Villa contribution to England’s 4-0 win
When the squad was announced, Villa had 3 players in there; Gareth Barry, Ashley Young and Emile Heskey.
And at present, Aston Villa is the only club Gareth Barry has played for, so can we claim the first 2 England goals as Villa-related?
We also have a bunch of players who were knocking on England’s door earlier in the season; James Milner, Curtis Davies, Luke Young, Gabby Agbonlahor. But a drop in Villa’s form saw them slip from the squad. Will their times come again? It will if they get their heads back up on their shoulders and play to the ability we have seen them capable of.
The thing that I liked most yesterday though, was Emile Heskey’s position for his goal. He was poaching. And, hard as it might be for many to imagine, Heskey is a good finisher. Heskey’s reason that he isn’t very popular as a striker is that he rarely scores, but that is caused by the positions he gets into (too deep), rather than his ability to put the ball in the net.
There doesn’t seem to be anything you can do to make Heskey into a goal hanger though (a role that brought Michael Owen so much success). Last night he was the lone striker, but still he was often found in our own half. The way I see it, if you are playing just one striker, up top alone, you want him to stay there and always be available as an option for you when you attack. A lone striker to me should be there to poach a goal and/or finish off what the midfielders and wingers create.
Ashley Young didn’t see any minutes, but I don’t feel aggrieved by this the way I did earlier in the season. For months, Young was out-playing Stewart Downing every week and staking a valid claim for Joe Cole’s empty position, but he couldn’t convince Capello. But with his form for the second half of the season I won’t argue with him not playing.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we will see more Villans in the England squad next season as we get our confidence back. Come on Villans.
If these rumours are true, we could be in for a much less successful season next term, so enjoy this one while it lasts
It’s not exactly new information, but it is now time that it’s ugly head needs to be reared and dealt with as an imminent reality. The word on the street is that Randy Lerner is suffering due to the credit crunch and won’t be in a position to fork out for the players we so desperately need to continue our growth and to complete the job we were doing so well at for a large part of this season.
It is being suggested that we will need to sell in order to raise cash for transfers, with Harewood, Shorey, Knight and Gardner mentioned by the Express & Star.
Progress-wise I wouldn’t be averse to seeing them go, but I do have my reservations;
- Gardner is a great bloke to have in the squad as he will always give 100% and is very versatile
- Shorey is finally starting to look the part and there is no guarantee that Bouma will be able to rekindle his old form and fitness, so we could be left exposed at left back (which we all know would see Luke Young switched to there and a makeshift RB drafted in)
- Knight is a lifelong Villa fan, so as one myself, I will always have a bond with him, I concede that we would probably be better off cashing in though
- Harewood wouldn’t be a great loss but is doubtful to raise the kind of cash that would buy us anyone great
As mentioned though, none of these would bring us rakes of cash, so we’d probably only get one big player from selling all four of them and we have already shown that to grow, we need both a bigger and better squad.
You have to sympathise with Lerner in some ways; the guy has done some great stuff for the club so far and has raised us from a club who were struggling to stay in the top flight, to pushing on the Big Four and knocking on the Champions League’s door. But until we achieve that goal, the club will probably cost him more in transfers than he will make back and at the end of the day the guy is a businessman.
If we made it into the Champions League for a few seasons and started to progress in the competition, then he would be laughing, but he must be seeing that as a very big IF right now, with the US and the UK in financial struggles and his fortunes looking far from stable.
The irony is, that to get the kind of money we need, we’d have to sell the players who are most likely to get us there. You have to fancy that Barry will be going either way, which will bring us some money (not as much as last summer’s figure, but still not a bad figure) but also the rumours of Chelsea offering big money for Ashley Young could prove very tempting for Lerner.
The Champions League has distorted football since it’s inception, making the top clubs so much harder to compete with. If you can get into it you have much more chance of staying in it, but now that we have the Big Four situation here, it is going to take years for any club to properly get amongst them, even Man City will need time. How they can fix it is a whole-nother subject and all ideas have their downfalls. Maybe they could limit how much of the earnings can be spent on signing new players and paying wages, but as I say that’s another topic for another day.
So will he be willing to splash the cash this summer? Is his heart and faith strong enough to take the risk during a time of uncertainty or will he play it safe and risk the wrath of some fans?
John Carew wins the ‘Ashley Young Trophy’
[This was written yesterday, but I've been ill so didn't end up finishing it. That's why it says 'last night' for something that was the night before. I'm much better now, thanks for asking but my head is throbbing now, so I guess I'll go pop a few pills... feel sorry for me 
]
As you should all be aware, Villa finally won a game last night. It’s been a long time coming and it feels weird, like a long lost emotion, but we have 3 points, we’re back 5th and we have secured a Europa League spot for next season.
Villa took the game to Hull, with Milner looking especially keen to get on the scoresheet, but the only goal of the game came from an Ashley Young cross and a John Carew touch that made sure it eluded Myhill. Carew ran straight to Young and celebrated by picking him up and holding him aloft, as if he was the FA Cup! It was hilarious to see the big man lift Young with such ease. Celebration of the season, I reckon.
The game
It was the battle of the out of form teams, who’d both been punching above their weight at earlier times in the season. Villa had been 4th until this bad run began and even flirted with 3rd and Hull had been 3rd near the start of the season and remained in the top half for a good while before their plummet. But Villa won the game and regained 5th off Everton, who’d jumped in while we waited for our game to roll around, and Hull’s freefall continues as they stay just 3 points off the drop zone and still have Man Utd to play in their last 3 games.
Villa put a lot of pressure on, but Hull also had a decent go at us, particularly in the last quarter of the game. The one goal cushion looked very shaky for the last 10 minutes as Villa’s goalmouth was pummelled by a desperate Hull. Were it not for some great saves by Friedel, they could’ve got a point, but the old guy had a great game and kept a well deserved clean sheet.
Villa’s problematic position of centre-backs saw Knight and Davies play, but neither of them seem able to play well unless they have Laursen alongside them. Last night they were average. Not great but not as poor as they have been in some previous games.
Young and Milner prowled on the wings and both looked eager, Milner especially was trying a lot of belters. None went in, but I do like to see players having a pop, so he’s in my good books today.
It wasn’t Villa’s most convincing performance of the season but the important thing was that we got back to winning ways. Now we need to carry it on for the remainder of the season. Three more wins will secure us 5th place and that is an improvement on last season. If we slip up and finish 6th, it will be debatable amongst Villa fans whether to be proud of the team. We won’t have upped a position and we also threw 4th away so shockingly. I know what tough expectations many Villa fans set the team against.
What we’ve learnt is that we don’t have the squad to finish top four and that we don’t have the squad for a good Europa League attempt, so unless some spending takes place over the summer we will not be able to see an improvement next season.
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.
Villa 0-1 Chelsea – I’m not p!#sed off. Are you?
As you can see, Guus Hiddink is over the moon with win
Before the game I felt confidence was needed for us to stand a chance and our boys went out with no shortage of it. We attacked Chelsea and passed it around their midfield and tried to carve out openings. I felt we played well and against most teams in the Prem that performance would’ve earnt us a win.
But Chelsea were back.
The Chelsea that won trophies and terrorised teams returned in terrible timing for us. The Chelsea that played Hull would’ve lost to us yesterday, but we had the misfortune to face them when they’ve just spent two weeks healing the cracks. Hiddink’s arrival, be it temporary or not, be it a good move or not, was just the kind of manoeuvre they needed to wake the team up to themselves and pull them together. We got unlucky with the timing.
When we faced them back at the start of October, we never expected to be above them by the next meeting, especially after how amazing they played that day. If Scolari could’ve kept them playing like they did against us, they would’ve walked the league this season.
Why we Villans should not be p!#sed off
Fourth: We’re still 4th in the Premier League table, with a 6 point lead over Arsenal, so after next Sunday’s game against Stoke, we’ll still definitely be top four. Even if we lose (god forbid).
Workrate: The Chelsea workrate that has been missing from their game for a while, was back in abundance. No matter where the ball went on the park, they outnumbered us. When we broke down the wings, they outnumbered us in the box. In the middle of the park, they outnumbered us. When they attacked, they outnumbered us. This is a large part of what makes them win so many games; they work so hard as a team. When they play like that we can’t be too ashamed to lose, especially to only concede 1 goal.
Previous results: Prior to this game we had not lost in the league for 13 games. It’s nothing to be ashamed of to finish such a run against Chelsea. If we’d got a result yesterday and then lost to Stoke next week, then I’d be annoyed.
Fear Factor: Villa can be proud to now be considered a team that Chelsea need to fear. Whether or not you believe that the timing of Scolari’s sacking was related to us, it can’t be denied that Chelsea feared our threat and upped their game considerably to get a win.
Ashley Young free kick: We very nearly equalised with a scorching Young free kick that cannoned off the bar. Cech was totally beaten, in fact he didn’t move a muscle it came in that quick. Had the foul been a yard further out, that would’ve dipped in and made it 1-1.
Arsenal drew: The Gunners are being a bunch of fools this season and they blew this golden chance to regain 3 points on us, with a goalless draw at home to Sunderland. That is ground that they may well rue not recovering come May.
Welcome to heaven: There was a banner hanging up at Villa Park yesterday which announced ‘Welcome to heaven’. It’s great to see how much the fans are loving this season.There’s no point moaning through our crap seasons if we aren’t going to enjoy this one, so fair play to the people who put this banner up, we’re with you.
So in the most part I think we can hold our heads high as Villans… and blame it all on NMS.
Where we need to improve
Ashley Young: Much like last time we played Chelsea, Young was not at the top of his game. Bosingwa seems capable of neutralising his threat very effectively. Steve Clarridge suggested that Ashley can’t play against the Big Four sides, and whilst that may not be entirely true, he certainly didn’t shine in either Chelsea game. Maybe this is why Capello doesn’t pick him.
Crossing: A lot of this will crossover with the previous point; all our crosses into the box yesterday went straight to Cech. At no point did we seem to notice this and correct it either, we just kept wasting attack after attack by giving it straight to the big man.
How did the Villans get on in Spain?
Filed under: Aston Villa, International Football, Match Reports
Down in Seville on Wesnesday night, England lost 2-0 to the European Champions; Spain. The scoreline tells a story, but it was the game that really spoke loudest. Spain proved themselves to be leagues ahead of England, with slick passing and the ability to sit back and let England play and then carve them open when they saw a chance.
England started strongly and dominated the first half hour of the game, but for all their possession they showed little danger. They had 2 chances on the Spain goal, both by Villans, but Gabby didn’t connect too well with his volley, putting it narrowly wide and Barry’s header was also off target.
Soon they will have to change the name to England Villa!
What can I say? Villa kick a$s!
Fabio Capello has named his squad this weekend for the upcoming international game on Wednesday. England will be facing European champions, Spain, in a friendly (or as some prefer to call them; pointless game) in Sevilla.
Capello has spent a number of weekends sat in our stands watching some exciting football from our whippersnappers and he obviously likes what he sees because his 23 man squad contains no less than 6 Villans.
James Milner has received his first ever senior call up, alongside Gareth Barry, Emile Heskey, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ashley Young and Luke Young.
Villa vs Portsmouth starting line-up
Quick post with the team for tonight’s game against Pompey. As expected, new boy Emile Heskey is in the starting line-up and we have reverted to the 4-4-2 formation that we were using often before Carew’s injury.
Three changes have been made for this game:
- Luke Young comes back from suspension in a straight swap with Nicky Shorey for the left back spot.
- Emile Heskey replaces Steve Sidwell in the formation change from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2.
- Nigel Reo Coker doesn’t make the team and Craig Gardner fills James Milner’s role and Milner fills Ashley Young’s role on the left side of midfield.
So Barry Read more
Rumours, facts and speculation
Everton and Liverpool drew last night in the Merseyside derby, which has had interesting effects on the table in our neck of the woods. We are now 3 points off top and 8 points clear of Everton. Top is a pipe dream and looks almost impossible with goal differences the way they are, but to be 8 points clear of Everton is great news. Whilst the optimist in us dreams of remaining in the battle with Chelsea and Liverpool, the pessimist fears Arsenal and Everton hijacking the party.
Wigan are now 13 points back, so top six is looking fairly safe, but we won’t be able to stop worrying about Everton and Arsenal until the fat lady has sung.
Ins and outs
Transfer Window – The heat is on
The transfer window couldn’t open soon enough for most Villa fans, desperate to bring a striker in to bolster the squad and provide cover when Carew is out, but 2 weeks in and nothing has happened really. Then on Saturday we lost Ashley Young for 3 games and suddenly it’s battle stations. The alarm bells are ringing now, because with no Young we are going to have some worries.
The first solution would be to bring in Gardner either as a straight replacement or move Barry out to his old position on the left and put Gardner in the middle with Petrov and Sidwell. If MON is feeling brave we could see a reversion to 4-4-2, with Gabby up top with Delfouneso or Harewood. The fear though is that if any more suspensions or injuries came our way we’d be in a real struggle to maintain our winning ways.
MON has been saying he wants Read more
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