We must win today for Laursen – Boro match preview
With the sad news of Martin Laursen’s retirement from football yesterday, today’s game must be won as a tribute to him. Since he went out injured we have not managed to maintain the great form we were having. Whether things would’ve been different with him fit is something we can never know, but you can’t help but fancy that he wouldn’t have allowed such a slide on his watch. The Dane was an inspirational captain and was greatly missed from our backline, that has been a source of much frustration for Villa fans of late.
A win today would confirm our opponents’s relegation to the Championship, and probably cost their manager, another former Villa captain and centre-back, Gareth Southgate, his job. But it will definitely not be our fault if you see Southgate up the Job Centre, he has done a very poor job managing Boro and should never have been allowed to get them this far into the mire.
Onto the game, both sides are in their own battle so it may well be a scrappy affair. We are fighting for 5th place and they are fighting in desperate hope of avoiding relegation. They need wins and also results elsewhere, whereas we only need to rely on our own results if we get 2 wins. If we beat Boro and Newcastle we finish 5th, but if we fail to win either we will be watching and hoping that Everton drop points.
I’m going to draw it to a close there with the preview cuz I typed out shedloads more and it came up with some BS ‘nodes’ error message and lost most of the post, which has p1ssed me clean off! Hopefully it won’t be a persisting problem. See you tomorrow.
Do Bolton have any unknown 17-year olds waiting to punish us?
The last time we played a team who were in a losing streak was Manchester United. And nobody needs me to remind them of the heartache we suffered in the last 10 minutes up there. No-one needs me to say the word Macheda. So I won’t. I promise. Not even once.
Bolton have won just 1 in the last 6, and that was against Middlesbrough. Let’s be honest, a win against Boro this season is nothing to shout about is it? Everyone is beating them. Oh hang on, they beat us. At our place! Forget that then, back to Bolton; they’ve lost 4 of their last 6, only picking up points against teams in the drop zone.
So surely that’s good news for Villa. Maybe. Hopefully. But we are also in a horrible run of form and as mentioned, the last time we played a team in a losing streak, we took our foot off the gas with 10 minutes remaining and not only lost our win, we also lost the game. That must not be repeated. We have to play for 90 minutes. Or 95 it comes to that.
The Everton game was very encouraging in many ways, despite showing clearly that we have yet to plug the leaks at the back, at least we showed the resolve (aka balls) to fight back when 3-1 down.
If not going to make any predictions on this one, it’s a clash of 2 teams who badly need a win, so the strongest will survive.
Up The Villa
The Revolution could be near. Will Premier League 2 happen. Do we want it to?
There are plans being proposed to shake up the Premier League, which will have huge repercussions on some teams, not so much affect on others. The plan is to make the Premier League into 2 divisions of 18 teams, which would include 2 teams from Scotland. The proposal has been under wraps for 4 months and probably still should be, but the Mirror has made it public today.
What does it mean for Villa?
Well probably not as much as it would for some others. If the top flight is to have 18 teams then, with or without 2 from Scotland, we will still be a top flight team. It would mean 4 less games per season, which might not be a bad thing having seen how much we’ve tired prior to crossing the line this season. But the plans also propose a new Premier League Cup, so that may well outweigh that.
The 2 Scottish teams are unnamed but will undoubtedly be Celtic and Rangers, who have expressed an interest in the past to be part of the Premier League. But the effect it will have on the rest of Scottish football could be disastrous. Without the main 2 sides it could see a reduction in attendances, as most teams record their best gates when entertaining them. The flip side of that thought is that fans will be more eager to watch their team when there is a chance they can win the league, which at present is very slim: Check here for the all-time SPL table and see that the Glasgow teams are almost 300 points away from third placed Hearts. No team other than those 2 have ever won the SPL and the last to win the top flight were Aberdeen in 1985!
Where do the other teams come from?
What I can’t work out is how they will make up 2 Premier Leagues of 18 teams each. That makes 36 teams and at present there are 20. So plus 2 Scottish makes 22 and maybe they will make all the Coca-Cola divisions into 20 instead of 24, making an extra 12. That’s 34, where do the other 2 teams come from?
Relegation and promotion
The plan is to have 2 teams going down and up between the 2 Premier Leagues and just one leaving the second division to go into the Football League. So unless we regress back to the David O’Leary days, we should be a fixture in the top flight.
Thoughts
What do you reckon to this proposal? Do you think it will be a good thing for Villa? Is it a good thing for football? Or is it just yet another hare-brained plan to milk more money out of fans (anyone remember the Game 39 proposal)?
The central defence conundrum
Super Skipper
Without Martin Laursen there is no doubt that Villa are leaky at the back. Brad Friedel, whilst still very capable and with some very valuable experience, needs a little more protection than Knight and Davies offer. Carlos Cuellar is injured almost as often as Laursen and when he is fit he is often played out of position.
So what is the answer to Villa’s defensive riddle?
There’s no two ways about it; Villa miss Laursen MASSIVELY. We are dangerously reliant on the injury prone skipper and while he has been out we have seen our first bad run this season, with goals leaking in far more than any challenge on the top four can sustain.
The partnership of Curtis Davies and Zat Knight initially looked like it was capable of being solid, with a couple of good games where they played with confidence but it soon deteriorated and now they just look shaky and like they don’t trust each other or even sometimes; like they don’t want to be there. The job of a central defender is an often thankless task, but it is also a VERY important cog in a winning machine. Our cog is looking very rusty and it is showing in the results.
Carlos Cuellar has spent far too much of his Villa spell so far on the sidelines or at full back. He initially looked like he has potential but has struggled to adjust fully and is still a long way from the quality we need at the back. I think if he and Laursen were fully fit they could forge a great partnership, but that doesn’t look likely at all. In fact, we Villans may have to accept that Martin Laursen will never return to full fitness. There have even been suggestions that his career is over.
Come the summer we will definitely need to purchase at least one centre back. We need a proven, reliable, solid player. Not a youngster hoping to come good or a player who used to be good (I’ll let you assign names there).
If we want to mount a better challenge next season, then we need new defensive signings to make sure the wheels don’t come off mid-flow again.
The belief is coming back! But is it too late for the 4th race?
After losing yet again, an outsider may expect Villa heads to have dropped to another new low, but that is not the case. Villa put in a fantastic performance on Sunday and our players and fans are wise enough to know that a loss to the reigning Champions of both England and Europe is not necessarily all bad.
We performed excellently and, but for some small lapses in concentration, we very nearly won the game. And we’ve taken a lot of heart from it. The belief has returned to us, but is it cutting it too fine?
Not necessarily. Being near the end of the season could even work in our favour, by not allowing Arsenal time to get back in, were they to lose a few in the next month.
Stiliyan Petrov has showed that he has the belief back:
“The Champions League is still alive for us and we’re going to fight to the end. Arsenal have a hard schedule and still have United, Liverpool and Chelsea to play. We’ve lost a few games on the run and Arsenal could now do the same.
“We will keep going because we don’t want to let all our hard work go to waste. United are fighting to be champions and yet we matched them man for man. We were unlucky not to take anything from it. We didn’t deserve to lose.”
Petrov believes it’s not too late for us to challenge for 4th. And so do many of our fans. There’s just as many who believe we’ve blown it though, so a lot hangs in the balance until the next few games have taken place.
Can it be done?
This is football and it’s a funny old game where anything is possible. But we are now completely reliant on Arsenal slipping up. Even if we get maximum points, we still need them to lose twice (and lose or draw another too, unless some minor miracle happens to our goal difference).
We can do it. Technically. But I’m not going to get my hopes up until we actually win a game or two. And if in that same time Arsenal lose or draw a couple, then my small hope will be re-ignited into a roaring fire of ambition.
So it’s not actually got anywhere yet, but attitudes have changed a lot more than you’d expect after yet another loss.
How did we become such LOSERS and is 4-5-1 the only way to bring it to an END?
Not too long ago, though it’s beginning to feel like a lifetime, Aston Villa were winning games left right and centre. We were 4th in the Premier League, well ahead of Arsenal, and coasting towards the Champions League qualification spot. Villa press was more about whether they had a chance of catching 3rd placed Chelsea, than whether Arsenal could overtake us.
We broke the clubs all-time record for away wins on the bounce and we were all on cloud 9 and loving every minute of the best season to be a Villa fan for far too long.
Villa went on an unbeaten league run from 15th Nov, when we beat the aforementioned Arsenal at their own ground, until 21st Feb when we hosted a rejuvinated Chelsea and gave them a damn good run for their money.
But since the victory at Ewood Park, Villa have seen a dramatic downturn in fortunes; losing to Everton to fall out of the FA Cup, losing to CSKA Moscow to fall out of the UEFA Cup and losing to Man City, Chelsea and Tottenham in the league, dropping us below Arsenal and out of the Champions League spot we’ve strived for.
We had become losers. Losing was something we had begun to forget the feeling of. And we liked it that way thank you very much. But now the losing feeling has well and truly set itself back in and is showing no signs of going just yet. We don’t like it!
Then it all culminated in a humiliating thrashing at the hands of Liverpool on Sunday. A 5-0 beating is not the kind of result you expect a team to get who are supposed to be challenging to break into the top four.
Will Villa bounce back from it? With the next 2 games being a trip to the league leaders and then a tough clash against Everton, it doesn’t look all that rosy. We can take solace in the fact that they both lost this weekend so wins are possible, but a huge attitude change is required by Villa.
Many (me included) will be screaming out for a 4-5-1 formation in both those games, as midfield domination and counter attacks have proved to be the winning formula for Villa. Yes, teams have ‘figured us out’ but even if they have sussed us, that doesn’t make them able to contain us. Do people really think that all the teams we beat were stupid enough not to know our formula? Of course they knew our strengths, just the same as every team that faces Man Utd et al knows their strengths, they just aren’t able to do much about it.
It wasn’t until Villa changed the formula and stopped playing to our strengths, that we stopped winning.
I’m calling for MON to bring back the old style. Bring back the 5-4-1. Bring back the confidence. And bring back the wins. There’s still plenty time.
Who is with me?
Up the Villa.
Don’t give up the fight! – An outside perspective on whether Villa have blown their chance by Gareth Freeman
If Martin can quote the great Bob Marley then I thought I might as well join in. Villa fans have got a bit of bad press at the moment with the whole booing thing, granted it was a bit out of order but that happens everywhere. I’m a Bolton fan (I do try and watch a bit of football occasionally though..) and a section of our crowd had a similar go at a couple of our players after Fulham ran out 3-1 winners at the Reebok, though I will be the first to admit that comparing Andy O’Brien and Gabby Agbonlahor is just ridiculous – a bit like comparing Sean Paul to Bob Marley.
I’ll leave the dubious reggae references alone now, it just isn’t sunny enough for those shenanigans. It might look like Arsenal are going to come in and nick fourth spot just as it seemed Villa were going to do what only Everton have done recently and break the top four but it isn’t a done deal yet. I’ve had a look through the Gunners’ fixture list and they still have to play Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United so there is plenty of scope for them to drop points. I know Villa have also got United and Everton in their next two games but Arsenal will surely drop points between now and the end of the season.
To keep spirits high Marttin O’Neill needs to make sure his players get over the heavy defeat to Liverpool. Sometimes teams react after a heavy defeat and it inspires a bit of improved form – lets just hope this is the case with the Villa. Everton have perhaps still got a shot at nicking the fourth spot but their squad as been hit too hard by injuries to consider them serious contenders. The race is now between just Arsenal and Villa and for me both teams have just as good a chance as the other.
Villa have to play one of the top three, Arsenal have to face all three so that perhaps even swings the advantage in Villa’s favour. Wenger’s side might be in a richer vein of form at the moment but they’ve been inconsistent all season and there is no reason why that should change now. I rate Arshavin, he looks pure quality, but one player won’t make a massive difference and I’m not sure how much better he is than what they already had (Walcott and Van Persie).
Apart from Man Utd and Everton you would expect Villa to win the rest of their remaining fixtures. With just the visits to Fulham (great at home) and Middlesbrough (fighting relegation) looking like potential banana skins. Arsenal also have to play a couple of teams fighting relegation so for me both sides face a fairly similar task in finishing fourth at the end of the season.
Arshavin may have given everyone at the Emirates a boost but the return of Carew should do the same at Villa Park. I’ve always rated Carew and he’s got a lot of skill for a big striker, his return could not have come at a better time. Basically the point of this article was to give an outside perspective, inspire a bit of confidence and demonstrate the last Champions League place is still very much up for grabs. I think pretty much the whole country, bar Arsenal fans of course, are willing Villa on at the moment just to prove it is possible for another team to get into the Champions League. I know the ‘boo boys’ are in the minority but the fans need to get behind the team for this final push, I said I’d leave the reggae alone but I’ll quote sir Bob one last time, Don’t give up the fight!
Written by Gareth Freeman, a sports writer who writes about online football betting for Betfair.
Friedel to find out today if his record-breaking run has come to an end
Brad Friedel is currently the record holder for the most consecutive appearances in the Premier League and increases it every game, but now his record looks set to finish at 182 games after his red card for toppling Fernando Torres on Sunday.
It was a harsh red card; yeah, Friedel brought down the last man, but he turned his shoulder to try and get outta the way. I guess I’ve seen reds given for less but with the guy on such a great record its a real shame for him.
Villa have lodged an appeal with the FA and will find out today if the card will be rescinded or not. I doubt it will though, he doesn’t have the connections that John Terry has!
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!
Marlon Harewood heading out the door this week
The big striker has fallen well out of favour at Villa Park, seeing 4 other strikers get a taste of the action this weekend whilst he twiddled his thumbs. A small part of me feels he should have been given some chance in the last month, as the people filling his boots haven’t been doing a good job of it, but now he looks set to go out on loan for a while and then leave in the summer.
Championship sides Sheffield Wednesday and his former club Nottingham Forest are both interested in a months loan of the Hare’s services, possibly leading to a summer acquisition. Harewood, however, will first hold out for a Premier League side, but the 2 teams that appear most interested in him are Hull and Stoke, neither of which have any idea yet if they’ll even be Premier League teams next season.
Harewood will not endure another season on the sidelines, so it’s near enough guranteed that he will move on in the summer, drawing to a close a stint with us that proved to have little joy for the big man. Hopefully MON has a striker in his summer sights that will solve the problem that Harewood and Heskey have failed to.
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