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.
Cuellar shut up!, Osbourne out, Wenger rallying cry and are Villa off the rails?
OK then, for today’s blog post, I promise I won’t mention Arsenal!
There’s been no shortage of press coverage for our beloved club this last week or two, and a lot of it has been pretty negative. A season that was powering forward at full steam, seems to have come off the rails in recent weeks. So is it time to panic? Nah, I don’t think so. Yeah we haven’t had much in the way of convincing results, but if you look at it closely it’s not panic time yet.
- Everton in the FA Cup was always going to be difficult; they had a point to prove after the previous meeting and let’s be honest, when Everton are on their game (and by Everton I mainly mean Arteta and Cahill), they are very hard to beat. And they wanted it more than us, because try as we might to convince ourselves, our mind was on the league moreso than the FA Cup.
- CSKA at home wasn’t bad and away the kids gave it a damn good go. We lost, but you can’t help but feel that MON engineered it that way.
- Chelsea were on their new-manager buzz, but we still made it very hard for them and if Young’s free kick had been an inch or two lower that may have given us a draw.
- And Stoke was going well for 88 minutes. Enough said on that though.
So yeah, whilst it’s all been a bit of a cacker, it isn’t time to give up yet. We’re still 4th and still 6 points clear of our nearest rival… errr… can’t think of their name at the minute.
Nobody panic, keep the love and keep the faith, we’ll get back to winning ways soon (Wednesday hopefully).
What else has been going on then?
Isaiah Osbourne is going out on loan to Nottingham Forest for 2 months. I think this is a good thing, as the lad is never going to improve or build his confidence by sitting on our bench (at best), and we have plenty of options in the middle of the park. Whether he will ever be good enough for the ‘new improved Villa’ is debatable, but I’m willing to give the guy some patience as he, like me, is a huge life-long Villa fan.
Sky Sports have reported that Carlos Cuellar thinks Ronaldo should stay with Man Utd, as a move to Real Madrid wouldn’t suit his style. My advice: Shut up Carlos, let the nob leave!
And finally, our last minute decaying against Stoke may have given that team in 5th a kick up the arse to drive the remainder of their season. So we need to get back on our game and quick, a 6 point gap can disappear quickly if you relax.
Sweet, I got through with no mention of Arsenal, well I mentioned them once but I think I got away with it 
Villa 2-2 Stoke City – Why Villa didn’t beat Stoke
GGGGGRRRRRRRRR
2-a-piece. Nobody saw that coming.
With 3 minutes to go we were 2-0 up, heading for victory and an 8 point safety net in the top four. We sat back and put it into cruise control and got punished. This season Stoke have snatched a win and a draw from our clutches in injury time.
So what was the problem?
The big problem for Villa is one that has been ringing round the club for a long time, and inspired so much speculation in the run up to January, linking us with just about every striker in the game; we don’t score enough.
You’d think that being the 5th top scorers in the league and averaging more than 1.5 goals per game might be enough, but if there was a tally of the amount of attacks we have had, you’d see how many opportunities we fail to convert.
For the vast majority of the game the ball was in Stoke’s half and we didn’t make it count enough.
Ashley Young is constantly getting down the wing and putting in crosses, but we aren’t very good in the air in the box. Really he should either cut inside more or play the ball along the floor. Very few of our goals actually come from crosses.
What we need is a poacher. Now, I like Heskey, don’t get me wrong, but we need a Ruud Van Nistelrooy/Michael Owen type. Someone who does very little else but score. Or a great headerer of the ball, like err….. can’t think of one right now. Comment with a good headerer
Oh and next time we play Stoke, can someone make our team aware that football games last 90 minutes please!
Arsenal are soooooooo crap – response
Whilst yesterday’s article itself wasn’t particularly controversial, the tongue-in-cheek title seems to have ruffled a few feathers. I received many comments, mostly from Arsenal fans and largely unpleasant. The comments slowed and took on a more diplomatic tone when I added in the bracketed line at the end but the story still seemed to be of more interest to Gooners than Villans comments-wise. Then we went and threw our lead away in the dying minutes against Stoke and the barrage of Gooner insults fired up again.
The comments are water off a ducks back to me, after all if someone is childish enough to say some of the things that were said then their opinion is of no interest to me but for my beloved regular readers I’d like to clear things up a little; I don’t actually think Arsenal are ‘crap’. They are under performing for their reputation and it is largely through their ineptitude that we find ourselves above them. I still fear Arsenal’s threat, and will until maths tell me not to, and I am still surprised that they are 6 points behind us at such a late stage of the season.
Can we keep up the pace?
Well, not if we play 85 minute games we can’t and not if we continue to waste the amount of chances we waste. This has been our big problem this season. Young, Milner, Barry and the rest of the boys create untold amounts of chances in every game but so little of them end up in the back of the net. We still don’t have a prolific goalscorer and as good as Heskey is, he wasn’t the solution to our problem.
Back to the point
Anyway, thats another topic for another day, this post was to clear up yesterday’s hoo-har. AstonVillaBlog.com isn’t a hateful blog, not in my posts anyway, so yesterday’s comments came as a bit of a surprise. What I didn’t realise was that my blog shows up on the Arsenal page of NewsNow too, so was only expecting Villa fans to see the title. I have never been known for taking life too seriously and call teams ‘crap’ all the time but never before have I seen such a barrage of insults for such a tiny piece of playful banter. Oh well.
What strikes me as funny is that the Arsenal fans are being so derogatory of us for drawing with Stoke when they lost to them in their last meeting. They are also claiming that Villa’s season is over because we drew yesterday, but Arsenal drew over the weekend too. Arsenal are currently in worse shape than us so those who have spoken so insultingly of Villa have actually implied worse upon their own team.
My advice though, is cheer up you miserable gits relegation zone is where you need to worry, not 5th.
New writer
And finally, as a result of yesterday’s post, I’ve had a guy apply to write on here, a lad who calls himself Billy Villa and seems to be very passionate about all things claret and blue. So welcome on board Billy.
[Edit:
I forgot to add, thanks to all the level-headed Arsenal fans who read and/or commented, you're welcome back here anytime. The opinion of other fans is great to see. I love other people's perspectives on footy. Long may it continue. Oh and... I hope you don't finish top four if it's at our expense 
]
Arsenal are sooooooooooooo crap!!
Hmmmmm.... no comment
They don’t seem to want fourth spot. It’s almost like they are conceding it to us.
Throughout this superb season to be a Villan I have tried my upmost to keep my feet on the ground and not get carried away with it all. Preferring to enjoy the ride but always be aware that we could slip up and fall to fifth by the end. But Arsenal seem determined to let us have our way.
They have drawn their last 5 league games, the last four of which they haven’t even managed a single goal. You would expect them to be making life very hard for us, piling on the pressure with convincing wins and keeping us on our toes. Instead, we find ourselves 5 points clear with a game in hand (and we are only 4 points behind Liverpool and Chelsea).
I was reading a blog yesterday where the writer claimed that Villa getting Champions League would spoil the competition and deny it Arsenal’s talents, but their entertainment factor seems to be at a pretty low ebb right now, so I would venture to say that that particular blog was talking utter BS. [Here's the link to the article in question, if you wish to leave your comments in agreement or, more likely, disagreement]
Long live the Arsenal 0-0’s and let’s get a big result today at home to Stoke.
Up the Villa.
(Haha, bring on the angry Arsenal fans!)
Let’s get the buggers back on Sunday – Who’s got a prediction of the Stoke scoreline?
Last time we met was the second game of the season and it was supposed to be an easy win. But Stoke had different plans.
When we lost that game I began to fear for this season. But the boys bounced back. We have powered on, particularly since November, and put ourselves in contention for the Champions League qualifying spots.
Now things have changed very dramatically at the Villa. This week we have forfeited the UEFA Cup to concentrate on the league, making the Stoke game (and pretty much every league game left) a MUST WIN.
Our strongest side will start, that’s a cert.
Predictions
I reckon Villa will be on a mission. After losing 3 games in 2 weeks, we will go out with a point to prove and I can see us steamrollering Stoke.
I’m predicting a 4-0 scoreline and a total bombardment from Young, Milner and co. Stoke won’ t know whats hit them.
Predictions anyone?
A little look at Stoke…
D'ya reckon this year they have banners saying 'Championship Here We Come'? Oops... that's gonna cause some bitter comments from Stoke fans!
One of my mates supports Stoke and he bangs on at me about them all the time so I feel like I know them pretty (maybe even too) well. I’m sure no one needs reminding the Potters beat Villa last time out but I doubt they’ll do the same again.
Lets get through the cliches first. They’re a strong physical side and I imagine you know when you’ve played Stoke. Abdoulaye Faye has been knocking around the Premier League for a couple of years now and I think he’s a decent player. He works hard and gets involved in the attack as well as the defence, probably Stoke’s star man for me.
I was surprised when James Beattie moved to the Championship to play for Sheffield United because I always thought he was Premiership class. He has been in fine form lately to be fair but I doubt he’ll get many chances at Villa Park. Bizarrely he has a decent free-kick on him and will always be a danger in dead ball situations. Ricardo Fuller got arrested on Wednesday, I don’t know if he’ll be able to play at the weekend but if he is out Stoke’s chances of getting a goal will be pretty slim.
The main danger for Villa could be that Stoke would be happy with a 0-0 and just play with 10 men behind the ball. No one likes to watch that but to be fair if they turned up and tried to play football or take the game to Villa they’d get smashed off the park. An early goal could be the key to this one and in Heskey Villa have a forward who won’t be too put off by players trying to push him around. One thing is for certain, it won’t be a classic but it should be a pretty easy three points.
Written by Gareth Freeman, a sports writer who writes about betting for betfair.
Controversy, luck, shocks and last minute turnarounds – what an amazing 2 hours in the life of the Premiership
No. Freaking. Way.
Villa were trailing a goal to nil at half time up in Sunderland, and then turned it round in the second 45 with a goal that looked more like handball than a header (though he was tumbled over by Chimbonda and would’ve got a penalty if not a goal) and a second goal from a penalty that debatably should’ve been a free kick outside the box.
Ashley Young saw red for a challenge that looked more like a yellow, so we finished the game without him and will be without him for some big upcoming games.
Down in London, a game was taking place that all Villans had one eye / ear on; Chelsea vs Stoke. No-one really expected Stoke to get anything from the game but a pipe dream couldn’t help being conceived by us, where Chelsea’s turmoil continued and they slipped up. Villa would go 3rd with a win if so.
With just 2 minutes to go Read more
Villa vs Fulham – Match preview
Both teams go into the game sitting in a league position that is above what would be expected from them, Villa being top four, when no-one expects the usual four to be interfered with, and Fulham being 9th, when many had them pegged as relegation battlers. The season is still early though and a lot can change yet, so this is a game that they’ll both be looking for three points in.
Fulham (even more so than Villa) have really struggled to get any form of consistency going all season, but both teams gained a valuable point against a top four side last week and both have come away victorious against Arsenal, helping to add to Arsene Wenger’s migraine.
Consistency has to be our key aim
If someone were to have gone into a coma in August and now woke up and looked at Aston Villa’s results of the season to date, they would be very confused by them.
Or if you were to have gone to the bookies in August and said “Right mate, I’m gonna predict all the Villa scores from the start of the season up to the Man Utd game, and what I reckon they’re gonna do is lose to Newcastle and Middlesbrough and swiftly follow it by a victory at the Emirates and a draw to Man Utd. And these ‘ere fixtures at the start of the season, I can see a win against Megabucks Man City, a draw against the Pool and a loss to them new-boys Stoke”. By this point the bookie would be smiling with glee at all the money he was going to coerce out of this damn fool new customer!
To be fair though, Read more
-
Categories
-
Archives
-
Links
-
Meta
-
Sponsors
