Aston Villa’s Tony Xia has reacted to the 1-1 home draw with Hull City.
Aston Villa’s new Championship season opened with a 1-1 draw with Hull City on Saturday afternoon, and owner Tony Xia admitted that some things are still bothering him.
Villa enjoyed a strong season having brought in the likes of John Terry, Glenn Whelan, Ahmed Elmohamady and Joshua Onomah, whilst goalkeeper Sam Johnstone has returned and trialist Christopher Samba also earned a deal.
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce
Steve Bruce went into the season knowing that Villa are one of the favourites for promotion from the Championship, and his campaign got off to the perfect start as Gabriel Agbonlahor smashed home Alan Hutton’s cross to put Villa in front.
However, Villa couldn’t hold on and were pegged back in the second half, with Jarrod Bowen volleying home Kamil Grosicki’s cross to rescue a point for the recently-relegated Tigers in Leonid Slutsky’s first competitive game in charge.
Some fans may be a little underwhelmed that Villa could only draw on the opening day of the season, but with star striker Jonathan Kodjia still out injured and new signings to bed in, a point is a solid enough result.
However, owner Tony Xia – who spent heavily last season to try and return to the Premier League – wasn’t happy with the display, taking to Twitter this morning to state that he was ‘still bothered’ about the performance.

Xia feels that some issues, that he thought would have been rectified over the summer, were still on show against Hull, but remains positive about their chances of success this season.
Xia added that Villa need teamwork rather than individuals, and urged everybody at Villa Park to stick together as they attempt to win promotion back to the Premier League.
What did you think of Villa’s performance in the 1-1 draw with Hull City?
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