Aston Villa kicked off the Paul Lambert era with a 1-0 away loss to West Ham. Lambert's young team came up short for the most part as the hosts reignited their life in the Premier League in style. Under the shadow of the Olympic Stadium, the Hammers saw off their Birmingham opponents with a controversial Kevin Nolan first-half goal, as the linesman raised his flag in the build-up to the goal.
However, there were chinks of light; Lambert has promised to bring an attacking brand of football, something which distinctly lacked under Alex McLeish. Fabian Delph looked promising in the first half as he attempted to pull the strings from midfield. Having been plagued with injury in his Villa career up to this, there is real hope that the former Leeds Utd man can finally justify the transfer fee that the Villans paid for him, fending off interest from other clubs, including Tottenham, Everton and Manchester City in 2009.
Darren Bent did have some chances, and will eagerly anticipate be reunited up front with Gabriel Agbonlahor, who is still nursing a knee injury picked up in a warm-up game against Chicago Fire. Stephen Ireland also impressed, and adds experience to a relatively young team. With debuts given to summer signings Ron Vlaar, Brett Holman, Karim El Ahmadi and Matt Lowton, there is certainly causes for optimism among the Villa Park faithful.
Lambert reflected on the game afterwards, "Some of the play, I was really happy with and some, like anything, you're not. But I can't fault the lads for effort. Their effort was excellent.
"There were a lot of positives to take out of it. You pick yourself up and you go again.
"I'm not one for a blame culture. If we lose, we lose together. If we win, then we win together."
Next up for Villa is Everton at home on Saturday, who impressively soured Manchester Utd's opening to the season with a shock win on Monday.
