Aston Villa

Curtis Davies completes his switch from The Black Country to Brumijum

Martini Extra Dry — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:09:23 +0000

After a season long loan from West Bromwich Albion, the young talented centre back has signed on the dotted line and committed his future to Aston Villa. Although it proved to be a very up and down loan season for Davies, there was little doubt in anyone’s mind that MON was going to want to keep him long term.

At first Davies spent a while on the bench but once he managed to muscle his way into the side, at the end of 2007, he made the position his own, forging a great partnership with Martin Laursen. The two of them became one of the solidest defensive partnerships in the Premiership, performing excellently together and sealing Villa some vital points with their contributions.

Davies featured prominently for 10 games, during which we lost only to Man Utd and (unexpectedly) Fulham. Then disaster struck with a horrific injury against Arsenal which ruled him out for the remainder of the season, and most likely the beginning of next season too.

But O’Neill had seen enough and this week agreed to pay WBA around £8m. West Brom had initially stated that they rated the player at £10 million, but this figure seems largely overpriced and it is believed Villa bargained down a little, though the exact figure is undisclosed.

Hopefully Davies will return early in the season and perform to similarly high standards and help Villa to maintain their position in the top six.

The Continuing Story Of Bareth Garry

Martini Extra Dry — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 10:53:16 +0000

The probably-gonna-happen has now become the imminently-gonna-happen. During the last week the whole Gareth Barry to Liverpool hoo-har has suddenly gained a lot of pace, after idling for a while during the Euros.

A week ago, Barry spoke out in a national newspaper, stating that Villa had made no attempt to persuade him to stay and as a result (added to his already prior intent) he wants out. Martin O’Neill struck back, saying that Barry’s comments were untrue but that he has now resigned himself to the fact that he’s leaving and just wants the right price.

Barry was fined 2 weeks wages, reportedly £100,000 and banned from turning up as the rest of the (miniscule) squad returned to training. To me, Barry made a huge mistake speaking out the way he did against MON, insinuating that O’Neill was more interested in being a pundit at the Euros than he was in keeping his captain at the club. If the move goes through now, he will find himself getting a very inhospitable reception at Villa Park on Aug 30th, whereas prior to the bitterness, I think he would’ve been received well by the Holte, thankful for the great ten years service we got from him. Much like the respect Mellberg received at the end of last season.

The big twist in the tale seems to be that Liverpool are refusing to come to an agreement with us on the fee. They have (very) reluctantly raised to £15 million now but MON aren’t budging as yet on the £18 million asking price.

I see no use in trying to keep hold of Barry if he doesn’t want to play for us, so at the minute it all hangs in the balance of Martin and Rafa settling on a mutually agreeable deal. I’ll keep you posted.

Paul Robinson; Goodie or Baddie?

Martini Extra Dry — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:21:41 +0000

As rumours begin that Paul Robinson and Martin O’Neill are about to begin talks on the prospect of Robbo heading up the M40 to Brumijum, I consider whether Villa fans think this is a good idea? Robinson was linked with a move to Villa back in the David O’Leary days, but eventually turned us down to join Spurs. Now, after a couple of seasons in North London, Robinson finds himself out of favour and reconsidering Villa Park.

One thing everyone can agree on is that Robinson is an excellent shot-stopper, capable of cat-like instinct reflex saves. Many a striker has been ready to reel off and celebrate a goal, only for Robbo to appear from nowhere and hook it away. But it’s generally in other areas of goalkeeping that he seems to fall short. Namely, those caused by ‘The England Goalie Jinx’…

Yes, ‘The England Goalie Jinx’. No I haven’t made it up, it’s an actual medical term. Ask your doctor. Dave Seaman suffered from it, David James suffered so badly from it that it was almost renamed ‘David James Syndrome’ and even in his one competitive game between the sticks, Scott Carson also gave us an infamously memorable moment of it.

Put simply; he makes stupid mistakes. Stupid mistakes that theres no need to make. This video displays some of Robbo’s great saves (plus 2 goals, that’s pretty impressive for a keeper) but then also showing the mistakes he is prone to (it starts of with just pictures but don’t worry there is video after 40 secs)

In the main though, Robinson can be a great keeper for Villa, under the guidance of Martin O’Neill. MON will restore Robbo’s confidence and bring out the best in him again.

So raise your glass to a great season for him between the Villa sticks and then winning back his England shirt, only to let some stupid goal and make us all look like fools once again.

Where now for Villa?

Martini Extra Dry — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:15:40 +0000

After a season of fantastic achievements for Martin O’Neill and the Villa boys, we now have to face the reality of: Where do we go from here? I can’t imagine many Villa fans (or even management and players for that matter) are under the illusion that the top four of the Premiership is a penetrable fortress, so the only possible improvement on a sixth placed finish… is a fifth placed finish. The likelihood of a less successful follow up season seems to loom large for us.

So how do we do it? First on the list of priorities has got to be to try and keep hold of Gareth Barry. Put simply; we wouldn’t have finished sixth without him. Yes, it was a great team effort but good old Captain Fantastic’s contribution was magnanimous. He was majestic in the middle of the park, just take the Bolton game for instance, 2 goals and 2 assists. Without him on the pitch that 4-0 thrashing was a 0-0 bore draw!

To keep him on Birmingham soil, O’Neil and American owner, Randy Lerner, seem to have devised a plan; they seem to want to annoy Liverpool into submission. Every offer Liverpool make is presently being met with rejections and angry words to the press. O’Neill spoke out openly about his anger with Rafa Benitez, prior to the transfer window re-opening and now he is just rebuffing all their offers, it seems.

But what if (should that be when?) Barry does depart for Liverpool, who will fill the gap? First target appears to be Steve Sidwell. Not a bad second best to Barry. Definitely not up to the standard that Barry achieved last season but Reading certainly fell apart after he left them. Hopefully the season spent largely on the sidelines at Chelsea hasn’t knocked his confidence too much.

We also desperately need a right back. Olof Mellberg did his best (slightly out of position) there last season but with his departure we now have a big gap. We don’t really need one of your bomb-down-the-wing, crossover type of players as we have so many young and talented wingers at the club. What would suit us nicely is a player who is very tight at the back, so we don’t have to fear that we’ve thrown too many forward when we get caught on the counter. Tabloid rumours have linked us with Joao Pereira, who is known for his bad temper and aggressiveness. Is that really what we need at the Villa, another Alpay?

Season Highlights

irish_steve — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:36:08 +0000

Hello fellow Villa fans. The season is over and we all should have a smile on our faces. We ended up coming 6th in the hardest league in the world and will be playing in Europe next season via the Intertoto cup. Over the next few weeks I will be reporting on all of our transfer rumors as well as assessing our squad and trying to determine what type of players we need to bring in to better our squad. The Blues are relegated but the Baggies are coming up so we are guaranteed 2 more mouthwatering derby matches next season.

I would like all of you to look back on this past season and give me your opinion on the following:

Player of the season
Young player of the season
Game of the season
Goal of the season
And finally, your moment of the season.

I will be putting my picks up soon.

The Final Countdown

irish_steve — Sun, 11 May 2008 02:52:51 +0000

Well, this is it. We have 1 game left to gain entry into Europe for next season. If Everton draw and we beat the hammers then 5th place is ours. At worst Villa can finish 8th but if we win the game the lowest we can finish is 6th which is entry into the Intertoto Cup. That is an easy passage to the Uefa Cup proper although we would have to start the season much earlier. Olof Mellberg will play his last game for Villa before moving on to Juve. I have to thank Olof for his contribution over the past few years. He was a fantastic player and its unfortunate that we could not have persuaded him to stay. We have a full squad to choose from and after the hiccup against Wigan last week I would not be surprised if we see some changes. West Ham have nothing to play for which is an advantage to us. It doesn’t matter how we do it tomorrow but we MUST win. Our squad is not big enough to compete in Europe next season but if we do qualify, I am sure that Martin O’Neill will add enough depth to the squad so that we are not too stretched.

Come on the Villa!

Prediction: 2-1 Villa with Barry and Gabby netting.

The Barry Situation

irish_steve — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:04:33 +0000

Sorry for not writing in ages. For the last month there has been rumors circulating in the newspapers about a possible Liverpool bid for our captain. While both clubs have downplayed the situation during the last few weeks it seems strange to me that 2 days after Liverpool get knocked out of the champion’s league that they make public their bid for Barry. Martin O’Neill has responded angrily noting that Barry was not a player who would break contracts lightly and saying that the player himself wanted to wait until the season was over before discussing his future. The deal according to O’Neill is a cash+player(s) deal. Scott Carson and Riise have been listed as possible candidates. Personally I don’t believe we need Riise since Bouma is a perfectly capable left back and Barry has been playing in midfield for most of the season. I doubt Liverpool will be willing to give up a player like Xabi Alonso who plays in the same position. We have 2 massive games coming up tomorrow and next Sunday and stand a great chance of qualifying for Europe. What do you guys think about the Barry situation? Do you think there is any deal that could see Barry leaving but would benefit Villa for next season? I would love to hear from fellow Villa fans as well as Liverpool fans.

Super 6!

irish_steve — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:01:20 +0000

I know, I know, its Derby but when you win any game 6 nil you deserve a pat on the back. Villa have scored 10 and given up 0 goals in the past 2 games and we are now in the race for the Intertoto Cup. Man City and Blackburn are hot on our heels but if Villa continue to play like this then they will be tough to catch.

Reo-Coker dominated the midfield and distributed the ball extremely well. He has been fantastic all season and will need to show it again against the old enemy this weekend. Petrov’s goal showed what he is all about. His technical skill is second to none and not many players in the Prem could score a goal like that. Gabby’s finish was also top class and canceled out the 2 or 3 “fluky” goals we scored. It was also nice to see Berger and Salifou get a game. Berger looked great in the midfield for the 10 minutes he played and it’s good to know that we have an experienced back up that can come in and get the job done. All in all, it was a game where we were expected to win and we did our job. As a Villa fan I can’t ask for more than that.

A Win at Last!

irish_steve — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:53:43 +0000

After the United game last week I didn’t believe that Villa could sink any lower and thankfully I was correct. Everything that went wrong in the in games during the month of March seemed to turn around and come good in this game. Both team’s came into the game with little confidence but it was Villa who showed finally showed a finishing touch. Ashley Young showed his class and skill on the wing which set up the first goal for Barry who netted a second later in the game. Petrov also had a masterful game in midfield and Martin O’Neill was quick to praise the Bulgarian who hasn’t lived up to the high expectations Villa fan’s had for him at the beginning of the season.

I was delighted to see Gabby get his first goal in 2008. If anyone on the team deserved to score against Bolton, it was him. He has been fantastic all season but people are quick to overlook that and talk about his lack of goals. Villa are now 8 points back of 5th place. If Portsmouth wins the FA Cup and we finish 6th in the league then we will qualify for the UEFA Cup for next season which would be massive. Villa have last place Derby at the weekend and I would like to see a few changes in the team selection with players like Salifou, Osbourne and Routledge getting some playing time. With the derby game against Birmingham in a few weeks time it would make sense to rest a few of our first team players in a match against the league’s weakest team.

Round 32: Villa vs Man United @ Old Trafford

irish_steve — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:40:59 +0000

Villa come into this game on the back of a very poor month performance wise. Since the heartbreak of the last minute 1-1 draw with Arsenal on March 1st, Villa’s performances have declined dramatically. In the month of March, Villa have picked up 2 points from a possible 12 and their quest to qualify for Europe could now end in failure. This weekend Villa come up against the team that is 5 points clear at the top of the Premiership and are on the back of a 3 nil hammering of Liverpool.

For Villa to get anything out of this game they have to score at least 1 goal. United very rarely fail to score at home and if Villa can get 1 goal, they are definitely in with a chance. Mellberg returns from his suspension and will replace Craig Gardener who was injured while playing for England’s U21’s on Tuesday night. There are rumors floating about that Martin O’Neill will drop Scott Carson for this game because of a lack of form. If Villa get embarrassed tomorrow while Carson is in goal it could shatter his confidence even further but on the other hand if he starts and puts in a good performance against the champions it could get him back to the type of form he was in earlier in the season.

My only hope is that Villa do not go to Old Trafford, play with 1 up front, and promptly role over and die like so many other teams do when they play United away. If Villa want to be regarded as one of the Premiership’s elite teams they have to act like one and not bow down to the Big 4. Villa’s performances against Arsenal and Liverpool in recent months have been extremely good and if they play that way against United I can see them coming back to Birmingham with a point. I honestly don’t see us beating United tomorrow but if Villa can catch them on an off day anything is possible. I am looking for a spirited, solid performance which hopefully will lead to a turnaround in our fortunes for the remaining 6 games of the season.