We were rather lucky to get the 3 points against Villa, Frank's passing in the first half was woeful and Juan looked out of sorts, hardly surprising given where he's at fitness wise. Ba's performance was sub-par on so many levels, his positional awareness was found wanting time and time again and we immediately looked more threatening when Romelu came on; fingers crossed he gets the start at Old Trafford, Fernando can get his minutes against Bayern,.
Brana was lucky to escape a red, although Benteke gave as good as he got over the course of the match; not an excuse, mind. JT was being hauled down in the box at the end so the ref was never going to award a penalty for his inadvertent handball.
Jose's post-match comments regarding Lambert were amusing, he's clearly loving the airtime and will no doubt look to assert himself in the media even more as the season progresses.
Lots of creases to iron out, but we've got the right man for the job.
Another note, after a year of having to suffer a threadbare midfield our new-found depth in that department is extremely refreshing, instead of an ineffectual Benayoun on the bench we can now call upon the likes of Van Ginkel and De Bruyne who both look very, very promising. Oscar looks set to thrive in a deeper role and all in all I don't see the need for a central midfield signing, we may not have a defensive specialist but I don't think it's a pressing need, certainly not as pressing as the need for a centre forward in any case.