Villa contribution to England’s 4-0 win

June 7, 2009 by Martin Banks
Filed under: Aston Villa, International Football 

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.


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