JoeParker91

Another point we didn't get last year and we certainly played better than we did against them last year too, that was with Benteke and Kozak available. Our full backs yet again played very well, Hutton edging man of the match for me. First half we played very well whilst we certainly faded second half. Creating chances does still seem to be a problem so I hope Cole can start against Hull, Gabby and Weimann were both poor again today. Was great to see Carlos make his debut and I thought Westwood played well too. This is a good point, a win against Hull would make it an excellent start to the season.

WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE

We've certainly faded second half.

Very even game which I would have taken before the game, we look dangerous going forward and quite solid at the back against some very good players. Love how many crosses we get in, mainly thanks to the full backs, which incredibly, now looks our strongest area. Think that will bold very well for when Benteke and Kozak return. I'd like to see Bent come on, think he could snuff out a tap in in the box which Gabby never seems to do. Westwood, Hutton and Cissokho having a very good half, with N'Zogbia also looking dangerous.

What a chance that was, get your head up Andi.

I hate out-swinging corners.

Great play! Much better!

Need to do better tracking back there.

Need Delph to get involved in the game.

He looks okay.

It really would, I guess Walsall don't want them though it would fit well with their no budget survival technique....then again maybe we want to send people away from the city so they mature, that would make sense too. Good points, my friend is a massive Walsall fan and was tearing his hair out that they couldn't get Grealish. Nice to see Robinson scoring for the reserves earlier.

Would like to see him on loan this season, like Grealish was last season. Slightly off topic but why don't any of our younger players ever go on loan at Walsall? Aren't we meant to have a good rapport, would make sense for both clubs.

I'd speculate that he was in the Bomb squad, due to losing his number. If Benteke or Okore etc had got injured earlier, and been out for the season, no way would they have lost their shirt number. There wasn't much love about getting him back to fitness.

I'd much rather our remaining funds went on securing Vlaar to a new deal.

I'm certainly not his biggest fan but he worked really hard today and his hold up play was pretty good. That missed chance will certainly take the gloss off some of his less noticeable positives however. Does he have 1 year left or 18 months?

That was an extremely good performance, yes Stoke were poor but we contributed heavily to that, so firstly congrats to Lambert and the coaches for getting it right. The defence was solid with the only poor points really being Guzan's kicking. Both Vlaar and Senderos played very well, with crucial blocks but both full backs really stood out for me. Hutton and Cissokho were fantastic, very few mistakes defensively but also offered us an outlet going forward. Delph and Richardson did a superb amount of running in the midfield, which was one of the key reasons we did so well, working hard as a team. N'Zogbia didn't do much except a fantastic turn for the goal, I'd like to see him more central rather than out wide. I can't even moan too much about Andi and Gabby, the former getting the goal and I thought Gabby really put a shift in, although he missed that chance. Until I can vote every week for Grealish's hair to be Man of the Match, I gave it to Aly, but there was certainly a great sense of a team performance which I haven't seen for a while, with players helping each other out, asking for the ball and trying to be positive. Very happy Villa fan.

I can't fault Gabby's effort.

Okore is very good in the air, great leap.

Great defending Ron.

Bold choice to bring Grealish on.

Really happy with that first half, after the first 10-15 mins we really got going and have dominated since. We look solid at the back with both full backs doing very well, especially Aly. We are also getting so many players forward too, we should be 1-0 after Gabby's chance and have been in lots of good positions. Considering we are without out best player and most eagerly awaited new signing, against a team most conceded are ahead of us in quality, that could have gone an awful lot worse. I do hate out out-swinging corners though, just whip it in the box and make it a 50-50 chance.

Our full backs have been fantastic, can't remember the last time I said that.

Better than Gabby's shot.

Personally I think we are playing pretty well.

Settled down okay now.