One of my mates posted a great quote from John Barnes on his Facebook page tonight. It was obvious that Alex McLeish was the point of reference, and it read, “You can get away with playing that type of football at Birmingham City, but not at a club like Aston Villa”. That was at least what was paraphrased, and he is absolutely right. Touché John, touché.
Were there any positives to come out of today? Well, we had our highest crowd of the season, although the cynic in me suggests that a lot of those who turned up for the game today will have been those Brummie reds from Sutton Coldfield that we so often speak of. And Alan Hutton didn`t kill anyone.
We looked fairly solid, but I suppose that is always going to be the case when you set a team up that has absolutely no intention of launching a severe amount of pressure on the opposition. It seems that the only person that wasn`t aware that this was going to happen was the man who appointed the manager, Randy Lerner. Wishful thinking or complete ignorance? I`m not sure I would like to say.
It was nice to see Ashley Young back at Villa Park though, or at least I thought that it was going to be. It seems that this alleged £130,000 a week that he is receiving hasn`t taken long to go to his head. It was almost as if he completely forgot the four and a half years that he spent at Villa Park, the time that earned him the move to one of the biggest clubs in the world. I thought that the booing he was on the end of was a little harsh at first, but after the first half dive in front of Hutton and the disgustingly petulant reaction that prompted him to get up and kick Marc Albrighton, I changed my mind. It`s not like he justified his wages today either.
I was actually fairly optimistic when I saw the line up today. I was relieved that Bannan and Albrighton were finally given a go in the same midfield together, and was looking forward to seeing what Jenas could do from the start. I was also surprised that N`Zogbia wasn`t in the team, but heard on the way home that it was allegedly due to an ‘undisclosed breach of club discipline`. I imagine there`s more to come on that one then.
As it happened though, the midfield combination didn`t do much. Perhaps it was partly down to the fact that we were playing against the champions of England, but this is the worst Man Utd team I`ve ever seen. We just looked too lightweight in the middle. This problem was also in existence when we finished in the top six consecutively, but was padded out by the quality of player that we had in that area, such as Young, Milner, and Downing. Fast forward to now, and we still have the same problem, but without the players capable of masking it. Which makes us look shit. All quite worrying to be honest.
The less said about the first half the better. We started out on the backfoot, with the Red Devils stroking the ball about fairly nicely. All Villa could do in respond by hoofing the ball out when we won it. I wouldn`t be surprised to see Villa`s defensive distribution counted as part of Man Utd`s possession.
After twenty minutes of this then, it was no surprise when Villa Park`s visitors took the lead. Phil Jones didn`t need to do much to score what the BBC tells me was the first goal of his career, waltzing into the penalty area and diverting the ball into the back of the net from the cross.
Things didn`t get much better, with the ever-dependable Shay Given having to produce a fantastic save from Nani`s rebounded header, and Valencia having a go from long-range that wasn`t tremendously far away.
Having witnessed the early injury to Hernandez, it was then a Villa player`s turn to get injured. The player in question turned out to be Shay Given after he sprinted out to do Alan Hutton`s work when he was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully his hamstring strain wasn`t too serious. Guzan didn`t do badly today, but I don`t think we should be looking at him as a long-term goalkeeper.
After a fairly boring, if not catastrophic start to the second half, things were spiced up on the hour mark, but unfortunately only after an injury to Jenas. Alex McLeish seems to think that it`s a reoccurrence of his Achilles injury, and again I hope he can recover quickly. The squad isn`t the biggest as it is and I really want to see what he`s made of. This marked the introduction of Emile Heskey; cue a load of sarcastic but funny cheers from the Holte End.
Shockingly however, his introduction actually improved us. After a slow build up of pressure, a corner that was flicked on by Richard Dunne found it`s way onto Heskey`s head, although he headed over from very close range. There was another good chance for Villa before the end of the game, as James Collins forced a good save out of the ‘keeper with not much time left on the clock.
Wayne Rooney also had a great chance just before the end when he blasted an opportunity over the bar, and there was even time for a not-so-comedy moment when Heskey, with a choice of Gabby or Bent to pass to, went for the shot, with disastrous consequences. Just not Villa`s day then.
So then, even taking into account the valid complaints this game brought, it didn`t teach us anything that we didn`t already know. People knew what type of football Alex McLeish was going to bring. People knew that we didn`t have a great deal of attacking flair, and people knew that we were likely to lose to Manchester United. Looking at the fixtures we have this month, I don`t think things are as apocalyptic as some were suggesting, with the possible exception of Arsenal. Bolton are on a bad run, Liverpool away from home and Stoke in general have been hit-and-miss this season, and we are Chelsea`s bogey team. We`re just going t have to see how things go, but isn`t that part of the joy of being a football fan?
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