HAVE YOUR SAY – Can anyone see Barry staying at Villa Park?
Last summer it was the biggest rollercoaster transfer saga of the summer. It even got more press coverage than the Ronaldo-to-Real-Madrid speculation. And this year it has already started;
Will Gareth Barry leave Aston Villa after 11 great years?
Barry is (currently) part of a dying breed of one-club-men, having played his entire professional career for the Villa. He has made 434 appearances and is 8th in the all-time list (but still over 200 games away from Charlie Aitken). The man has been through some real crap times with the Villa and has played in almost every position on the park. He earnt his England wings with Villa (twice). He has been captain for us, though he lost that honour for a while after last summer’s shenanigans.
Barry has given his view on the potential summer saga:
“I’ve learnt a lot from what happened and last season I learned a lot off the pitch
“I’m looking for a completely opposite scale of things and I’m confident it won’t be one of those sagas again.
“There are things I’ll do differently. I’m not dreading it at all. I know what’s coming. It’s not something you dread, it’s part of the game.
“From the experience of last year I’m hoping to deal with it better.
“It would be disrespectful to the fans and the club if I’m thinking about anything else rather than trying to get maximum points from the last four games – that’s where my head is at this moment.
“It will definitely be a difficult decision but we’ll see where we are at the end of the season before making any decision. It’s always going to be a tough one, no matter what happens.
“A lot of the spotlight was on me because of what happened in the summer so it was important I just got my head down and did what I try and do. That’s what’s happened.
“It’s helped with the way my team-mates have played, there’s a lot of individuals who have performed very highly, so being part of a successful team helps.
“I’ve been happy with the way I’ve been playing and, touch wood, I’ve managed to stay fit again and play the majority of the games.”
Does that give us any insight into Barry’s plans beyond the summer? Or is just the same old stuff that all players always say?
Villa without Barry, for most, is an unimaginable thought and there are many fearing the club would collapse on the pitch without his influence. But there are also some that feel we would be better off without him. Barry has been at Villa for a donkey’s yonk and is part of the furniture, but whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is subject to some debate.
How could Villa replace Barry on the field? Many names have been mentioned, but many have not got the experience necessary for Villa to maintain their league position next year. Other names have an attraction in not necessarily being as good as Barry but maybe more suitable to the fast, attacking style we play.
Myself, I think Barry is superb and a large part of why we have been top 6 for the last 2 seasons and it would be nigh on impossible to replace his vision and precision without spending the kind of money we’re unlikely to have available. Occasionally though, I find myself thinking; Sod it, let him leave, get it over with and let’s begin to rebuild around his absence and there’s no point keeping a player who doesn’t have his heart in it.
The injury to Laursen adds to the desire to keep a rock like Barry and means we will have less to spend on a midfielder as we will have to buy an expensive defender in the summer now.
Back once again for the Rengade Master; Young, There’s only Juan Pablo Angel and Bolton game
Hi all, sorry for taking a few days off, I’m back now and there’s plenty of Villa fluff around the internet that is worth a mention.
First off, Ashley Young has been crowned PFA Young Player Of The Year, which some may see as a bit of a shock as we have been off form of late and so has he. But the PFA Awards are actually decided around February-ish from what I hear and that would make perfect sense as up till then he was flying high and playing superb. There may be some detractors around who aren’t convinced he deserves the award but I am a big fan of the boy and though he may be in a bit of a lull, I believe he will come back and be great some more for us (that’s if he doesn’t trap to Chelsea).
Next up, our old friend Juan Pablo Angel has popped up on the Villa site talking of his delight for our recent success (y’know, back when we were winning games and in the top four). Angel says he still has a lot of love for Villa and has been watching us maintain a top five position with joy. It lead me to thinking;
How would Angel fit into the current Villa set up?
I began imagining a 4-5-1 with Barry, Milner and Young supplying the South American with some tasty balls… and I couldn’t help but like the thought. He could get on the end of the crosses from our wingers and also get hold of through balls from Barry and Petrov. Maybe I’m glorifying him in his absence; remembering the good seasons and forgetting the bad.
Finally, the Bolton game. It wasn’t great was it? We played ok. I won’t give them any more praise than that but I won’t be any harder on them than that either. We created chances but not in the abundance we often do. We scored what can only really be described as a fluke goal and we conceded another cack goal.
Cuellar’s marking is very poor and I hold it to blame for the goal and the dropped 2 points. Harsh maybe, but man-marking is the first lesson you learn when you are 6 and you say to the PE teacher that you want to play in defence. So with an £8m international centre back it should come as part of the package surely. Cohen was left entirely free in the box on the free kick, and as bad luck had it for us the ball fell to him. Maybe it’s not all on Cuellar, but as the senior centre half he really should be either marking loose men or organising the boys to get it done.
All in all, things still are in a lull for Villa but we are now unbeaten in 3 games, which is certainly an improvement after the 4 game losing streak. The ‘easy’ run-in we had doesn’t look so likely to help us beat Arsenal to 4th now does it? But as long the Gunners only gain1 point from their last 4 games and we win all of ours then 4th is ours. Easy.
We are the Champions
So the first team may have lost the plot at the business end of the season, but our second string hasn’t suffered any such problems and have won the reserve league. It is the second year running the Villa reserves have won the Barclays Premier Reserve League South and they now face Sunderland in the Play-off final.
The team is made up of promising youngsters, wishing to break into the first team. We are well aware of how great this can be for the team, just look at Gabby and the up-coming Nathan Delfouneso.
So congratulations to our boys, they won 11 of 16 games to take the title and in the end won it against local rivals West Brom. Bring on the final on May 20th.
Do Bolton have any unknown 17-year olds waiting to punish us?
The last time we played a team who were in a losing streak was Manchester United. And nobody needs me to remind them of the heartache we suffered in the last 10 minutes up there. No-one needs me to say the word Macheda. So I won’t. I promise. Not even once.
Bolton have won just 1 in the last 6, and that was against Middlesbrough. Let’s be honest, a win against Boro this season is nothing to shout about is it? Everyone is beating them. Oh hang on, they beat us. At our place! Forget that then, back to Bolton; they’ve lost 4 of their last 6, only picking up points against teams in the drop zone.
So surely that’s good news for Villa. Maybe. Hopefully. But we are also in a horrible run of form and as mentioned, the last time we played a team in a losing streak, we took our foot off the gas with 10 minutes remaining and not only lost our win, we also lost the game. That must not be repeated. We have to play for 90 minutes. Or 95 it comes to that.
The Everton game was very encouraging in many ways, despite showing clearly that we have yet to plug the leaks at the back, at least we showed the resolve (aka balls) to fight back when 3-1 down.
If not going to make any predictions on this one, it’s a clash of 2 teams who badly need a win, so the strongest will survive.
Up The Villa
Match Preview: Bolton Wanderers Vs Aston Villa (by Betfair’s Gareth Freeman)
Earlier in the season the Villa smashed Bolton 4-2 at Villa Park. I doubt it will be so easy this time around but a Villa win is still very much on the cards. The Wanderers have been very poor over the last couple of weeks, they were beaten 3-1 by Fulham at the Reebok and limped to a 1-0 loss away at Fratton Park last weekend. They did manage to beat Middlesbrough 4-1 but in truth that result flattered Bolton and I very much doubt they’ll do the same against Aston Villa on Saturday.
In goal Jussi Jaaskelainen could be one of the best keepers in the league. He made a string of impressive saves against Pompey to ensure the score line was respectable but he is prone to the odd gaff as well. Jussi has been in good form this season and is a hard keeper to beat, but if Villa get enough chances this won’t matter a great deal.
In defence Gary Cahill may well be one of the best central defenders in the country. I genuinely have no idea why Villa let him go and for me Cahill is so much better than Zat Knight it’s almost criminal. It wouldn’t surprise me if the former Villa man moved on in the near future, if not this summer perhaps the one after, and he is the rock of the Bolton defence. The problem with the Bolton defence is Cahill’s partner, whoever that may be, Andy O’Brien has been making mistakes lately and I’m not sure Danny Shittu is cut out for the Premier League. The Wanderers also have Sebastien Puygrenier on loan from Zenit St Petersburg but the French centre-half hasn’t made a massive impact since he arrived at the Reebok. In Gretar Steinsson they have a quality right-back and former Villa man Jlloyd Samuel has been doing a good, if uninspiring, job at left-back.
The Bolton midfield is definitely a ‘work in progress’ for boss Gary Megson at the moment. I don’t know what the Villa fans thought of Gavin McCann when he was at Villa Park but in his time at Bolton I’ve noticed he doesn’t know which way forward is. Fabrice Muamba is very hit and miss, sometimes he looks amazing and other times clueless. Matt Taylor has been in fine form all season and is deadly when delivering free-kicks and corners, Taylor will probably be Bolton’s danger man on the day. Megson is still sweating on the fitness of Ricardo Gardner, the Jamaican has been Bolton’s bright-spark this season and about the only player who seems to be able to take people on and create things from nothing, if Gardner doesn’t play Villa will have an even greater chance of taking all three points.
No one really needs to be told about Kevin Davies, he works hard, has a better touch than most people expect and has popped up with quite a few goals this season. Record signing Johan Elmander has come under a lot of criticism for not scoring but the big Swede is another player with a fantastic work-rate and will tire out the Villa defence. Personally I’m not sure how much quality Elmander actually posseses but he does trouble defenders with his presence alone.
In truth this is a tie that could go either way. Villa and Bolton have played out a few cracking games over the years but I think this will be a cagey affair. I watched Villa against Manchester United and Everton and they were both games Villa perhaps deserved to win (especially Man U, turns out Fergie does seem to have some sort of factory producing wonder kids). Bolton haven’t looked very good for a while now but they still seem to be picking up the odd result here and there and they’ve still got relegation to worry about (sort of) so I’m expecting a low-scoring and nervous encounter between two teams fairly low on confidence.
by Gareth Freeman, a sports writer who writes about betting for Betfair.
Ex-Wolves player may be coming to Villa
The Mirror has reported here that Joleon Lescott is on the top of MON’s list to replace Martin Laursen. Our captain has suffered another setback in his ongoing injury saga and at 31 it has begun being suggested that he may never return. Laursen will be heartbroken and there are thousands of us in the Midlands who’ll feel the same way. Replacing him will be no easy task and you can expect links with as many central defenders as there will be for Barry replacements this summer.
Joleon Lescott is a great rumour and one I’d like to see come true. I know he used to play for the Wolves, but apparently he was a Villa fan as a youth. What I do know for sure is that he is a very talented defender and could help massively to plug the gaps we have had at the back of late. I would be right behind O’Neill if he made a bid for the Everton lad.
The Mirror claims that MON will have £10m to replace Laursen, but it also claims that O’Neill is interested in Lescott ‘due to his Brummie roots’, so I’m not putting any concrete trust in their rumours. O’Neill would never in a million years buy a player based on having grown up in the Midlands, if he does begin that policy though, I’ll have to pop in to Bodymoor and show him some of my skills!
Heskey answers his critics, as our defence continues to disappoint
Emile Heskey scored the goal that almost won the game for us, but our inability to find the net again and the continuing defensive disappointments meant we allowed West Ham in for an equaliser. So still victory eludes us, now having taken just 3 points from the last 24.
The goal came from a lovely passing movement between Petrov, Milner and Heskey, with the big man giving us exactly what we want from him but have received so little of; goalscoring instinct. When we signed Heskey there was some diappointment amongst fans as scoring isn’t a huge part of his game and it was plain to everyone that that was what we needed. The creating of chances we already had in abundance. Is this a sign of things to come from Heskey? More killer instinct? Not judging on the way he hashed a chance early in the second half that Carew had done superbly to set up for him.
Much like in a lot of this season; we dominated this game, creating dozens of chances, but failing to score as many as would expected and then, much like the last 2 months; our defence had some poor moments and we let in a silly goal. This last month I have sometimes wondered if we’d be better off playing 3-5-2. Just have one central defender because we know full well they will concede anyway and then we get to have another midfielder to help us attack and score more and maybe win some games.
Obviously it’s a pipe-dream and not a sensible one at that, but it’s a testament to the lack of confidence in our centre backs, when I’m thinking “Screw it, let’s just admit that we’ll concede and try to score more than we let in”. If Brad Friedel can play that well every week it may even work. The old guy was superb against West Ham, especially towards the end when the Hammers came alive and almost stole the points.
The Revolution could be near. Will Premier League 2 happen. Do we want it to?
There are plans being proposed to shake up the Premier League, which will have huge repercussions on some teams, not so much affect on others. The plan is to make the Premier League into 2 divisions of 18 teams, which would include 2 teams from Scotland. The proposal has been under wraps for 4 months and probably still should be, but the Mirror has made it public today.
What does it mean for Villa?
Well probably not as much as it would for some others. If the top flight is to have 18 teams then, with or without 2 from Scotland, we will still be a top flight team. It would mean 4 less games per season, which might not be a bad thing having seen how much we’ve tired prior to crossing the line this season. But the plans also propose a new Premier League Cup, so that may well outweigh that.
The 2 Scottish teams are unnamed but will undoubtedly be Celtic and Rangers, who have expressed an interest in the past to be part of the Premier League. But the effect it will have on the rest of Scottish football could be disastrous. Without the main 2 sides it could see a reduction in attendances, as most teams record their best gates when entertaining them. The flip side of that thought is that fans will be more eager to watch their team when there is a chance they can win the league, which at present is very slim: Check here for the all-time SPL table and see that the Glasgow teams are almost 300 points away from third placed Hearts. No team other than those 2 have ever won the SPL and the last to win the top flight were Aberdeen in 1985!
Where do the other teams come from?
What I can’t work out is how they will make up 2 Premier Leagues of 18 teams each. That makes 36 teams and at present there are 20. So plus 2 Scottish makes 22 and maybe they will make all the Coca-Cola divisions into 20 instead of 24, making an extra 12. That’s 34, where do the other 2 teams come from?
Relegation and promotion
The plan is to have 2 teams going down and up between the 2 Premier Leagues and just one leaving the second division to go into the Football League. So unless we regress back to the David O’Leary days, we should be a fixture in the top flight.
Thoughts
What do you reckon to this proposal? Do you think it will be a good thing for Villa? Is it a good thing for football? Or is it just yet another hare-brained plan to milk more money out of fans (anyone remember the Game 39 proposal)?
The battle of the Claret and Blues – Scoreline predictions
Today Villa play host to the team that copied their kit, but who will emerge as victors? Villa haven’t won since the trees over Wollescote Park were knee high to a grasshopper, but the form has definitely returned, bringing with it the confidence so it’s looking possible once again.
West Ham are no mugs though and they won’t go down easily, so it should be a good encounter. Who do you think will get the better today though? Or do you envisage a draw?
I’m plumping for Villa to get an early goal and be fired up from it and to go 3-0 up. Then a consolation from West Ham robbing us of a clean sheet that Zat Knight had worked so damned hard for. So 3-1 to the Villans is my bet.
Anyone else got a prediction? Or are you too scared to tempt fate?
Villa should focus on 5th and the Europa League and drop the Champions League ambitions for now
OK, so I haven’t chose to ‘lower my ambitions’ easily or without much soul searching, but here’s the way I see it. We showed our squad isn’t even big enough for Europe’s second string cup with our Moscow debacle. We have also shown with the way we have fallen apart in the last 2 months, that we don’t have enough stamina and experience near the top at the business end to go the distance in the league.
It’s sad. It’s heartbreaking. And just as much it’s humbling. We have spent a long time being really convinced that we can make it to the Champions League by finishing 4th. Now don’t get me wrong, I will still be plugging for us to get ever higher in the league, but ultimately I think for the better of the club we should aim to finish 5th and really try to compete in next year’s UEFA Cup (which will be named the Europa League).
Why in the f@#k the dramatic U-turn?
The reason for me changing my tune is that I think Villa will stand a better chance of long-term growth if we do it a little slower. Just imagine if we made the Champions League this year; We’d either have to field the Moscow team and get embarrassed or we’d have to field full strength in that and suffer in the league, meaning we wouldn’t be able to maintain a 4th placed finish and therefore be one-hit wonders in the Champions League.
We have suffered greatly this last 2 months and a part of that has come from our confidence being knocked when it began to look like we might not hold onto 4th. However, if the team had been focussing on 5th all along, it may not have been such a kick-in-the-confidence to lose a couple and we may have picked our heads up sooner.
So what’s the plan, Stan?
If we can finish 5th this season then we will have made progress. Not much, just one position, but up here in the heady heights of Premier League’s top six one position can be a big step. A 5th-placed finish would give us Europa League football next season and that should be our ambition. If we can do well in that Cup, or even better win it, then we can earn revenue and status from it, which can help us to attract players and build a better, fuller squad.
Whereas if we do it as a Champions League one-hit wonder we won’t be able to keep hold of the players we attract. I guess a large part of the giving up hope of Champions League for next season (apart from the fact that it is now almost beyond our reach) is the news that Lerner doesn’t have a bottomless pit of money to throw at the club.
Am I actually lowering my ambitions?
Hell no! I actually think I’m raising them. By doing it slowly, by beginning with Europa League success, we can press on from there and aim to become fixtures in the Champions League. And that is what we all want. That is the holy grail. That and to begin to push for winning the league in future years.
Martin O’Neill has been right all along. It’s a long term plan. Let’s still aim to be in the Champions League. Just not for a coupla years.
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