Anyone fancy a Villa
Posted on 21st January 2009 at 11:27
Ok, so not a Villa in the south of France or Spain, but more Martin O'Neill's on-song Midlanders finally breaking the 'Big Four's' stranglehold on the Champions League places.
I don't know about you, but I've become a little bit sick of watching the same English teams take on the same European sides and it'd certainly freshen things up if someone else finished in those places.
At this stage, it looks as though it's Gunner be Arsenal that miss out (see what I did there?!) and that would be no great shock given the way the north Londoners have fallen from their perch in recent seasons. Wenger remains a great coach and probably the best coaching import this country has ever seen. But four seasons now without a trophy is going to hurt - and the lack of Champions League football next term will bite even harder.
As for Villa, well, O'Neill has gone about his business rather quietly, making sure his defence his settled and strong first of all. In Brad Friedel, they probably have the most consistent goalkeeper in the Premier League and have more than several good options to play at centre-half. Villa remain strong in midfield after they persuaded Gareth Barry to stay, but they may need to recruit another big-game option there if they do qualify for Europe as Nigel Reo-Coker or Stiliyan Petrov do not quite cut it for me there.
But it's in attack where they look the most exciting, with Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor boasting blistering pace and plenty of goals.
I'm not going to stick my neck on the line and say Villa can finish above Chelsea, but they look a cut above Arsenal and look well worthy of that top-four spot.
I don't know about you, but I've become a little bit sick of watching the same English teams take on the same European sides and it'd certainly freshen things up if someone else finished in those places.
At this stage, it looks as though it's Gunner be Arsenal that miss out (see what I did there?!) and that would be no great shock given the way the north Londoners have fallen from their perch in recent seasons. Wenger remains a great coach and probably the best coaching import this country has ever seen. But four seasons now without a trophy is going to hurt - and the lack of Champions League football next term will bite even harder.
As for Villa, well, O'Neill has gone about his business rather quietly, making sure his defence his settled and strong first of all. In Brad Friedel, they probably have the most consistent goalkeeper in the Premier League and have more than several good options to play at centre-half. Villa remain strong in midfield after they persuaded Gareth Barry to stay, but they may need to recruit another big-game option there if they do qualify for Europe as Nigel Reo-Coker or Stiliyan Petrov do not quite cut it for me there.
But it's in attack where they look the most exciting, with Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor boasting blistering pace and plenty of goals.
I'm not going to stick my neck on the line and say Villa can finish above Chelsea, but they look a cut above Arsenal and look well worthy of that top-four spot.
2 Comments
Claret and Blue
Posted on 2009-01-24 18:34:34
With Heskey now in I think we should be able to cement our top 5 position
Bob Smails
Posted on 2009-02-03 22:37:25 :
What happened to Heskey, not 2 years ago he was classed as a useless lump, now he's the "man to push for Villa's Champs League spot", he's really not THAT good!!
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