Back to business.

October 15, 2009 by Steve Orchard · 1 Comment
Filed under: Aston Villa 

Another gap for the internationals and we’re back to league business. At home to Chelsea in the live match this Saturday after Milner, Gabby and Heskey did their bit in making sure that England sewed up the easiest of tasks in getting us over the line for World Cup qualification.

Heskey may be bemoaning his lack of action for his club but at least he doesn’t have to play at left back!! I went to Wembley to watch the game last night and was pleased that Milner did such a good job when he went on. Hitting the post after a lovely turn of pace, and a bit of trickery saw him go past his marker. Excellent play from a cracking little player. His price tag doesn’t seem quite so large now does it? Perhaps if Heskey put in a little more effort, and scored the odd goal here and there, he’d get in the Villa side.

Gabby did ok too. Setting up Crouch’s first goal and then getting a strike in a bit later on. A shame really that the rest of the team were fairly lacklustre in that first half as Crouch did sod all off the ball but gets himself in the Managers eyeline by tapping home two goals. Gabby ran hard but didn’t get the ball a great deal. Bridge and Barry were poor. Wright-Phillips scored but was sensationally useless, I think he’s so over-rated it’s unbelievable. Fat Frank, apart from his goals is another who is over-rated, that said, a guaranteed 20 goals a season is pretty good for a midfielder. Glen Johnson, great going forward, can’t defend. England will not win the World Cup. There. I said it.

Back to Villa. Shame the international break came when it did as we were just getting settled again after the poor defeat to Blackburn. A half decent performance against Fat bums Man City side. Chelsea is a stiff test.

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Two sides to every story

October 1, 2009 by Steve Orchard · 2 Comments
Filed under: Aston Villa 

I didn’t enjoy the result against Blackburn. I didn’t enjoy watching Delph and Petrov play together in the middle. I didn’t enjoy seeing Villa’s name come out of the hat away to Sunderland. I don’t like the way NRC is being treated, naughty boy though he is, apparently. I rarely enjoy watching Emile Heskey in a Villa shirt. What does he add? I also fear the worst for the upcoming Manchester City game. Why?

4-5-1 really has worked for Villa, I know that we need the extra forward and a change of formation towards the end of the game to beat Birmingham, but generally that midfield three has given us a solid look. I genuinely cannot understand why MON doesn’t see it. Playing Delph, clearly a talent and one for the future, ahead of NRC with Sidwell injured, didn’t make a great deal of sense to me against Fat Sam’s lot. I’d like to know how the manager is going to address the situation with Hokey Cokey in the long term. Sell him, easy answer but at the minute we don’t really have that ball winner/driving midfielder.

I can see that we have a more solid look about the team from a defensive point of view. Collins and Dunne look pretty good acquisitions, along with Warnock. Maybe MON now thinks that they don’t need the extra protection from our midfield pairing in front of them. Who knows?

Villa are awarded with a trip to the Stadium of Light after beating Cardiff with an early goal from in form Gabby. I’d rather have them at Villa Park. Actually, I’d rather play Liverpool or United at Villa Park as it gets rid of them whilst they are not taking the competition seriously in its early stages. I think the Black Cats have improved recently and will be up for this one. Still, if we are going to win the cup, we have to beat these sorts of teams along the way.

Manchester City up next. Monday night. The return of Gareth Barry. Will you boo him or welcome him back? I really couldn’t care less. I’m much more for singing pro-Villa songs than anti-Blues songs. I’m more more for watching Villa than opposition players. Unless of course I’m watching Heskey. I really don’t see why we bought him. He rarely scores, spends too much time on his bum and we already have the better, big man player in John Carew. Just my opinion.

No doubts it’ll be a tough game but we have to be a force at home if we are to continue to improve. I’m a miserable old boy though and think that a draw is all we can expect. I truly hope that I’m wrong.

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