Plucky little AFC Bournemouth vs nasty Aston Villa bullies post match thread

[onje_villa]

Bournemouth have a nice system, think they'll do fine. I don't think we looked particularly good, but a clean sheet, a debut goal and three points make my weekend.

Benteke, who?

Any team bar the top four would have been overwhelmed by their gusto in the first half. What is so impressive is that we soaked it up, picked them off when we needed to, and defended well. It wasn't like we didn't create any other chances either - Gueye should have scored, Gabby too. Great win, you can't expect much more than what we did today.

Perhaps a bit over positive. They did miss a hatful of chances and got into the box far too many times for my liking. But it was a tough fixture and a great result.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

We did what needed to be done, which is nice.

Of the new signings, Gueye looks like he could be quite good. Richards and Clark looked fairly comfortable and Amavi had a good game, but then all our left-backs seem to start well...

[django]

Good result. Richards and Clark very good. Amavi was great apart from a couple of lapses in concentration. Rudy looked composed and imposing.

Brads kicking was probably the biggest negative but never mind that now.

[Keeno]

Bournemouth have a nice system, think they'll do fine. I don't think we looked particularly good, but a clean sheet, a debut goal and three points make my weekend.

Benteke, who?

Any team bar the top four would have been overwhelmed by their gusto in the first half. What is so impressive is that we soaked it up, picked them off when we needed to, and defended well. It wasn't like we didn't create any other chances either - Gueye should have scored, Gabby too. Great win, you can't expect much more than what we did today.

Perhaps a bit over positive. They did miss a hatful of chances and got into the box far too many times for my liking. But it was a tough fixture and a great result.

My point is they were ALWAYS going to have a lot of shots, crosses, and create, particularly first half with the crowd behind them. You can't shut out any team for the entire match and they didn't take their chances - we did. Despite the classic newly-promoted-team environment we've got three points which is pretty impressive.

[Stu]

Certainly got the impression a lot of people were rooting for Bournemouth. Great result.

Including the ref. Where did 5 mins extra time come from? There were no stoppages. The ref should have to justify that, I know we were set up to be the fall guys for the story of the day and everything but that takes the piss.

[johnboy]

Well done Villa, we will be the most hated team by the press for the next few weeks

[clash city rocker]

With all the new signings today was about getting a point or 3. Job done and helps relieve a bit of pressure which can build up when you are looking for your first win of the season.

[Jimbo]

Great to get the three points, but we'll need to pull our socks up to our balls in the coming weeks. We gave them more than enough chances to win it.

[adrenachrome]

A game of two halves, as they say. Richards excellent in the second half. The most pleasing thing is that we had to compete physically, and we did it with the new guys.

[silhillvilla]

Oh what fun it is to see villa win away

[in exile]

Excellent result - Clark was MoM for me, and I still say we need a right back

[brontebilly]

A lot wrong with the performance but all that matters is the result.

Fair play to Sherwood, team were much better in the second half playing a higher line and made his subs at the right time.

Gestede coming on changed the game and Gabby destroyed their left back for the last 30mins.

Thought Gueye and Amavi had very good debuts, Richards was generally solid particularly in the air though he made some desperate mistakes too. Game passed Ayew by and Im not sure what position Veretout was supposed to play though he showed the odd classy touch.

Guzan made a couple of reasonable stops but his kicking doesnt seem to have got any better over the summer, also Sinclair while working hard continues to disappoint for us away from home. For a man who got a hat trick in the last pre-season game he appeared to strangely lack self belief.

Bournemouth were completely dominant for 15 mins before half time when we handed them two glorious chances.

Worryingly for them they totally ran out of ideas late on and were reduced to hoofing it.

Thought Gestede was absolutely superb when he came on, the kind of goal Benteke used get but his hold up play was top class too.

We have a new hero

Guzan 6, Bacuna 6, Richards 7, Clark 8, Amavi 7, Westwood 5, Gueye 7, Veretout 5, Ayew 4, Gabby 7, Sinclair 5 - Gestede 8, Sanchez 5, Richardson (miles off the pace when he came on)

[supertom]

We still look susceptible to long cross field balls. We got opened up a couple of times on the flanks. Better teams will slice through us like we're warm butter. So it's something that needs identifying. Or it could be the cost of playing two very attacking fullbacks.

[myf]

This week I will be mostly listening to

A msg for you rudy
I do like to be beside the seaside

[London Villan]

Well done lads. Tricky start to the season, for all sorts of reasons, so the spirit and effort needs to be commended.

At 4/1 a nice little bit of profit too!