Joe Bennett

[caster troy]

I thought he was excellent. I don't remember a single poor pass, he didn't put a foot wrong defensively and you can see he is trying to get forward when given the chance. I think it's tough to be a full-back in our system because we don't play with much width beyond the back four so there isn't an easy out ball and often there is a lack of protection. I give him credit for never hiding when things are going wrong and his general approach suggests he is desperate to succeed.

One of my favourite moments on Saturday was his standing ovation upon being substituted. Hopefully that will give him a massive boost.

[nigel]

I like Baker's beard as it makes him look more Viking like. Looked a bit stringy and bird's nesty yesterday, though.

Very Mellberg-esque I thought 

[danlanza]

Played very well.
I was a bit worried when i saw his name in the starting line up as he can be prone to rash challenges.
he put in a very good performance on Saturday.

[nigel]

From day one, although he struggled (to put it mildly) to settle, I always thought there was a player there.
There were a couple of times on Saturday where he did a bit of fancy footwork. It seemed to go unnoticed, but had he been wearing blue I'm sure it would have been highlighted on MotD.
There were a couple in front of me moaning about him, "Don't know where Willian is" "What's he doing now" etc. I sat and just watched him for 2 or 3 minutes, He knew exactly where Willian was, and positionally I thought he was excellent.
He started a couple of great attacks, I pointed out to them, in front, who had started the move. Reply was ........... silence!! 
 

[MoetVillan]

Brilliant game, if he can play like that against chelsea, there is a very good player in there, just needs to consistenly perform like that and we dont need a higher priced Bertrand!  I thought Bertrand has been great, but on this I would start Bennett first against Stoke, he deserves the chance

[eastie]

Bennett playing consistently well would mean we wouldn't need to waste money on Bertand.

If we're going to buy some new players, Bennett playing well means we can target players in more needed areas.

I'd like to see Bertrand come in but of course depending on the fee - I think the need for more quality in midfield is the main priority , I felt Bennett did well last season once he had found fitness and form and also have been delighted with the recent form of baker and kea who have both improved a lot - i had given up on kea but he seems to be finally finding that consistency needed at this level - well done to him.

[amfy]

From day one, although he struggled (to put it mildly) to settle, I always thought there was a player there.
There were a couple of times on Saturday where he did a bit of fancy footwork. It seemed to go unnoticed, but had he been wearing blue I'm sure it would have been highlighted on MotD.
There were a couple in front of me moaning about him, "Don't know where Willian is" "What's he doing now" etc. I sat and just watched him for 2 or 3 minutes, He knew exactly where Willian was, and positionally I thought he was excellent.
He started a couple of great attacks, I pointed out to them, in front, who had started the move. Reply was ........... silence!!  ::)
 

If you'd said behind you,I'd have thought that could have been us! (no-one sits behind us). Early in the game I thought he was leaving player unmarked all the time, and we were laughing that he seemed to be skipping around in his own little world! However, that did lead to me watching him more closely, and I thought he had a great game in the end, getting better and better the longer it went on.

[AlwaysAVFC]

Towards the start of the game the commentator said Bennett will have been surprised to find he was up against Hazard. I doubt it was a surprise to any Villa fan as it seemed an obvious tactic for Chelsea to target that side of the pitch. It didn't work though and he didn't get that much joy when he moved over to the other side either.

[paul_e]

Bennett is very much a confidence player, when he looked poor last season was when someone made a mug of him early in the game.  After that you could see the nerves and he'd end up trying too hard and making mistakes, which just made him worse.

If we can get his self-confidence up and get him believing he is a premier league player by right he'll be fine.  I'm not willing to totally write off Luna yet either, his problems have all been down to his positioning, a period out of the squad working on it in training could be enough to turn him around, he's certainly not poor enough that I'd be looking to get rid immediately.

As they've been mentioned I've been really impressed by Baker in the last few weeks, he's reading the play better and doesn't look out of his depth now, his yellow card shows he's still very raw though, it was a touch harsh but he didn't need to go for that ball and really didn't have any chance of getting it.  KEA has turned it around a lot but I still think he doesn't make himself available for the ball well enough and some of his decision making is still really poor (shooting instead of moving it to Bacuna for example).  For me he's a very useful player when we're playing with 40% possession, he'll break forward, he'll press the ball and generally he'll annoy the crap out the opposition midfield.  Where he struggles is when we're trying to hold on to the ball and work openings, for me he's still the weakest of the 3 in the centre.

[Phil from the upper holte]

He did very well, however if we get the chance to sign Bertrand we should definately do it. The lad did himself a world of good, A side note for Nathan Baker as well, He's looked very solid the last few games up alongside Vlaar

[Phil from the upper holte]

Where is Luna? Has he been given time off? Did he even make the squad the weekend?

[Clampy]

Got to agree about the confidence thing with Bennett and I think it's one thing that might hold him back from being a premiership regular. Maybe he'll get better as he gets older but if i'm being honest i'm still not totally convinced.

[PaulTheVillan]

I'd rather have Bennett in the side than Luna.

He looks very nervous at times, a few good games under his belt and I think we'll see he could be a decent left back.

[London Villan]

I was worried with his name on the team sheet, but as others have said his positioning was a lot better, his passing more accurate and he made a really important covering block in the first half to cut out a Chelsea chance. Great performance.

A statement for Bennett and the team would be "more of the same please".

[Jarpie]

Best situation would be to have both Bertrand and Bennett to rotate them both, as young players naturally needs games off occasionally to recover physically and mentally from games.