Bournemouth - 2 Aston Villa - 2 Post-Match

[nigel]

The fact that Cash is on 4 yellows is worrying. Several games coming up where I wouldn't want to be playing today's back 4 in.

This could be why he was rested for much of this game.

[Clampy]

Blimey, what a bizarre start to the thread.

I'm glad we got a point out of that because it wasnt great but like someone said, we are going to get more and more games like this. Would have lost that it if it wasn't for Emi. Lovely equaliser though.

[LeeB]

Martinez is worth 10 points in a season to us
we wouldn’t have finished top half last season without him

He is the only truly world-class player we have
Absolute privilege to watch

There's not a better goalie in the world.

[Nev]

Could we not play a left back at right back if we don't have Cash? Not ideal but it's a double whammy losing such a quality CB and having him struggle put of position.

[Brend'Watkins]

There isn’t another keeper I’d want than Emi. MOM for me. I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong with our midfield then remembered, Kamara wasn’t playing. We missed him badly.

[VillaTim]

Feels like a big opportunity missed today. The real worry is the level of performance again. Been too many like this to be taken seriously as a top 4 side

[BC Villain]

Poor performance, but dug out a point.  Just as at Spurs, got away with the opposition being really wasteful in front of goal.

[SoccerHQ]

Only saw the second half but didn't rate the performance at all, final ball was poor so often until Diaby's excellent cross.

Will take the point gladly. That was a brilliant save from Emi at 2-1, that's what the best keeper in the world does.

Ollie was off it aswell but what a magnificent header that was.

For Man. City I certainly wouldn't be starting Zaniolo. Bit baffling how he keeps starting away when he is producing so little.

Think a 4 man midfield (especially with Rodri suspended for them) and Bailey in support of Ollie is the way to go.

[Toronto Villa]

Feels like a big opportunity missed today. The real worry is the level of performance again. Been too many like this to be taken seriously as a top 4 side

So if that’s the case the sides below us not in the top for can’t be taken seriously either. And less so right?

[john2710]

Feels like a big opportunity missed today. The real worry is the level of performance again. Been too many like this to be taken seriously as a top 4 side

We can't consider ourselves a top 4 side until we've got one of those overhead sky cameras installed.

[Proposition Joe]

Poor performance, but dug out a point.  Just as at Spurs, got away with the opposition being really wasteful in front of goal.

The old regression to the mean may kick in this season, as I feel our bad performances where we got something from the game have far outweighed our good performances where we got nothing, or less than we deserved.

That assumes of course that we maintain this level of play. I think we actually were playing better towards the end of last season than we have this, so there is also at least we also could have a higher ceiling than we've seen so far.

[PeterWithe]

Great point as we were tired, lethargic and very ordinary. But we found a way

Overjoyed at getting something

[Matt C]

A point gained in the end from an off day. Superb header from Ollie and a welcome moment of quality from Diaby’s delivery.

Bit of a riddle for Unai to solve on our away performances, something in the setup isn’t quite right and we seem to concede an exorbitant amount of chances. He’ll find the solution though, I’m sure.

[AV82EC]

The riddle was obvious today though. We really missed Kamara centrally and Cash can’t play every game. I’d have played McGinn centrally myself and we desperately need another right back in January as Konsa is nothing more than adequate and a better right CB than Carlos.

[VillaTim]

McGinn was anonymous today