There may not have been any fans more excited about the 2004-2005 season than Villa fans. After years of some of the most boring football, they looked to be fighting for a top 5 finish. David O’Leary had transformed some of the most dour and negative feelings about this club, into real excitement and anticipation. Perhaps it was a constant positive attitude, or maybe superior footballing strategy, O’Leary looked to be changing Villa back into a proud and storied club.
I say “looked to be”, because Villa hasn’t really looked like last year’s 6th place side. Oh, they sit in 8th and are surrounded by teams they should beat. But that’s the problem, they should be beating these teams! Instead, they have managed to draw all three of the Premiership newbies. 0-0 Norwich, 1-1 Palace and 1-1 West Brom. Add a 3-0 thumping at the hands of Charlton and a 2-2 come from behind match against Rovers and I believe you will see what I mean.
Villa have a “Jekyll and Hyde” mentality. In a match against Newcastle they got behind two goals, only to score 4 straight in a display of dominating and heart-driven football. They also take on a stubborn Chelsea side and keep them out of the goal for a 0-0 defensive fight. Now that I think of it I see a trend. If you are a top 5 team we will fight you with all that we have but if you languish near the bottom we will simply overlook you. I know O’Leary is not overlooking anyone, but this is a problem he needs to correct, now!
Olaf Mellberg and Charlton Cole are probably the biggest stand outs of the season. Mellberg leads the team in scoring with three headers off corners. Though they stopped playing the caveman style, cross the ball to the tall defender in the box, Mellberg’s strength and size has enabled him to be very effective on corners. He played every minute of last year’s season and was the only player to do so. Cole is on loan from Chelsea. Will he be going back? He has pledged his allegiance to Villa but he has looked so good thus far, that Chelsea are making inquiries.Though he has not scored a lot of goals he has been very menacing in the box. He shows an innate ability to score and is near that level to be in Golden Boot contention. I believe he will be one of England’s next superstars.
Look out for Villa, because Arsenal are a top 5 team and O’Leary has had two weeks to prepare. He may be without Angel, Solano, De La Cruz and Sorensen in goal. These losses help the Gunners secure an edge, but the Gunners have a number coming back from mid-week international duty. The Gunners outcome depends greatly on what Villa side show up.
ArseAm predicts: Tough one, could be a draw, 2-2.
9 Responses to “The Villians of Aston Villa”
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October 15th, 2004 at 8:00 am
Lets hope Clichy, Pennant, VanPersie and Cesc all get some playing time…
Again… it will happen sometime… but not here. We will beat Aston Villa… and the streak will roll on. 3-1 to the good guys!
October 15th, 2004 at 8:58 am
I’m tempted to predict our first surprise loss again as I did against Charlton, seeing how absolutely stupid I looked after the 4-0 thrashing. So I will:
With Villa down a few key players but no doubt rested, our fears about international fixtures and no Freddie to inject a scrappy enthusiasm, I call this one a lackluster 2-1 loss, with set-pieces taking advantage of our need for some serious nap time.
Spoiler: Cesc. He might be just what the side needs to put spring in our step.
October 15th, 2004 at 9:40 am
Scotty Scotty Scotty…
You are superstitious? aye?
‘Cause there is no chance that we are going down to Villa at home…
October 15th, 2004 at 9:46 am
I’m looking into the superstion thing since Charlton…couldn’t hurt.
If I’m wrong again, expect to see more and more ludicrous predictions for fixtures to come!
October 15th, 2004 at 9:51 am
2-1 again, eh Scotty? Like I said before, you’re a week too early.
October 15th, 2004 at 10:47 am
I plan to predict an embarrassing blowout for that one. Can’t wait til I’m wrong!
I know you’ve spotted the ManU game as where we’ll blip, and I agree that its going to really put us to the test. Perhaps even more than Chelski. But its not Rooney, or Horsey or Ronaldo or their newly assured back line that makes me especially edgey?its that peroxide nutter Smith. He’s a ringer in the last 15.
And is it scary that I’m putting so much stock in our 17 year-old midfielder? We score with him. We don’t without him. We’re going to need him big time for the Mancs.
October 15th, 2004 at 1:01 pm
Personally, I would like to think that Spanish coach’s ridaculous comment will fire Titi up. A hat-trick for Titi, we win 3-Nil.
October 15th, 2004 at 11:39 pm
Considering our next fixture against ManU, I would prefer us to either win or lose. If we win, we would at least maintain the gap. If we lose, psychologically we will be able to get rid of that burden of maintaining the unbeatable streak. I somehow feel that losing the Villa game would do us good in facing ManU next week. I know this is stupid. Maybe I am also playing that superstitious game inside my head like Scotty does.
But a draw will be bad for us. Chelsea and ManU would be closing on us while we still carry that burden of not losing games. And other teams would still come at us with the dream of getting the ‘biggest’ prize of the season: the one to end the mighty Arsenal’s unbeaten run.
October 16th, 2004 at 7:17 am
Tiredness is surely a problem, both for today and the very difficult week to come. Most of our players are just back from two internationals - that’s a lot of travelling and a high expenditure of energy, both mental and physical. Then on Wed we’ve got a CL away match in Athens, closely followed by ManU. I wish more of the kids - i.e. Clichy and Pennant - were fit to play today, but sadly it looks as though they’re both out. Don’t know for how long but I really fear fatigue and injuries is going to affect us next week. Don’t so much care about Villa today.