Ratings and reactions: Villa 1-1 Baggies

[Villain-from-Texas]

- We missed Ireland a lot.

- We missed Weimann's movement and work rate which would free up space for the other striker.

- Bannan is our only good corner taker.

- KEA didn't do too well in the role he plays, I would play Herd next game.

- Bent needs to start.

- Holman's work rate is exceptional, his technical ability is getting better too.

- I don't think we can play with just one winger, either no wingers or 2.

Bannan is our only good corner taker? I couldn't disagree any more heartily. Albrighton put in peach after peach from the corner today. It wasn't his fault that no one got onto the end of them.

[smetrov]

Don't get the negativity. It was a decent performance at the beginning and towards the end and were it not for poor finishing we would've won that. Also showed plenty of fight and spirit to come back from a goal behind.

Agreed. I gave out a lot of sixes but it was one of those "greater than the sum" team efforts. The only really lacking area was obviously the front third, but that sort of performance is going to pick up points more often than not.

Though we were very poor. We struggled to create anything of note and really never looked like scoring until Bent came on for Benteke. Benteke is very quickly looking like a very poor buy along with Lambert's other purchases.

Yet another manager and another 17m spent and we still don't have a midfielder in our team who can create anything.

On the plus side plenty of effort to get a point but effort alone won't keep us up this season!

I hope (for my own sanity) that this is sarcasm/a joke.

Lowton - Looked solid so far

KEA - 2 bad games does make him a disaster

Bennett - Showing some promising signs

Benteke - Showing glimpses of being a good player, still a bit rough around the edges, but so are most 21 year old strikers!!

Westwood/Bowery - Not seen enough yet to judge..but are young and ones for the future.

Guzan - Decision to re-sign after we allowed his contract to expire has been vindicated.

Vlaar - Solid, one bad game, besides that looks very promising.

We have a load of players who are playing far better than they were 12 months ago. The overall style of play of the team is significantly better, our players are showing massive amounts of heart and desire.

If some fans are at all miffed at the moment..well sod them, I wish they supported someone else.

Lamberts rebuilt the team on £17m - yes its a work in progress - at least the players appear to care and do there very best.

Granted its not Milner, Downing, Young, Petrov - we don't have the funds for those type of players - but there's a group of young players prepared to give there all for Aston Villa - and thats a welcome change for me.

[Liam_Baggies]

It was a game which swung on subs. I didn't think Brunt looked up to much - but the guy him replaced him seemed better.

Lambert brought on Bent - which worked - and Clarke took off Long who was a threat all afternoon.

I do agree. We were buggered by being forced to make two changes in the first half meaning we were short on options. Shame really as Clarke has been superb with his substitutions this season.

Brunt isn't fully fit yet, missed the most of pre-season which is why he's a wee bit behind the others. Graham Dorrans who replaced him looked much better today.

[CI]

I thought Zog looked really sharp when he came on. Went on a few nice runs, and actually looked at £10m player. If I had to give an overall MOM it would probably be Foster. Made a few world class saves to keep them in the contest. Guzan had very little to do really.

[AValon]

Liked the look of young Bennett.....he's only going to get better. And Holman is rapidly earning my respect for sheer hard graft, if he is'nt the most technically gifted player on the team. The others were ok, without appearing to offer much of a threat in the last quarter and maybe there was an argument for certain players not to have started, but they did. On another day?

Albion, for what its worth, should have had a penalty, missed a sitter of a header and were gifted a goal after we were given a warning of the danger only minutes before. So, all in all, a point was ok.

Still reasonably pleased with what I'm seeing though.

[VillaAndLoyal]

On paper, we've made a shocking start to the season. But the game isn't played on paper and we are looking, and playing, so much better than last season. You can tell the fans appreciate what a big transformation is being made and of course that is bound to take time.

Some of the passing movements are fantastic and for the first 45 minutes and the last 15/20 I thought our young team passed Albion off the pitch - as well as creating the better chances. How we didn't win I'll never know.

We need to cut out these mistakes at the back however as they're proving costly. We fell apart against Soton and for 20 minutes in the second-half it looked like we had again. Still not sure about Ron Vlaar - for such a big man he doesn't always win the aerial battles and he does seem prone to a mistake which we can't really afford.

What I like about Paul Lambert is that he's not scared to drop anyone and I thought it was absolutely the right decision to not start Bent - a decision clearly vindicated by winding Bent up and giving him the kick up the arse he needs. However I thought he should have started with Wiemann, not Benteke. He didn't have his best game today, clearly, but some of the comments about him are, well, frankly bizarre. He looked lively in spells last week and played fantastically well on his debut against Swansea - one bad game today and everyone is seemingly writing him off? Give the lad some time - he looks a lot better than Angel did when he first signed.

Albion fans were awful as per usual. Sitting down in the upper tier and hardly heard them at all from the Holte. We did hear them singing about them being the 'Kings of the Midlands' at full-time though which was highly amusing! Villa Park was rocking at times thanks to our support, as my throat can now testify to.

All things considered, we are improving. Just need to start grinding out some wins now though!

[VillanousOne]

Lambert can't keep tinkering every game, playing Albrighton and Delph and dropping Bent was just strange.

We need some consistency and i really think defensively we are too lightweight, every game someone makes a huge defensive **** up and that is going to cost us.

KEA was pretty awful today, so was Benteke, but the main thing was we didn't lose.

[Woodytom]

Went to the game today and thoroughly enjoyed it.

By no means perfect but plenty of positives to suggest that we could be heading in the right direction.

Great to see us pass the ball and to really go for it. Just lacking a bit of quality.

One disappointment was the lack of width - especially on the left side. So much space so often for Bennett to go forward but he just kept stopping on the half way line. So many times we kept coming back inside to traffic.

Thought everyone did ok/well though. Delph wants too long on the ball and Benteke was a bit hit and miss. Gabby held the ball up really well at times and once or twice Albrighton looked really threatening. All subs were good when they came on and Bent took his goal very well.

Best player by a country mile though - Brett Holman. Had a quieter 2nd half but really stood out in the 1st.

Good game, - hoping I get chance to come down for a few more.

[Harry]

Maybe just me but I thought KEA and Delph in central midfield were pretty poor today. The gave aways the ball far too much and left our strikers isolated. Both good players but both prone to stupid errors.

Better finishing and we would have walzed the game but as ever we make it very difficult for ourselves.

MOTM for me was Bennett, I think he will be a star. For shear graft however it has to be Holman, Albrighton needs to take a leaf out of his book.

[Hanky]

Maybe just me but I thought KEA and Delph in central midfield were pretty poor today. The gave aways the ball far too much and left our strikers isolated

Not just you. Thought both were bossed by their midfield.

Special mention to Brad in goal again, didn't have that much to do, but won us the point with the save at the end.

[OutByEaster?]

I think most everything has been covered - I'd just add that Lukaku is an absolute monster - I have no idea why he isn't starting, thank god he's not.

[dAVe80]

I sometimes wonder if I watch different games to some of you! That's football though I suppose, everyone has a different opinion.

My take on the game, I think a draw was fair. We were on top for most of the first half, but just couldn't seem to find that little bit of quality in the final third. Second half, Albion bossed it for the most. I was very happy with the resilience shown though, and I never felt like we were out of it, which is encouraging. If we'd have brought Bent on a little earlier, I think we could have possibly took all 3 point. This is still a working progress though, and I'm so much happier watching us play like we have been. Eventually I think we'll have the makings of something very good indeed.

It did strike Benteke looks a little lacking in Premier League experience, which he is to be fair. Obviously not the finished article yet, but I think he's showing signs of what may be to come. The major disappointment I have with him though, is for his size, he doesn't seem to put himself about enough. He should be giving opposition defences kittens!

My MOTM was Holman, he absolutely worked his socks off again. He's fast becoming a favourite of mine, but then I do love a grafter!

[KHV]

Don't get the negativity. It was a decent performance at the beginning and towards the end and were it not for poor finishing we would've won that. Also showed plenty of fight and spirit to come back from a goal behind.

Agreed. I gave out a lot of sixes but it was one of those "greater than the sum" team efforts. The only really lacking area was obviously the front third, but that sort of performance is going to pick up points more often than not.

Though we were very poor. We struggled to create anything of note and really never looked like scoring until Bent came on for Benteke. Benteke is very quickly looking like a very poor buy along with Lambert's other purchases.

Yet another manager and another 17m spent and we still don't have a midfielder in our team who can create anything.

On the plus side plenty of effort to get a point but effort alone won't keep us up this season!

I hope (for my own sanity) that this is sarcasm/a joke.

Lowton - Looked solid so far

KEA - 2 bad games does make him a disaster

Bennett - Showing some promising signs

Benteke - Showing glimpses of being a good player, still a bit rough around the edges, but so are most 21 year old strikers!!

Westwood/Bowery - Not seen enough yet to judge..but are young and ones for the future.

Guzan - Decision to re-sign after we allowed his contract to expire has been vindicated.

Vlaar - Solid, one bad game, besides that looks very promising.

We have a load of players who are playing far better than they were 12 months ago. The overall style of play of the team is significantly better, our players are showing massive amounts of heart and desire.

If some fans are at all miffed at the moment..well sod them, I wish they supported someone else.

would agree with almost all of that. benteke looks fairly ordinary to me and im not sold on vlaar yet. he was iffy today and shit against everton and southampton. the back four as a whole unit to be honest are pretty ropey at times. clark has looked very dodgy at times too but no worse than vlaar.

[RunRickyRun]

Good derby game. Very enjoyable stuff - miles better than the dross served up last year.

We were unlucky not to lead going into the break. Overall a draw was probably a fair result.

Looking forward to next week.

[dAVe80]

Having looked on a few other sites, and read a few views from the opposition, I've got to ask, when exactly did Albion become Barcelona? Feck me! One good season, where they finish above us! They weren't that great today! Bloody hell, they have the nerve to call us arrogant!

[Raymond]

Don't get the negativity. It was a decent performance at the beginning and towards the end and were it not for poor finishing we would've won that. Also showed plenty of fight and spirit to come back from a goal behind.

Agreed. I gave out a lot of sixes but it was one of those "greater than the sum" team efforts. The only really lacking area was obviously the front third, but that sort of performance is going to pick up points more often than not.

Though we were very poor. We struggled to create anything of note and really never looked like scoring until Bent came on for Benteke. Benteke is very quickly looking like a very poor buy along with Lambert's other purchases.

Yet another manager and another 17m spent and we still don't have a midfielder in our team who can create anything.

On the plus side plenty of effort to get a point but effort alone won't keep us up this season!

Unbelievable post.

[chappy]

Fair result. Thought we were the better side first half but then am happy with a point after going behind because I didn't think we would get back into it.

Bannan MOTM for me, when he came on he was full of energy and it was what we were lacking in midfield. Nice to see him rushing around to take set pieces when the clock was ticking down too. Bennett close second, thought he looked good today. Benteke was wasteful but still thought he put in a decent enough showing up top.

[maqroll]

I'm not discouraged by the result. We showed resolve and spirit to battle back. I predicted 1-1, and so it was. It's a pretty good West Brom side this year, so with the work in progress that is this young Villa side, it's a decent result. Plenty of room to improve though.

KEA needs to put his stamp on the game more and not be afraid to run forward into space. We know he can score goals. Benteke was poor, and I expect to see him on the bench next match. Gabby and Bent have earned their starting spots. Holman is a Tasmanian Devil, just force of nature. I love his fearlessness. MOTM for me. Bennett looked good, as did Albrighton. Zog looked like typical Zog. Needs to be sold.

It IS 2 points dropped at home, so I can't be happy, but at least the belief is there, for the players and supporters alike.

[ozvillafan]

I'm surprised by some of the comments here. I'm wondering if people are concerned because it was WBA instead of any other top 6 side? They have been in excellent form.

You can see we are a work in progress and, for mine, that is our best PL game this season. While we are still a little hesitant and disjointed - especially in the final third - but we are getting longer spells of sustained and patient possession. Our results are not matching our performances at the moment, but that will change as the season progresses.

Special mentions to Holman, Bennet and Albrighton who all had good games.

[Jarpie]

We definitely missed Ireland yesterday, and Lambert did a mistake with starting Benteke ahead of Bent. Gabby started brightly but somewhat vanished on second half, still getting back his match fitness I presume. Despite the draw I'm pretty positive as we played against good side who are on a very good run.

From the next four games I think three are certainly winnable; Tottenham probably draw at best, Fulham and Sunderland away are winnable and we should we win Norwich at home.