Game #5258
Aston Villa
Saturday, 16 August 2014
Won
6th
Last 5: 🟥 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟩
Premier League
Attendance: 27,478
Stoke
Britannia Stadium
Stoke City
0-1
Aston Villa
Assist(s) | Not recorded
MATCH SUMMARY
After a terrible two seasons and with Paul Lambert still in charge Villa surprise with an opening day win at the Britannia.
KEY MAN
Andreas Weimann celebrates hitting the winner as Villa open the season with a surprise away victory, Saturday, 16 August 2014.
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
MATCH TIMELINE
Saturday, 16 August 2014
🟢 | 1’ Debut, Kieran Richardson, Philippe Senderos, Aly Cissokho
🟨 | 14’ Booking, Ashley Westwood
🕒 | HT Stoke City 0-0 Aston Villa
⚽ | 50’ Goal, 1-0, Andreas Weimann
🔁 | 71’ Sub off, Charles N’Zogbia Sub on, Jack Grealish
🟨 | 80’ Booking, Alan Hutton
🔁 | 82’ Sub off, Andreas Weimann, Sub on, Leandro Bacuna
🟨 | 86’ Booking, Gabriel Agbonlahor
🕒 | FT Stoke City 0-1 Aston Villa
ON THIS DAY
Paul Lambert's Villa open the season with a win - only their second in ten games - as Alan Hutton played for the first time Sunday, 6 May 2012 following the apparent disbanding of manager Paul Lambert's counter productive and damaging ‘bomb squad’ that had ostracised key senior players from the first team over the last two seasons. Other previously banished players Darren Bent (last played Sunday, 19 May 2013) and Shay Given (25 January 2013) made the bench.
Winger Charles N’Zogbia played his first game since Monday, 22 April 2013 after missing the entire 2013-14 season through injury.
Centre back Philippe Senderos made his Villa debut aged 29 after joining on a free transfer from Valencia CF in July 2014.
Left back Kieran Richardson made his Villa debut aged 29 after joining from Fulham for £675,000 in July 2014.
Right back Aly Cissokho made his Villa debut aged 26 after joining from Valencia CF for £2,250,000 earlier this month.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96
Stoke
European Cup / Champions League: ❌
League Champions: ❌
FA Cup Winners: ❌
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 1971-72
FIXTURE HISTORY
Stoke
Previous 5 vs. Stoke: 🟨 🟨 🟩 🟥 🟥
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 2014-15 |
Matchday | #1 |
League Game | #1 |
Manager Game | #88 |
Saturday, 16 August 2014
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: Paul Lambert | 🏴 | Glasgow, 2012-2015
Referee: Anthony Taylor | 🏴 | Wythenshaw, 2006-
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Score: 🟩 1-0
FT Result: 🟩 Won
Last 5: 🟥 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟩
MANAGERIAL RECORD
Paul Lambert | 🏴 |
GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME
🕒 88 | 🟩 | 28 🟨 | 19 🟥 41 | 1.17
Villa Career Form:
Bottom 8
Paul Lambert | 🏴 |
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Anthony Taylor | 🏴 | Wythenshaw, 2006-
Previous 5: 🟨 🟥 🟩 🟥 🟩
Last Match: 🟩 2 Mar 14, Villa 4-1 Norwich (h)
Cards: 🟨 🟨 🟨
Assistants: Jake Collin, Scott Ledger
Anthony Taylor
CARDS
Villa
🟨 🟨 🟨
Stoke
None
TEAM NEWS
Paul Lambert hands debuts to Philippe Senderos, Kieran Richardson and Aly Cissokho whilst quite astonishingly, Alan Hutton makes his return after two full seasons in Lambert's infamous 'bomb squad' of first team players not to be considered for duty, to make his first appearance for the club since Sunday, 6 May 2012.
Why he had returned no one was sure. Why he was banished was even less clear.
Meanwhile Charles N'Zogbia made his return after being ruled out of the entirety of the 2013-14 season with injury.
Equally mystifyingly Shay Given and Darren Bent, appeared in the squad for the first time since 2012-13 as they too appear to have been deemed fit for duty after their banishment.
Whether this was due to the departure of the simply idiotic pair of assistants under Lambert in 2013-14 is unclear. What was clear however was that there was little logic in the way Villa were being run but at least, for whatever reason, they now had a full squad to choose from.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 27.62 |
Oldest Player |
GK Brad Guzan | 🇺🇸 | 29.95 |
Youngest Player |
F Andreas Weimann | 🇦🇹 | 23.05 |
MANAGER
Paul Lambert | 🏴 |
Aston Villa
GK Brad Guzan | 🇺🇸 |
LB Kieran Richardson | 🏴 | 🟢 |
CB Philippe Senderos |🇨🇭| 🟢 |
CB Ron Vlaar | 🇳🇱 |
RB Alan Hutton | 🏴 | 🟨 |
RB Aly Cissokho | 🇫🇷 | 🟢 |
M Ashley Westwood | 🏴 | 🟨 |
M Fabian Delph | 🏴 |
W Charles NZogbia | 🇫🇷 | 🔁 |
F Andreas Weimann | 🇦🇹 | ⚽ | 🔁 |
F Gabriel Agbonlahor | 🏴 | 🟨 |
MANAGER
Mark Hughes | 🏴 |
Stoke
GK Asmir Begović | 🇧🇦 |
LB Erik Pieters | 🇳🇱 |
CB Marc Wilson | 🇮🇪 |
CB Ryan Shawcross | 🏴 |
RB Phil Bardsley (ex) | 🏴 |
M Glenn Whelan | 🇮🇪 | 🔁 |
M Stephen Ireland (ex) | 🇮🇪 |
M Steven N’Zonzi | 🇫🇷 |
CF Marko Arnautović | 🇦🇹 |
CF Mame Diouf | 🇸🇳 | 🔁 |
F Bojan Krkic | 🇪🇸 |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 M Jack Grealish | 🏴 | for W Charles N’Zogbia | 🇫🇷 | 71’ |
🔁 M Leandro Bacuna | 🇨🇼 | for F Andreas Weimann | 🇦🇹 | 82’ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | M Glenn Whelan | 🇮🇪 | (M Charlie Adam | 🏴 |)
🔁 | CF Mame Diouf | 🇸🇳 | (CF Peter Crouch (ex) | 🏴 |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Shay Given | 🇮🇪 |
CB Nathan Baker | 🏴 |
CB Ciaran Clark | 🏴 |
M Karim El Ahmadi | 🇲🇦 |
F Darren Bent | 🏴 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Thomas Sørensen (ex) | 🇩🇰 |
CB Robert Huth | 🇩🇪 |
CB Marc Muniesa | 🇪🇸 |
M Steve Sidwell (ex) | 🏴 |
W Jon Walters | 🇮🇪 |
SQUAD STATS
1st XI: £33.07m
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 5/11
Homegrown: 1/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 9/18
Homegrown: 4/18
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
Team Cost: £35.66m
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 2/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 5/18
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Injury | 4 |
CB Jores Okore | 🇩🇰 |
M Joe Cole | 🏴 |
CF Christian Benteke | 🇧🇪 |
CF Libor Kozák | 🇨🇿 |
Out on Loan | 6 |
CF Nicklas Helenius | 🇩🇰 | Aalborg BK
M Yacouba Sylla | 🇲🇱 | Kayseri Erciyesspor
GK Jed Steer | 🏴 | Doncaster
LB Antonio Luna | 🇪🇸 | Hellas Verona
F Daniel Johnson | 🇯🇲 | Chesterfield
W Aleksandar Tonev | 🇧🇬 | Celtic
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
Player Positions:
GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half
M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward
Match Symbols:
⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution
🟨 | Booking
🟥 | Sending off
🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game
DEBUT APPEARANCES
🟢 LB Kieran Richardson | 🏴 |
🟢 CB Philippe Senderos |🇨🇭|
🟢 RB Aly Cissokho | 🇫🇷 |
FINAL APPEARANCES
MATCH STATS
Possession F | 37%
Possession A | 63%
Shots F | 7
Shots A | 12
Shots on Target F | 1
Shots on Target A | 2
Corners F | 8
Corners A | 2
Fouls F | 9
Fouls A | 14
LEAGUE TABLE
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
MATCHDAY QUOTES
”I thought we were excellent apart from the first 10 minutes where we were a bit nervous.
“It was a solid performance. The whole back four were great and the goal was excellent. We never got bullied and stood up to it.
“I thought there were massive performances. It was an outstanding team display. Everyone played their part.”
Paul Lambert, Saturday, 16 August 2014.
*BBC Sport*
Saturday, 16 August 2014
*Andreas Weimann scored the only goal of the game as Aston Villa started their season with a hard-earned victory over Stoke at the Britannia Stadium.*
The Austria striker netted five minutes into the second half with an angled shot which was too powerful for Potters goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
Phil Bardsley had Stoke’s best chance in the first half with a curling shot.
Former Barcelona forward Bojan Krkic impressed for the home side but they were unable to find an equaliser.
With a buyer for Villa yet to come forward following American owner Randy Lerner’s decision to put the club up for salethis summer, the need to maintain their Premier League status was reflected in their recruitment policy over the summer.
After two seasons battling against relegation, Villa boss Paul Lambert, assisted by Roy Keane, has turned to more experienced players in an attempt to improve their fortunes.
Switzerland defender Philippe Senderos was signed by Villa along with ex-Valencia team-mate Aly Cissokho, who spent last season on loan at Liverpool, and they both looked solid on their debuts in a disciplined defensive display along with utility man Kieran Richardson.
As with last season the worry for Villa fans might be where the goals come from - the return of injured Belgium striker Christian Benteke cannot come soon enough.
But Weimann showed he may be able to fill the breach if he can recapture the form of his breakthrough 2012-13 campaign rather than his more modest displays last season.
Weimann opened the scoring for the visitors five minutes into the second half when the ball broke kindly to him inside the area after an initial heavy touch, and the 23-year-old striker’s shot from a tight angle had too much power on it for Begovic.
Stoke finished in ninth place last season, their highest Premier League position and their best top flight finish since 1975, in Mark Hughes’s first campaign in charge.
Hughes had the task of improving Stoke’s playing style after he replaced Tony Pulis as manager in May 2013 and with a season under his belt further progress looked evident against Villa despite the defeat.
Stoke’s signing of former Barcelona forward Bojan, 23, has certainly excited supporters at the Britannia Stadium, but too often Hughes’ side could not find an end product for all their clever build-up play.
Bojan in particular showed some clever touches as Stoke monopolised possession in the opening period and the Spaniard went close early on with an angled shot.
Lambert’s side were given another early let-off when Stoke’s Mame Biram Diouf closed down Brad Guzan and the American goalkeeper was fortunate his kick rebounded to safety rather than into the Villa goal.
The visitors should have opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark though, when a mix-up between Marc Wilson and Begovic allowed Richardson to cross for Gabby Agbonlahor, but with the net vacant the Villa forward guided his shot wide of the post.
The home side’s best chance came when Bardsley cut in from the right flank and curled a low shot which forced Guzan to scramble across goal to make a smart save.
Stoke once again controlled possession after the break with Villa content to hold on to what they had.
But apart from Marko Arnautovic’s late effort, blocked by Senderos, they never really troubled Guzan’s goal as a disciplined Villa side closed out the game.
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. With thanks to Trinity Mirror. Digitised by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited. All rights reserved. Source: British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)