PLAYER RATINGS: ASTON VILLA

Sunderland did very well to come away with a point against Aston Villa, despite the fact we were down to ten men for the majority of the affair. The game started off as quite an even contest but we were then under the cosh for the last 10 minutes of the opening 45 due to a completely needless lashing out by Reinildo after he was fouled. Villa weren’t that great immediately following the break and we actually looked the more likely of the two teams to score, a Matty Cash screamer with around 25 minutes left on the clock seemed a death blow though. However, Wilson Isidor netted his third of the season to ensure another hard fought stalemate against a European side.

ROBIN ROEFS: 8/10

Made a fantastic save midway through the first half and commanded his box almost flawlessly. On first viewing, I didn’t think he could do much about their goal but after watching a replay I’m not sure if he could have palmed it away (he did make contact with it I think). Since it was a vicious strike, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

TRAI HUME: 8/10

Another really good performance from him today, liked putting a foot in and came away better than the attacker more often than not.

NORDI MUKIELE: 9/10

Completely solid defensively and was key to us in the second half from throw-ins and then patiently waiting on the left hand side of the box to get it back into the danger area.

OMAR ALDERETE: 9/10

Effective in both boxes, almost scored in the second half via a header that hit the woodwork. He’s definitely been one of our most important players since joining this summer.

REINILDO: 1/10

He was doing fine until he made one of the most stupid choices I’ve seen in a while from a Sunderland player, it’s not even like you can give him the benefit of the doubt by saying it was a mistimed challenge, it was just totally needless. Almost cost us a point and there’s a valid argument that he cost us a win.

GRANIT XHAKA: 8/10

Xhaka looked decent for most of the game. He squandered a decent opportunity from the edge of the box with a tame effort but he made up for it with an assist for Isidor’s equaliser.

NOAH SADIKI: 8/10

His workrate was fantastic, especially after we had the man disadvantage. Always looked to break away to relieve pressure.

CHEMSDINE TALBI: 7.5/10

Lots of positive moments from him, even if the quality wasn’t there all of the time. He’s due a world beating performance and I think he’s really growing into the league.

CHRIS RIGG: 7.5/10

If he wasn’t an indirect victim of the red card he would have almost certainly ended up with more than a 7.5/10. A very bright start from the youngster and he looked totally at home in his first Premier League start.

ENZO LE FEE: 7.5/10

Similar to Talbi, there were enough moments to say he did well but he wasn’t always completely effective.

WILSON ISIDOR: 8/10

He was a bit nonchalant prior to the restart but he had a decent effort from a corner just missed after the hour mark and then rescued us a point, so you can’t complain about the performance.

SUBS:

DAN BALLARD: 8/10

Posed Villa some problems from corners and was very unlucky to get booked because of this at one point. Did well at the back.

ARTHUR MASUAKU: N/A

I don’t rate players who come on on or after the 80th minute but he did quite well at the back. Doesn’t quite have the pace to assist us going forward though so we perhaps missed a couple opportunities to break away. One instance when Mayenda laid it off to him springs to mind.

ELIEZER MAYENDA: N/A

Ran at them a lot and almost broke away to score, getting the better of Tyrone Mings is easier said than done though.

LUTSHAREL GEERTRUIDA: N/A

It’s not really possible to judge him off of six touches.

DAN NEIL: N/A

Made just three touches with his very limited game time, he did almost break away in stoppage time though.