Bozzie has sent this piece to try and lift the spirits.
All I will say is if we dare employ the thug and criminal Joey Barton (no matter how good a player he is) that is one serious mistake by the club as it will turn off more supporters.
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n the next week or so the daggers are going to be out again for Villa. “Small selling club who are in turmoil, having sold their best players. Darren Bent will want to leave next, Young has deserted them, Downing jumped ship, nobody likes the manager, No money at all to spend etc etc etc.
From those outside the club this may seem true. If we analyse it carefully though we still have some top players at the club.
Bent and Agbonlahor could be a perfect partnership if played correctly, Add to this Heskey as a squad player and hopefully the emergence of Delfouneso.
We have good solid defenders who will be forgiven a poor year last year if they can get back to heights of the previous season. Add to this Clarke, who is a proper player.
Our midfield needs an injection of pace and legs, Makoun could come good, Petrov is an experienced pro who gets a bit of stick but is generally a decent if not magnificent performer. If we can ever get the Stephan Ireland of a few years ago it will be brilliant (I have my doubts) but Bannan, Albrighton, Delph and Gardner may develop into top players.
We need a goalkeeper, I would like to see robinson but not sure that will happen, will probably end up with Foster
We will have money, Randy has never let his managers down. I do believe there will be a change in the way our squad is built. Instead of building the squad and wasting wages on players such as, Beye, sidwell, shorey, davies, reo coker in MON’s time we will buy first team players, and then our young players will provide the basis of our squad.
Overall this could be an exciting time. Yes Young has gone who will be missed greatly, and Downing after a good season last year. But now we have the chance to move forward with players that what to join. Expectations from outside the club are low (we won’t get relegated), but ambition within the club is high. If McLleish can sort our defence out and we don’t concede I will back Bent and Gabby to make us competitive. I am eagerly awaiting new signings like everyone else, I would be astounded if we got Milner, but there would be no better way for Lerner to get back in our good books.
It’s not all doom and gloom!
Aston Villa News 24/7
let the manager bring in the players he wants not the fans
Barry Fergusson!
Good post I like what you say.
Some great points and I agree with most of them…but not the bit about a Gabby/Bent pairing.
In the modern game, putting 2 up front weakens the whole shape of the team. Even against lesser opposition it can leave you chasing possession for long spells.. And when the onus on you to break down teams (at home or if you are losing) the play can become one-dimensional unless the two strikers are a proper partnership, complement each others play, read each others runs etc…
Of course, Withe and Shaw, Little and Gray, Cole and Yorke, Shearer, Sheringham etc…would rightly demand places in a 4-4-2 formation even in this day and age, but we saw the trouble even Chelsea had trying to accommodate Drogba and Torres in the same side.
Bent is a perfect lone striker, he reads the play and times his runs, he chases down every shot on the off chance of poaching a rebound. He peels off defenders as soon as they ball-watch, he moves one way then the other to lose his marker, he arcs his runs etc… Gabby is 25 this year and still does none of these things, neither is he technically gifted (though there was signs of his touch improving at last, last season)
Gabby is quick and strong and Villa through and through but in the starting line-up give me a quality, clever attacking-midfielder to play off Bent any day.