Back to business.
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.
Two sides to every story
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.
Winners and Sinners!!
The winners were clearly Aston Villa, over a very ordinary Portsmouth side, and, of course, Martin O’Neill over Nigel Reo Coker after their little spat last week. NRC is now back in training and has apparently said sorry for the kerfuffle.
Portsmouth had a few shots on goal without really testing the new Villa defence that much. I like the way the partnership between Collins and Dunne is shaping up. From five games, Villa have the best defence in the Premier League, clean sheets are coming thick and fast. Let’s hope that continues. Carlos and Warnock are also doing their bit as well. Maybe, MON knew what he was doing after all. Ordinary players, or so we thought, but he has them playing really well as a team.
At the minute, Villa need Nigel Reo Coker as much as he needs us. He joined the club with a bit of a bad air hanging around him from his West Ham days with the Hammers scapegoating him for just about everything but the writing of the match day programme. NRC has been played out of position a hell of a lot and it was refreshing to see how well he was performing earlier in the season when he moved back in to the centre of midfield. He still gets taken off too much for my liking but MON clearly sticks to a game plan and this has to be accepted by Nigel. That said, I think he’ll be gone come next summer as there can be only one winner in issues such as these.
We entertain Cardiff City tomorrow night in the Carling Cup. I hope we take the competition seriously as I think we have a great chance to do really well in it. Apart from the likes of Spurs, Man City and Everton, the other, so-called big four clubs tend not to take it that seriously in the earlier rounds. If we can beat Cardiff and then get one of those four clubs at home in the next round, we’ll be laughing all the way to the final!! A repeat of the last two years, particularly with no Europa Cup to think about, would be a massive waste of an opportunity. It’s a day out at Wembley and a guarantee of european footie next year regardless of our finishing position.
Great to see Gabby finding the net. He can be a bit of a glut scorer. Will bang in four or five in quick succession and then go seven or eight games without a goal, but, he seems to be working very hard at his game and, for once, is over-shadowing John Carew.
Solid.
There’s a very solid look about Aston Villa going from the result and performance against Birmingham City. Brad Friedel had a couple of long range shots to take care of but I can’t remember him having to do anything else of note. James Collins and Richard Dunne look to be a tower of strength in the middle of our defence. Blues only played with one up top for the whole game and would have been the happier side with a point, anything to stop the domination eh? I never got the feeling that Blues had it in them to breach the back four with Cuellar and Warnock both as solid as their middle men. We looked comfortable from start to finish and I guess there will be bigger tests to come.
Interesting that MON went for Carlos at right back instead of Beye. A clear indication that he rates the Spanish defender very highly. Cuellar isn’t that great a player, he gave the ball away on a few occasions but he is a very solid and steady defender and throws his body in the way on a regular basis. There was one passage of play down our left when no less than three Villa men threw themselves at a shot from the edge of the area. With that sort of passionate defending, we’ll be keeping a good few clean sheets.
Also interesting was that we never really looked like scoring when we 4-5-1. It was only when Carew came on that we had our first shot on target, Sidwell’s header at the far post. It is easy to argue the point that we need to be defensively solid with that third central midfielder protecting the back four, unlike the Barry/Petrov partnership last season that you could have driven a coach and horses between. With Dunne and Collins together, MON may now want to give Gabby that extra bit of help with Carew also up top and hope that we can stay as solid defensively when we play 4-4-2. One for further debate.
Milner and Young are still taking plaudits for being England’s young guns. Neither were that impressive yesterday in my opinion as their distribution wasn’t as good as it could have been. That said, Young’s free kick led to the goal and we won the game. They can’t play brilliantly every week, and we did, as said, win the game, again!! Bring on Pompey.
Onwards and upwards
The transfer window has finally shut, more with a creak than a slam for many clubs as they will look back on their buying with a sigh. Not so for Villa boss O’Neill though as he says he couldn’t be more pleased with his purchases. I tend to agree with him. The signings of Downing, Warnock and Dunne are good to great buys. The others were very necessary and look to be better than everage in my opinion. Also, with the collapse of the Shorey to Portsmouth transfer, Villa have two players for every position.
I’ll try to be consistant and tell you that I would have liked another central midfielder, especially if MON is to stick with the 4-5-1 formation, which certainly looks to be working well at the minute. We were linked heavily with Van Der Vaart and Jenas throughout the window but by not buying another midfielder it shows that MON has faith in his men. I just think that we are weak without the three names below, until Delph is up to speed and Downing returns that is.
NRC, when played in the centre of midfield appears to have upped his game recently. Sidwell is finally showing the type of form which persuaded Chelsea to sign him, and then for Villa to pay £5 mill for his services. I’d like Ginger Sid to score more goals but maybe that will come when he gets a run of games this season. Petrov can play his holding role and, knowing that the middle of the park is packed, his 5 yard balls here and there will undoubtedly find a man in claret and blue, not a criticism, I think that’s his game and he’s very good at it.
So, in all we DO have a stronger squad than last season despite us not replacing Barry with a like for like player. Perhaps MON accepted early on that he couldn’t replace him and we have to play a different game. Barry DID have his faults. He couldn’t defend in a 4-4-2, just like Petrov. Time will tell whether we miss his passing. MON has a right to be pleased with his buys. Solid, rather than spectacular, that’s what I’ve come to expect from the man in charge. It’s a waste of time asking for MON to sign Matt Upson when we all know he’d rather sign the bloke next to him. That said, MON has a habit of somehow making it work. With a weeks break for the internationals, we’ll have to wait for the ingredients to be put together on the pitch before we take on Birmingham City.
Good start?
Three wins on the trot, six points from nine in the league, out of the Europa Cup. Does this represent a good start or an indifferent one?
Winning at Liverpool seems to have shut the boo boys up. The win against Rapid was as tough a battle as I expected with them pulling ten people behind the ball. I also knew that we wouldn’t be able to keep a clean sheet. In some ways, going out at this stage might turn out to be a good thing, although MON may not have his ready made, “the players are tired”, excuse for later in the season!!
The Fulham game was as easy a win as we could have hoped for and one that Ciaran Clark would have wanted. An easy stroll in the park to begin his induction into the Premier League. That said, he was excellent from start to finish and looks like he’ll be yet another great defender from the Villa ranks. Shorey also played well, knowing that Warnock is ready, willing and able to take his place.
The pleasing thing from the last two league games is that Martin O’Neill has plumped for the 4-5-1 formation, one that gained Villa so many plaudits last season. Whilst I think we need more creativity through the middle and in particular, someone to weigh in with ten to fifteen goals a season from midfield, we look much more solid as a unit. Petrov can play his holing role, with NRC winning the ball and bursting forward but I think we also need a playmaker in there too. Van Der Vaart still hasn’t left Real Madrid!!
We head in to the international break now with plenty of our players flying off to all parts of the globe. It’s great to see Milner, Young (and Heskey) named in the England squad again. Milner has impressed me with his work ethic so far and is looking like a 12mill player.
Before the players return to Bodymoor Heath on the 11th, or so, of September, we may be in for a couple of new faces. Richard Dunne is negotiating his pay off from Manchester City before signing for Villa. We are still being linked with the likes of David Bentley and Jermaine Jenas from Spurs and West Ham’s James Collins. We’ll know much more at 5.01pm on September 1st. MON stated that he’s spend whatever was available to him, he said that he received some encouragement from the club doing the selling, let’s hope so.
Massive week ahead
This is arguably the biggest week in MON’s management of Aston Villa to date. Players in, players out, three big matches ahead, all starting tonight against Liverpool.
Ordinarily, I’d leave the blog writing until after the game at Anfield but I think that we need to get our skates on as a football club as I truly think that this week could define our season. Dramatic? Yeah, maybe but let me explain.
If we lose at Anfield, possibly without Curtis Davies, who has a knock to his shoulder, the knives will be out again as people, quite rightly, will be asking questions about why we have only one fit central defender in the camp. Not including the very untried Clark. Lose, and that will be three straight losses and doom and gloom, despite the fact that Liverpool just happen to be regular Champions League latter stage attendees and should be expected to beat Villa on the home patch.
Then we welcome Rapid Vienna to Villa Park on Thursday. Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Villa, a bit down from our early season start and this game might not be as easy as people are suggesting. It is more than feasible, with the squad we have available, that we go out of Europe at the first hurdle. The the knives will well and truly be out.
Next Sunday, we come up against Fulham. A team with a tactically astute Manager and someone who out thought us twice last season. They battered us at their place in what was a dire Villa performance. Again, they are likely to be tough opposition and will be happy to leave VP with a point. Again, the knives will be out as we head in to the next game, against the filth without a win to our name, out of the Europa Cup and looking very, very low.
Ok. This is the worst case scenario and could all be avoided. Grab something at Anfield, brush Rapid to one side on Thursday and beat Fulham, and, suddenly things are looking up. However, if it pans out like I have predicted above and fans will be questioning whether we need a change at the helm. From reading other websites, as I’m sure you’ll agree, there is already a tide change against MON’s running of the club, particularly in the transfer market.
I think that this is where the week gets even more interesting, sign the players we are currently being heavily linked with, Warnock, Collins, Dunne/Distin and Jenas and we might be able to offer slightly more resistance to the teams we face in the next week. However, we can’t play any other new players against Rapid, or tonight against Liverpool so will have to do our best with what we’ve got. Yes, we can shore up against Fulham, if, and let’s face it, it’s a massive IF, we bring in these players.
Warnock was left out of the Blackburn Rovers squad at the weekend with Big Sam stating that Warnock’s head isn’t right, due to a proposed transfer to VP. However, he also said that they want more money. GET ON WITH IT!!
Mon was at two or three games over the weekend, scouting opposition or looking at players? Who know’s? But, surely, he already knows who he wants. Again, GET ON WITH IT!!
We might well be in a queue to see who other clubs buy, Lescott going to Manchester City, for example, might free up Richard Dunne, leaving us with their cast offs, but it make a mockery of suggestions that MON wants “five players who can walk into a decent Premier League side”. Something he said a while ago. I know we shouldn’t hang on to his every word, but it’s difficult not to when people care about the club. I have to say, I’m not a MON basher and I want him to carry on with being our Manager, but O also believe that he brings some of the stick he gets on himself with the way he deals in the transfer market.
This week is massive. Let’s watch it unfold, hoping for points on the board, a place in the group stages of the Europa Cup, a few goals, a few new players and, most importantly, belief that we are capable of challenging.
Lots to do.
Firstly, we have to do something we have failed to do so far this season in order to dispose of Rapid Vienna. Score a goal (or two to be precise!). Last nights performance was ok, nothing more, nothing less. Conceding after just 16 seconds smacks of a lack of concentration. I don’t think the second leg will be as easy as other people, including MON are suggesting.
Secondly, Villa have to decide on a suitable formation that works for us. I vote 4-5-1 as this gained us some success last season, allowing Petrov to stay in the side. We need a ball winner, maybe NRC and a forward breaking player to support John Carew up front.
Third, we need players. Simple as that. A left back to replace Shorey. Two centre backs, a striker and at least one creative midfielder.
As I said earlier, if we play 4-5-1, we need a midfielder who can chip in with 10 goals a season or so. If we play 4-4-2, we need to find someone who can compliment teachers pet Petrov (you all know he’ll play every week!!). Delph, great player but not yet ready to play every week. Sidwell is anonymous too often. Personally, I’d let him go if we can get in the right replacement.
I refuse to jump on the bandwagon for the removal of Martin O’Neill. He drives me mad in the transfer market as he appears slow and purchases the odd pony or two. But to remove him now may send us down the same route as the Newcastle United one and we end up in a similar position as them. I would agree that we have some problems, Buying at least 3 players would help, as would getting Luke Young fit. We simply have to replace mediocre with more quality and we can compete again for the top eight. At this time, with no more signings made, however implausible I feel that is, we will do very well to reach the top half. We most definately lack leaders. To this end, I can understand why we are being linked with the likes of Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin. Both captains at their clubs in recent times. I’m not saying that I rate either of them particularly highly but they would be a start.
I still feel that MON WILL sing a couple of players but he has an awful lot to do in the remaining days of the market.
We’ve lost two games on the trot, to two mediocre sides. Confidence will begin to ebb if we lose at Anfield, Fulham out-think us. Lose to Birmingham and the knives will be out well and truly.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. (AV 0 WA 2)
I genuinely don’t like criticising anything about Aston Villa as I’ve been a supporter for 35 years and things have generally been pretty good, on the whole, in the last three years or so. Today though, I am miserable because I think I have to criticise Martin O’Neill for this rather abject performance against Wigan Athletic. In fairness, I did say that Wigan would win comfortably in my last post, well, almost!!
I think MON got the team wrong today and I’m more convinced than ever that Petrov cannot play in a 4-4-2. Also, to throw Delph straight in, and leave both Sidwell and Reo-Coker on the bench wasn’t a clever idea. I am not the biggest fan of either of those players and think they’ll be replaced and I’m sure Delph will be a great player over the years to come but today he looked a little out of his depth. We should have gone solid and made sure that we got something out of the game. I feel it’s important NOT to lose your first game.
Losing Carew before the game didn’t help us but we can’t keep making excuses about a lack of squad depth and then do nothing, or very little about it. The transfer window closes in just over two weeks and Villa need at least 4 more players in my opinion.
Warnock would be a good start. Nicky Shorey just doesn’t cut it at this level for me. He’s too small and isn’t a first team player. We need two leaders in the middle at the back and I also still feel that we need a playmaker in the middle of the park. We’re not in Sneijder’s league and I can’t see that one happening. Probably more like Jenas!!
Who do we sign? I don’t know, that’s MON’s job, get on with it. The Villa fans paid their money and quite rightly boo’d at the end of the game. A really disappointing crowd of 35,000 would have swelled had MON have brought in some additional quality. The players we have got in are solid without being exciting and I just sense that the tide might be turning against MON a little. Another couple of defeats and things might starting getting a bit fruity.
I like the fact that MON doesn’t dress things up. He said that we were poor and were second best. He’s right, but now he needs to do something about it. I haven’t lost faith in him but I do question how slow he appears to be in the market. I love his honesty and his quirky manner but I want Villa to move forward again this season.
One defeat does not make a season and there’s no panic at Villa. There might be, amongst fans, if MON doesn’t pull a couple of more than solid transfers off.
Villa 0 Wigan 2. Wrong, just wrong.
Now for the real stuff
Once again we beat a decent Italian team with only half a side. Great to see Fabian Delph thrown straight in and this would give him a real confidence boost. The other pleasing thing is that we still have lots of players not playing or injured and it shows us that we can be a real force when they are back, if we’re not already!! Fiorentina had their chances with the penalty and hitting the bar but so did Villa. A good workout with plenty of players getting a rest in readiness for the more important games to come.
We face Rapid Vienna in the Europa Play off with some decent prize money to be had for reaching the group stages and winning games once there. I’m sure MON would have liked easier opposition at this stage of the competition but he’s being a bit cautious by bigging them up a bit. Villa will have too much for them (I hope).
The league gets under way this Saturday with a home game against Wigan. I can only see three points for Villa here and see Martinez out of his depth in the Premiership at the moment. He’ll get them playing good, open football but I just can’t see them being as good as they were under Steve Bruce. They’ll struggle to score goals without Valencia and will do well to finish outside the bottom three. Cue Wigan winning comfortably then!!
I’d also be hoping that MON adds some more to the squad this week after adding Beye and Delph last week. Two solid signings in the bag and he’s also been talking openly about a certain Dutch player this week. Unusual for MON to be so open about his dealings, unless he hopes that his words of encouragement get back to Sneijder about him being wanted. The “surplus to requirements” quote was clever.
I hope that people don’t compare Delph to Ashley Young too often when it comes to settling in quickly. Young is a superb player, Delph, Like Young, is a player we have paid over the odds for and will take time to find his feet. We mustn’t think he’ll take to the Premiership as quickly as Ashley did, hopefully, he will, but they are different players and we can’t heap too much on him too soon. He is a massive talent though.
MON reckons that the new Captain hasn’t yet been selected. I wonder whether we’ve signed him yet. Petrov was the firm favourite but it could be a useful carrot to dangle in front of a potential signing.
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