch on Lens’ 52^nd minute equalizer that helped the ball over Guzan. Looked certain to give us the lead again on 59 minutes but Sinclair’s cross hit him near the goal line rather than he hit it and the ball surprisingly ended up in Pantilimon’s hands. Our captain was both dominant and committed at the centre of our defence.

Ciaran Clark – 6 – Too easily lost a challenge with Lens on the edge of the box which led to his equalizer.

Jordan Amavi – 7 – Conceded the free-kick that produced their opener when he brought down Graham but was very dangerous when getting forward and getting the ball over as he did for our second. The ball was deflected into the side netting by a defender on 63 minutes after he had made a good run into the area.

Leandro Bacuna – 5 – Playing him in the middle failed to pay anything near the dividends that Tim was looking for. We missed his crosses. Leo screwed a shot wide on 38 minutes having been fed by Hutton.

Ashley Westwood - 7 – Early miscued passes but improved after the first quarter of an hour. Made a decent run and was fed by Hutton on 17 minutes but his shot finished just wide of the near post.

Idrissa Gueye – 7 –Looked good yesterday and seems a big improvement on the slithery snake he has replaced. Screwed a 25^th minute shot wide of the post from the edge of the box.

Carlos Sánchez – 7 – Looked assured and comfortable in our midfield particularly in the first half. He should have done better on 36 minutes when a free-kick fell to him inside the box and he hit his shot well over the bar. Carlos lost a midfield challenge with Toivonen who then found Lens for their equalizer.

Scott Sinclair – 8 – MOTM - He is a goal machine at the moment. Brought down by Cattermole in the 11^th minute and converted the spot kick himself sending Pantilimon the wrong way for our timely equalizer. Was again in the right place at the right time to put us ahead on 41 minutes when he turned in a cross from Amarvi who had been found by Gueye to give us a well worked goal.

Rudy Gestede – 6 – Did well to turn and get a shot on target from the edge of the box on 39 minutes. Turned a header from an Amavi cross wide of the post on 77 minutes and hit the ball wide 8 minutes later from just inside of the box. Found it difficult to make an impression against their central defenders and took a while to get into this one but this is early following a big step upwards for him.

Substitutes:

Carles Gil – 7 - Replaced Bacuna on 68 minutes. Provided a creative spark we had been missing whilst he sat on the bench. Needed to start today and showed that following his introduction. Carles got a yellow card rather than a penalty on 79 minutes after a poor touch took the ball away from him when he had got into a very threatening position.

Up the Villa!

John Lewis