Onwards and upwards

September 4, 2009 by Steve Orchard
Filed under: Aston Villa 

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.


Comments

3 Comments on Onwards and upwards

  1. Simon Preston on Fri, 4th Sep 2009 20:29

    2. I’m a lot happier than I was at the start of the window, and the whole of the January one. I’ve been saying for a long time that O’Neill needs to get some strong defenders in and with Dunne and Collins arriving we might just get that. Cuellar is also looking good and I thought he had a great game against Vienna at home for the most part. If we have our back line sorted then things will look very very positive indeed.

  2. andy5759 on Fri, 4th Sep 2009 21:10

    3. Oh, deep joy! The skeptics have finally shut up leaving the field open to all us “sheep” who actually believe in RL and MON. The squad is far better then last season. I have had a cheeky punt on 3rd/4th, and I am quite confident.

  3. Cryoj on Thu, 19th Nov 2009 21:46

    4. I’d decrepitude to squealer that too!

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