Tomaszk

He was better in the deep role agreed. Largely good delivery as well. That also came at a time when we were leading and that's so often the only time Conor takes responsibility in terms of getting on the ball. Getting tired of him hiding away when we need it.

Not great. Won more in the air than his partner and brought it out a bit in the second half well.

Must have been fouled eight times today? Smith clearly told him to stay forward which can be frustrating during spells like the first 25/30 mins and we're flat. Once we get going, and don't have Whelan as our playmaker he'll do so much damage up there.

Twitter dude who usually talks about transfers has some sort of knowledge in our medical team. He just tweeted #injuries - probably him and Lansbury. Not a big Albert fan, but two on a plate today. Did he cross it for the pen as well?

Given the toughest role in the team and did his best. Took responsibility to get on the ball and get us moving.

Not good at all. Fitness maybe to blame, but it wasn't like he was hobbling around. He was losing the ball playing hesitant passes and wandering forward using up his own space. Struggled as usual against long balls. Axel wasn't that good but he was comfortably the better centre half today.

Very poor.

My wild celebrations were half cheering half laughing. Absolutely hilarious. Great stuff. Talk of the fanbase walking out. You'd catch snippets of conversation and they were all about him and the goal. "It was like time stood still..." "I knew today was the day he'd score in front of the holte" "...and on his left foot!"

That's what gets him off the hook. All the dross before him. He was horrible, but not as bad as Sherwood who isn't an actual manager. We were such an easy job. And he came in and played with no plan with the best squad in the league. Of course we picked up wins. We had Jack Grealish, a £35m strike force and John **** Terry at the back. A waste of two years.

Twice the person and manager. And probably on a third of the wage.

Out of Blues game with groin strain.

Cor we look a bit short if Bjarnason is out as well. Jedinak or Lansbury to come into the middle. Jedinak feels to more obvious choice for a derby but he doesn't suit Smith's style much.

MON finally gone.

It's so great Bruce being gone though isn't it? I'll be doing something else at work or something, and it'll just pop into my head that he's not Villa manager any more and I'll get a little pang of happiness that I never have to watch a team managed by him again. I think @TrentVilla is right, I can't recall Bruce ever saying we should be top two. He may have done, but I can't remember it. He bleated on about being there or thereabouts a lot; in between telling fans that he knew best playing Jedinak CB and we were lucky to be watching the best football at Villa Park in years. We've got a great chance now he's gone.

The appointment was sound IMO. It wasn't ambitious, but I wasn't dead against it. After 6 months you could see it wasn't right and he definitely should have gone summer of 2017. Did so little positive work.

I've considering this, but I still the improvement in style has been so swift Smith deserves credit. Many said we could have got almost anyone in and it would have improved our football from the trash Bruce was serving up week after week. We wasted so much time and money with that dinosaur.

The only positive Steve Bruce brought to Aston Villa.

He also hides away when the going is tough, takes the easy option too often and can be cowardly in the challenge. I don't think he's ever played well when the team is up against it. I hope he does great things under Smith as fingers crossed we'll be dominating a hell of a lot of games.

He's the person seemingly least excited by the result. Focussed on looking at the bigger picture and not getting carried away. Absolutely fantastic.

@Chewie any chance of 90 min highlights?

I feel like the fitness thing has been said by every manager who comes in. All of them.

All about if we can keep believing in new playing style through this very hard run of fixtures. Sacked Bruce too late. I mean, obviously it was about 18 months too late, but if he'd have **** off in the first international break instead of the second one, we'd be hitting these fixtures in better form.

Any of Tom Heaton, Nick Pope, Angus Gunn or Danny Ward would make a huge huge difference I think.

I don't understand the physics of him playing football. Quick players slow down when he goes at them, good defenders seem rooted to the spot. Nothing makes sense. The last three years I've been pretty much been watching Villa to enjoy Jack Grealish. I hope under Smith the current side can be lifted to a level we really see him flourish. Article salivating in a similar fashion.