Fulham game preview – Why Villa will win a 2nd game on the trot
Near the start of our sensational run we played Fulham and somehow they held us to a 0-0 draw. In my post match report I described our failure to score with this frustrated quote: “pull-your-hair-out, want-to-rip-your-arm-off-and-throw-it-in-the-net-just-so-something-would-go-in-the-damn-thing”. Frustrating was exactly what the game was for a Villan because we bombarded Fulham but were fruitless. It wasn’t quite as jaw-dropping as the Wigan game but it was still hard to believe they held us to a draw.
This time around I expect goals. I think they’ll score, but I think we’ll score one more. Like in the Vindaloo song.
Fulham are much better than many think and Roy Hodgson has done miles better than I ever guessed he would. He looks like he couldn’t inspire a team to even beat West Brom, but he’s taken Fulham into Europa League contention and they have a good chance of getting it with a 7th place finish. You really can’t judge a book by it’s cover.
Still, that’s enough compliments for our opponents. Tomorrow I see a rejuvinated Villa coming out and going at Fulham full force. The win against Hull wasn’t exactly much to write home about as they are in awful form and we played better in some of the draws, but the psychological effects of a win are way more than a good performance can give. I see a repeat of our bombardment on Fulham’s goal, but this time I see us breaking the deadlock at least twice.
I sincerely hope that the gaffer keeps the faith with John Carew and has him walking out at Craven Cottage. I remain convinced that he is our main goal threat and scoring the winning goal against Hull only served to further concrete that opinion. I am gutted that Gabby has lost his way, but I think he’ll get it back for next season. I don’t see him ever being better than he was early this season though, I feel that was his peak and the only way he can be that good again and maintaining consistency will be to play to his strengths. He has spent too long trying to add more to his game, but it hasn’t worked. Go back to what you do best Gab. What Gabby has going for him is when he’s in form he scares the crap out of defenderswith his pace. They don’t want to embarrass theirselves so they play deep and let us in. Gabby’s contribution to our game was as much through that psychological effect as his own actual strengths.
FOUR. FIVE. ONE. It HAS to be!
Gabby Agbonlahor is out with a virus (which probably means a snotty nose) and Emile Heskey is out (thanks Fabio) which means that MON may well revert back to the fan favourite formation of 4-5-1. Carew (also the fan’s choice at present) should find himself alone up front today, with Milner and Young not far behind him on either side and Petrov, Reo-Coker and Barry in the midfield.
It’s not a forgone conclusion, we know how stubborn O’Neill can be, but the other likely option he could choose would be to give Delfouneso a start, which would also go down well with the fans. I’d be surprised to see him start the lad in such a crucial and difficult game though.
Also out for Villa is Carlos Cuellar, so we are well short at the back (as we have been for large parts of the season). The back four will most likely be Young, Knight, Davies and Shorey. Hopefully he won’t go with any of his hare-brained plans of playing midfielders at full back and/or full backs on the wrong sides. We will need to be tight at the back today and a mifielder with straying tendencies could well work against us.
Carrroooooooooooooooooooo is gonna start & Barry will be on his best behaviour
Villa travel to Merseyside on Sunday for a 4pm kick off with the Reds and we go into it with confidence on the floor. But 2 boosts come ahead of the game to give us Villa fans a little hope; John Carew looks set to be handed a start and Gareth Barry will be out to impress.
Carew first
Martin O’Neill has been interviewed and if you read between the lines, it surely means that he intends to get Carew off the bench and onto the pitch, hopefully in place of Heskey, who has not yet found a way to fit in with our team and seems to have hindered us by changing or our style of play. Maybe during the summer we can find a place for Heskey, as he gets used to us, but for the remainder of the season, I’d be happy not to see him start another game. We need to get back to winning ways.
Here’s what MON said, and unless I’m just taking from it what I want to hear then it sounds like he’s suggesting Carew will start:
“The great thing about it is that John Carew now is getting really properly fit. He played nearly a full game up at Everton in the absence of Emile Heskey in the FA Cup. Now, in the little training sessions that he has been doing recently, he has been really sharp. He is really raring to go, which is great.
“The two goals he has got after coming on as a substitute will also have given him a big boost of confidence. It is great to see him back when, in actual fact, you probably thought that it might have been really hard work coming back from the injury.
“John coming back and firing and going well with confidence high is great. I think that will be a major boost to us. Now Emile Heskey has come in and started very brightly at Portsmouth. Yes, he is feeling his way a little bit but that is not a problem.
“To have the three centre forwards there and available can only boost us from now until the end of the season – if they stay fit.”
Four. Five. One.
Still on Carew, I’d like to see him start as the lone striker on Sunday. Two reasons why; firstly, that was the formation that worked for us, we got great results with it and even ground out wins when we weren’t having a good day and secondly, because it can’t do any harm against a team like Liverpool to have plenty of bodies in the middle of the park.
Whether Sidwell gets back into the team or Reo-Coker or Gardner gets the place, I don’t really mind which (probably leaning slightly towards Coker), just so long as we see the 4-5-1 again. Come on Marty, read this blog and trust the author, not your own years of experience.
Gareth Barry
The rumours are (as we expected) already rife about Rafa coming back in for Barry this summer, and with Villa very unlikely to do as well in the Champions League as ‘Pool if we qualify, Barry is very likely to have his heart set back on the move he wanted last summer. The word on the street is that Rafa will be given the funds to secure Barry this time around so I doubt he will be a Villa player in 6 months time and this game he will see as his chance to show his new fans what he’s made of.
It’ll be a very sad day (for me and a large proportion of Villa fans) when Barry goes, but I think we need to start accepting it now, otherwise we’ll have to set up helplines, like when Take That split up 
Predictions
I honestly think we can come away with a point. I won’t be so daring to suggest we’ll win, but I think we’ll up our game against the big teams in these next 3 games and I see Sunday as a 1-1. Anyone else wanna venture a prediction? Or don’t you dare tempt fate!
Are our fickle fans making a mockery of the club?
The last few days have seen both the press and the internet consumed by the story of Villa fans booing during the Tottenham defeat. I have had my say on booing before and have therefore tried to let it pass by without really saying much, but four days have passed and it’s still being talked about by blogs, news sites etc, so now I feel I’d better put AstonVillaBlog’s two-pence forward.
At Aston Villa we have bunch of fans who like to boo. Let’s not beat around the bush about it as the whole nation is only too aware of it now, if they weren’t already. I’ve read and seen plenty of opinions on it in the last 2 days and there seems to be a unanimous agreement with the way I feel about it; Booing is out of order and not helpful in fixing a problem.
But Villa don’t need to be singled out for this, as we are far from the only team to have had boo’ers. Arsene Wenger has had many boos and critics during his reign and look what he’s acheived.
It’s just part of the game I suppose but it all boils down to one simple premise;
You can please some people sometimes, but you can’t please all the people all the time
They are the words of Bob Marley, paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln and they are very apt to this situation. The boo’s are coming from a small minority of Villa fans, who don’t appreciate everything Villa have achieved this season. Since Martin O’Neill and Randy Lerner steadied the ship, Villa have gone from a club who feared relegation to now being a team who are dismally disappointed to have Arsenal go above them. For me that is a great acheivement.
Yeah, in the past Villa have been a very dominant team, winning the league and European Cup in the early 80s and the league cup twice in the mid-90s and mid-70s. But our main period of dominance was over a century ago. In the 1890s Villa were very successful… but that was in a VERY different time. The world of football nowadays is VERY money orientated, and breaking into the top four of the Premier League is a huge, huge achievement, even if we don’t finish there. Be realistic boo’ers. Appreciate where we are.
It’s not like we ‘did a Hull’, we were still in the top four with just 10 games left and we are still very much in with a shout. To me, that is massive. I am proud.
We got everyone talking about us and believing we can finish 4th.
We got loads of players in the England squad.
We got into the top four for a sustained period, well into the season.
We got Arsenal and Chelsea worried (whether they are too proud to admit it or not, we did).
We beat Arsenal at their place and held both Liverpool and Man Utd to draws, not conceding to either team (and this is 2 teams who’ve both scored 49 goals so far this season).
And we did it with an exciting brand of football, attacking teams with pace and skill, just the way you dreamed of when you were 12, playing over the park with your mates and commentating on yourself if you made a counter attack.
This season has been a fantastic ride. I’ve loved being a Villa fan. It’s made all the seasons of boredom seem worthwhile. I’m proud of Aston Villa, and Martin O’Neill, and Randy Lerner, and Gabby Agbonlahor. They’ve all done so much.
And nothing is over yet. Keep up the fight boys. I, for one, will be there cheering you on all the way to the wire.
Up the Villa. All the way.
How do you feel about Villa relinquishing such a strong position and lead over Arsenal?
Well there we have it. We’ve relinquished our spot in the top four. We’ve fell below Arsenal after having an 8 point lead and now we have to get points out of trips to Anfield and Old Trafford and a home game against on-fire Everton, or face the possibility of going into the last 6 games with a 9 point gap to make up (which really would be a 10 point gap as they have better goal difference). Talk about making life hard for ourselves.
So how do we feel today? (feel free to answer this question from your viewpoint in the comments box)
Today is a VERY difficult day to be a Villa fan/blogger. One part of me wants to swear and lament the team for the breakdown of everything they worked so hard to acheive and one part of me wants to be positive and refuse that the fight is over. For today I’m going to give way to my critical side and have a rant. Maybe once it’s off my chest or as the Liverpool game draws closer I’ll pick my chin up and believe again. But now for now, I’m hacked off with them!
Who is to blame? (feel free to answer this question from your viewpoint in the comments box too)
Martin O’Neill:
First on the list HAS to be the gaffer. Now I’m not one of these hot-headed types who wants managers sacked every ten minutes, but confidence is the main issue with Villa’s slide and surely confidence and player morale is part of MON’s job description. Going to the UEFA Cup game and surrendering in the manner in which he did was foolish. I see his point and I don’t necessarily disagree with prioritising the league, but he needed to at least take some of the ‘big names’ to be able to bring on as subs if things went south (which they did). In doing that he not only submitted us to a lot of criticism, which knocked confidence, but he also put HUGE pressure on the players to do well in the league games, which it seems they are not comfortable with.
He also needs knocking for his stubbornness of team selection. Now, none of us really know whats going on between him and Carew but it seems they have a bit of a barney on. Heskey is not fitting in with the team yet and should be dropped for Carew. The big man is the only one hitting the net for us recently and maybe with more match minutes he could do even better.
Gabby Agbonlahor:
Next up must be Gabby. Now it breaks my heart to say this as I idolise him sometimes; but he needs dropping or a HUGE kick up the backside. Gabby is living the dream of half the Villa fans; he grew up a Villan and now he is in the first team, starting every game up front and, until recently, was knocking the goals in. I know for a fact it was my ambition and it’s most likely many of yours too. BUT… he has really let his head drop this last few months. Even before we started losing and drawing games, Gabby was ineffective. MON needs criticising again here for not buying better in the window, even if he’d bought in a Championship striker who was eager to step up, just someone who knows where the net is because our boys don’t anymore. Our goal per attack ratio is appalling.
Emile Heskey:
When we were first linked with him I didn’t think it was a good idea. I am one of Heskey’s few fans, but he has nothing to offer the Villa. He doesn’t fit with our style and I feared that he would hinder us. He proved me wrong on his debut with a superb goal and a lot of promise, but since then he has proved me right. And… for such a big bloke, he’s a wimp! He goes down easy and he rarely heads a cross. Yesterday, little Aaron Lennon was twice as strong as Heskey.
Ashley Young:
I won’t say anything against Young as he did do what I’ve been wanting a lot more yesterday; learnt that no-one is getting on the end of his crosses and cut inside more and played more balls along the ground. Against teams like Spurs Young is at is best, but he had very little danger after him, no-one did much with what he created.
OK, so I’ll draw it to a close there or I’ll be here all day and no-one will be bothered to read it all. Maybe tomorrow I’ll take a look at the midfield and defence or maybe I’ll try to pick my head up and get come positive vibes out there. We’ll see.
Now it’s your turn, what did you think of yesterday and our situation in general (I can see there being some comments as long as the post here!).
[NB: Arsenal and Spurs fans who wish to come on here and slag us off or whatever, go to the other post for today 'Arsenal fans have never been so happy to see Spurs win' and say what you please, I probably won't delete or edit the comments on there. But any mindless comments on this post will be unapproved. This is for constructive criticism of how you feel about Villa's recent form and yesterday's game]
Bentley to Villa, Agbon to the bench, training to Dubai and Acorns again next season
Very similar skyline to Birmingham...isn't it?
Rumours are flying around that David Bentley will leave White Hart Lane for Villa Park in the summer when the window re-opens. Bentley is a very similar player to James Milner who cost us £12m, so if O’Neill spends around £15m on the ex-Blackburn star it shows how determined he is to bolster the squad and give us the strength in depth that our cup runs this season have lacked.
He isn’t exactly someone I’d have at the top of my list of priorities, but he wouldn’t be a bad bloke to have on board. He can get round players and cross a ball very well, but unless we also buy someone who can get on the end of those crosses it’ll get us nowhere. So in short; sound, bring him in but it needs to be as part of a bigger plan.
Cut Aggy
Moving on, there has been plenty of talk of Agbonlahor being dropped from the starting line up (including on this website) but the manager has rubbished these suggestions. Myself I think it would be a good idea as his form has dropped very badly of late and a match or two on the sidelines is often the kick up the arse it needs to spur a player on to do better again. Having the Fonz take his place would certainly be a wake up call. Can anyone see old-fashioned O’Neill doing that though? I can’t see Delfouneso getting a league start for a good while unless injuries force it.
Training in the sun
After some very poor results, the team have been jetted off to Dubai for a break and some training sessions. Hopefully the break from constant football and the sights of the Midlands can rejuvinate our Champions League qualification push.
Acorns charidee
Finally, Villa have announced that they will be keeping Acorns as their shirt sponsor for another year. The local charity has benefitted greatly from their partnership with us and they’ll be delighted that Villa are again foregoing sponsorship cash to help the charity to continue it’s good work.
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.
Take a look, rub your eyes, blink a few times and look again. It hasn’t changed. We’re above Chelsea!
Don't try this at home
It’s pretty hard to believe but it’s true. Aston Villa are above Chelsea in the league, by 2 points, two thirds of the way through the Premier League season.
Before the season began I had hopes of us giving Everton a good run for their money and us finishing 5th. Being 3rd in February, above Chelsea and 3 points off top (shhh! don’t mention Man U and their games in hand, it spoils the fun), never really registered as a realisable dream.
It’s happening though. We can’t seem to stop winning. Read more
The mark of Champions
Emile Heskey isn’t reknowned for his goal scoring, so no-one was overly expectant that he’d get his Villa tally going in the first game for us. But he did. And he did it with style.
Villa, yet again, didn’t play like a team who are on a 10 game unbeaten run, but again we got the win. It’s said that to play averagely and keep winning is the mark of champions and it looks like the bookies are taking the idea a little more seriously as they switch us to the same odds to win the league as Arsenal (40-1).
Performance
Last night’s Read more
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