It’s Your Round-Up, My Lord - 27/07/08
Ian Symes - July 27, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
It’s been a long time. There’s been some actual news. We’ve been lazy. So here’s the first of a hopefully-not-too-regular feature, It’s Your Round-Up, My Lord. We’ve got Intertoto Cup action to look back on, a cup draw to look forward to, some signings to cheer us up and an injury to depress us. Oh, and that Gareth Barry chap.
WIN-TERTOTO
We won, then. Unfortunately, I missed the first leg completely, but saw the second leg on Setanta (with Ian Crocker and Dean Saunders commentating, oh yes). The game was a bit of a non-event. We knew that we just had to get one goal to win, effectively, as they weren’t going to score two at Villa Park. We started superbly, and it could have been a very different game if things hadn’t gone so horribly wrong ten minutes in (more of that later). As a result of this incident, the game died completely, and it took us until the second half to get going again.
A fanastic goal by Ashley Young got us the win, and we maintained the pressure with a lot of corners and crosses, without ever really looking like scoring. Our final touch appears to have gone missing at the moment, but at this early stage in terms of training and match practice, that’s not too worrying. Ashley Young played very well, even without his goal, and Gareth Barry looked as great as ever when he came on, despite being stuck at left back. More on him later too.
So, job done. It wasn’t great, but it was effective. We just have to think of the tie as a necessary evil to secure our rightful UEFA Cup spot; an afterthought to last season, rather than a precursor to this one. The real campaign starts shortly…
SHOW US YOUR DRAWS
That win puts us into the Second Qualifying Round of the UEFA Cup. The draw is made this Friday at about 1pm, so get ready to refresh the BBC Sport homepage repeatedly at Friday lunchtime. It’s a two-legged tie, to be played on Thursdays 14th and 28th August. Our opening league game against Man City will be put back to Sunday 17th, so our UEFA Cup campaign will start three days before the league campaign. Already, I’m worried about fixture congestion.
If we win that, we go in to the First Round Proper. It’s another two-legged knock-out tie, played in the middle of September. Then after that, touch wood, it’s the big-arsed group stage, which will keep us in European competition until the new year, if we get that far. There’s no reason why we can’t.
OUCH
My first thought on the incident was: “that’s a pretty strange challenge to take place in midfield in the opening ten minutes of an easy game”. My second thought was: “oh shit, he’s down, must have pulled his hamstring”. My third thought was: “OH MY FUCKING CHRIST, LOOK AT HIS FOOT, IT’S POINTING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION”.
Everyone assumed at first that it was a broken leg, but during the second half the news circulated that it was “only” a dislocated ankle. But he’ll still be out for bloody ages, and we’re going to miss him greatly. It might be hard for non-Villa fans to measure just how great his contribution is, so here’s my description of him from last year’s season review: “[he has] impressed with [his] consistency and solidity. Freddy Bouma has to be the most improved player in recent history, impressing both in the box and on the wings, in defence and going forward.”
So now we need to sign a new left-back as well as at least one new right-back. Eighteen days until our next competitive game. Come on, Martin…
I HOPE HE WILL SID WELL IN THE CENTRE OF THE PARK
Our first major signing of the summer (other than making Curtis Davies’s move from West Brom permanent) was Steve Sidwell, signed from Chelsea for £5million. Quite how he was worth that amount to Chelsea, I’m not sure, but if clubs know that your manager and chairman have unlimited funds at their disposal, you’re going to pay over the odds.
It’s far too early to make any sorts of judgements about Sidwell’s game in his two Intertoto appearances so far, but he’s done no better or worse than you’d expect from someone who’s been playing in the reserve league for a year. But he was great at Reading, and if anyone can restore his confidence and get him playing at his best, it’s Martin O’Neill.
SO, YOU’RE BRAD FRIEDEL? I’M MILDLY IMPRESSED…
We’ve signed Brad Friedel. Hooray! OK, so he’s 37, but he’s still one of the best ‘keepers in the Premier League, and has been consistently great for quite some time. He’s signed for an undisclosed fee on a three year contract. I can see O’Neill slowly but surely introducing his replacement over the three years, easing the new guy in gently and allowing Friedel to slowly wind down his career. I can’t think of a better mentor for a young goalie.
Especially if the new goalie turns out to be Brad Guzan, who is expected to sign on 1st August, providing his work permit goes through OK. This will establish Villa as the record holders for the most number of American goalkeepers called Brad employed by an English football club at a given time.
OH, AND GARETH BARRY
Well, this has all got terribly confusing. So much has happened just in the last week, and yet we’re still nowhere near any sort of resolution. He was booed on his return to friendly action at Walsall, which got a hell of a lot of press coverage. But what the press didn’t point out was that the booing gradually dropped off over the course of the game, and he was actually applauded when he was substituted. The Villa crowd - whilst reactionary and stubborn at times - are a pretty fair bunch. If we’re against a player, they can make us change their minds if they try hard enough. It takes me back to Summer 2000, when Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu both made transfer requests. Both got booed the first time they played. Ugo responded by being shit, not trying and getting carted off as soon as possible. Southgate continued to play like a professional, and won us round, to the point where he left without too much long-term ill-feeling towards him.
Gareth’s performance in the Odense game just goes to prove that if he is still with us at the start of the season (which isn’t beyond the realms of possibility), we should have no qualms about using him in the first team. Whether it’s as captain or not, he should be part of Martin’s first team plans for however long he’s at the club. The cynical could infer that he’s only making the effort because he’s in the shop window, but I think he’s enough of a professional to keep playing well for Villa even if he’s still here after the transfer window closes.
The following quote has emerged from Martin O’Neill: “My own view is that he should hang around for another year and see if we can make further progress as he would want. Gareth is still only 28 next year - if we don’t get where he wants to go, everybody would wish him well.”
While there is a hint of desperation about it (”awww, come on, just one more year!”), it’s a fair offer. If we keep on improving at the same rate we have for the last two seasons, there’ll be no need for Barry to move clubs soon enough. There’s no reason why we can’t continue to develop on schedule, so why should Barry move when we’re still on target? If the wheels come off in the next year, THEN he’d have a reason to leave. Why not wait until then?
A difficult job well done. We were expected to win were firm favourites and all the pressure was on us.
Odense BK were a much better side than we expected them to be and they gave us one or two nervous moments on Saturday.
Wonder what would have happened if that one effort had not hit the post. Thought Ashley Young and GB were head and shoulders above any one else on the park. Having said that i thought Craig Gardener played well in what must be a difficult role for him to play.
Bad luck on Freddie dont expect to see him in claret and blue again until at least January. One good piece of news coming out of villa park (not official) Curtis Davis could be ready to play against Reading in pre season friendly in two weeks time.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/7528482.stm
Well, so far so good.