Villa blog: Curtis the key?

Tuesday 18th March 2008, 8:31AM GMT.

West Bromwich Albion defender Curtis Davies has signed for Aston VillaWell our unbeaten run has come to an abrupt end, and the number of things us Villa fans have to worry about has dramatically increased since Curtis Davies got injured against Arsenal, writes Villa blogger Gregg Williams.

Was that the turning point of our season?

Since then our defence, which was never our strongest point anyway, has gone from leaky to wide open.

We have lost Mellberg to suspension and Craig Gardner is a doubt for Sunderland, so lord only knows who will be playing at right back for us.

I may even have to remember to pack my boots just in case.

As if losing players to injury isn’t bad enough, we seem to have lost form in key areas as well.

When was Gabby’s last goal? Has Barry been the same since his England recall?

As for Scott Carson, he has gone from looking like a safe bet at £10 million in the summer to being a liability over the course of the last few months, with the last two games being particular examples of errors creeping into his game.

In Martin O’Neill’s defence, who could have seen all that coming?

Having said that we all knew that not having a right back would return to haunt us and it has.

So, can Martin and the lads turn this blip into a strong finish? If we don’t beat Sunderland on Saturday we have Old Trafford the week after, and if we need four points from these two games it can surely only happen one way around.

I don’t think we were that bad against Pompey, certainly better than we were against Middlesbrough, but unless we cut out the basic errors and find some form again soon it looks increasingly like we Villa fans won’t be needing our passports for away games next year after all.

Villa fans have your say below



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