Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
And Villa think they have got it bad
Friday 9th September 2011, 9:08AM BST.
Aston Villa blogger Matthew Turvey has watched from afar Everton’s desperate financial plight and expects the claret and blues to cash in at Goodison Park.
Villa travel to Goodison Park on Saturday to play an Everton team who are, in most years, rivals in terms of their final Premier League placing.
But, in comparison to Everton this season, Villa are big spenders.
With Everton losing talisman Mikel Arteta to Arsenal and also selling both Jermaine Beckford and Yakubu Aiyegbeni, they are a weakened force.
In fact, having only loanee Denis Stracqualursi as a senior striker in their squad, it makes Villa’s team look like it contains an abundance of riches.
Don’t get me wrong though, should Stracqualursi find similar form at Everton as he has at Tigre in Argentina, he will be an outstanding player.
But the problem with many South American imports is that they take time to find their stride, if they ever do.
One need only look at Juan Sebastian Veron and Diego Forlan to illustrate the issues that players from the region have with settling in England.
Both of those players came with glittering careers, but stumbled in the Premier League. South American players, it would seem, don’t acclimatise well to the English weather and league.
This explains why the likes of Brazilian superstar Ronaldo and Lionel Messi never have any interest in playing in England, even though they would have earned or, in Messi’s case still could, earn fortunes by doing so.
The difference in quality can’t even be attributed to ageing, as Forlan played in Spain following his stint in England and returned to prolific form. He now plays for Inter Milan, following a move at the end of last month.
So, with regard to Everton, if Stracqualursi is to provide for Everton he has to hit the ground running, even more so because he is only a loanee.
Anyway, looking back at Everton, it’s this recent lack of squad depth, coupled with player sales that cultivated the false rumours that David Moyes was on his way to Villa in the summer.
It would seem, on spending at least, that Moyes will continue to have to work his magic in order to sustain Everton Football Club.
The squad still has quality in the form of players such as Tim Cahill and Leighton Baines but, without a cutting edge, you don’t win football matches.
As we all know, regardless of these issues, Everton are perennial achievers in the top 10.
Often starting slowly, Everton regularly suffer from half season syndrome, a hallmark that has often been associated with our own club.
Thus, given Everton’s current lack of squad depth and propensity for starting slowly, if there was ever a good time to play them, it would be now.
Whilst Villa are struggling to score many goals this year, they are also not conceding many.
Some of this might be attributed to the signing of Shay Given, but it has been a team effort, with the defensive partnership of Richard Dunne and James Collins seeming far more reliable than last season.
Thus, looking at the game itself, it seems likely that the match will be won in a moment of brilliance, involving few goals.
The combination of Villa’s sterling efforts in defence under boss Alex McLeish, coupled with a lack of a cutting edge for Everton, suggests that a point should be the minimum expectation for Villa.
It may even be three if Villa can execute an effective smash-and-grab through the outlets of Gabby Agbonlahor and Charles N’Zogbia.
Of course, I could be totally wrong and we might see a repeat of the 3-2 result at Goodison in 2008, where Ashley Young nicked the three points in the dying minutes.
However, given McLeish’s propensity for defence over attack, I can’t see it.
The big question now, after you’ve heard what I’ve got to say, is what do you think?
You can also follow Villa blogger Matthew Turvey at his own site, http://www.astonvillalife.com.
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Alrite my friend,
I take your points about Everton being so much more worse off than Villa but we, at Villa, have seen our best players sold yr after yr since Lerner came in. All bar one season have we not sold our best players.
Personally I could care less what happens at Goodison Pk mate. It’s not in my thoughts even though I do like the club. They were one of the best clubs in the Lge during a rich period in the 80′s. They played some great attacking football during that time also and of course my brother is a Toffee’s fan.
All that said mate, Everton don’t concern me right now. What concerns me right now is our apparent inneptitude in giving one of the best strikers of all time in the EPL the service he needs to score goals.I don’t know what anyone else thinks but I don’t want another season of lacklustre defensive crap from our team. Villa fans can slag Houllier off all they want now he’s gone but we played some of the best attacking football we’ve played for yrs. I’d say since the days of BigFatRon!.
I think it’s a real shame GH had to leave our club because i think the team was beginning to turn a corner near the end of the season. Ok so we still conceded goals but we scored for fun in most games and the defense could’ve been rectified this summer with some good signings.
Maybe I’m being too hard on AM because even Mancini played a defensive game in his 1st season at City but now look at them? They attack with such flair now. Yes! they have the players and we don’t but we don’t have to spend fortunes to get the right players at VP. We just need the right manager with the right knowhow. A manager who has the contacts around the world of football. I hope AM has a scouting network in place now at Villa.
Lerner brought him in to get the best or maybe cheapest deals for his money and AM is adept at doing that. We need to scout as many players as possible over the next few mths and if they become available try and sign some of them. We need some flair in our team again. Nzogbia is a top player. He has consistently shown us that at least at Wigan in his time there. Bent is top class aswell but who do we have in midfield to make the play if Stephen Ireland doesn’t get back to the player he was at Man City a few yrs ago??
I have so many questions! So feckin’ many my friend..I doubt tyhis is the type of comment you were hoping for though..LOL…#UpTheVilla!!! VTID!
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When you spend the £40 million you’ve taken in this Summer from Downing and Young, then come back and tell me that in comparison to Everton, “Villa are big spenders” or that Everton “are a weakened force”.
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I think you will be in for a shock tomorrow. Everyone seemd to forget that as good as arteta has been in the past. He was very uninfluential in the last 2 years of his everton career for which of most he was injured. Everyone are predicating an everton collapse because we have lost a player that has done very little for Everton over the past 2-3 years. They seem to forget that we have managed to keep hold of fellaini, baines and jagielka who have been much better. Everton have a much stronger mindfield and back line than villa. Its’s simple, stop darren Bent and Everton will win. Villa have little else to offer.
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The £40m went towards the massive loss we would have been posting had we not put it in the bank.
The wage bill was wrecking our club, hence the spending of money on things other than fees.
As for player sales, we are in a situation where we are not as big as some clubs, and thus unless we develop a team together as a unit, we are always prone to losing pieces of the jigsaw as we go along.
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The direct comparison in spending was a reflection that the combined purchases of Hutton, Steven, Given & N’Zogbia, add up to more outlay than the loan of Denis Stracqualursi. No?
I also neglected to mention Saha so my apologies for overlooking his squad role.
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Aston Michael,
I assume you are speaking about Bent. Looking at his performances this year, it is all too easy to blame others for not supplying him but, on the flip side, what is his contribution to the team?
I know for a fact many members of the team get irritated when it is suggested Bent single handedly saved us last year. The reality is he didn’t, and contribution from NRC, Young, and Downing, comprised the reason why Bent flourished.
With them gone, and effectively having strikers in place of wingers, the contribution of other players are expected to be higher in terms of goals scored.
Bent, for me, this season, has lacked any kind of workrate that I would deem acceptable. Some might suggest his role is commensurate with that of a poacher but, in the Wolves game in particular, his contribution was way below that expected of a player in a derby game.
I am not seeking to lambast Bent, but if he wants to have a successful year at Villa this season, he needs to up his all round game.
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Lee,
I take on board your points, but even a staunch Everton fan has to admit that a) they start the season slow and b) that grabbing a last gap winner vs likely relegation candidates Blackburn is hardly illustrative of a side in the ascendancy, no?
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Kieno …… we have spent £47.8m since January mate ….. UTV
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lol stop bent then u stop villa [ture] but least we hav a bent who does everton hav that says wow wish we had him?? .. no1 anymore .Everton are there this season for the taking even swansea and norwich fans should be hoping to beat them!!!! UTV!!
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And lee villa hav little eles – didnt everton fans cry out loud for nzogbia???????? thought so … UTV!!!!!!!!!!
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Dazza, The reason everton fans were crying out for N’zogbia is because we havn’t bought a player for 2 years. So obviousely everton fans were gonna get exited with any player linked with the club. And I will say it again, I dont think villa have much more to offer than Darren Bent. Should be interesting tomorrow. Its usually a good game.
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If you’re gonna go back to the Bent signing in January, that was the money taken from the Milner/Shorey/Gradner sales was it not? That doesn’t look any better – instead it’s over £60 Million taken in and I don’t accept that ye have spent £47.8 Million of it. You’ve got Hutton for £400K, N’Zogbia for £9.5 Million, Given for about £3.5 Million and Bent for an initial £18 Million. Even if Bent’s fee has gone up by a couple of million, that lot still only adds up to about £33.5 million out of the £60 Million
Matt – I don’t mean any disrespect and I actually like Villa. But if you’re gonna do a direct comparison of spending, you also have to take into account what value has been lost in the squad. We could have sod Jagielka, Baines, Rodwell etc and Arteta early earlier than 10:40pm on Aug 31st and also have spent £30 Million. Fact is, we’re only worse off on one position than last season (and even that’s debateable coz Arteta did nothing in the 2 and a half years sionce his bad injury and we have the extremely exciting emergence of Ross Barkley), Villa on the other hand, IMO are weaker in 3 positions! Although I do expect ye to be betteor organised and more settled under McLeish!
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Thanks to everyone for your comments, whether you are a Villa fan or an Everton one.
Here’s to a good game tomorrow, and to some points for Villa (Sorry Everton fans)
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PS Kieno,
Don’t worry, I’ve not took any offence from comments.
I see the point you are making regarding the fact Everton could cash in on assets such as Rodwell, Jagielka, or Baines, but I think it is plain to see that Moyes is operating on a shoestring.
Whilst Villa may have been doing it this past few months, I feel very lucky that we have Randy Lerner rather than Bill Kenwright. No offence meant towards Everton as they are a great club, but the tight finances there must prove irksome to both David Moyes and the fans alike.
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Readers might also like to check out my article on my website, Aston Villa Life, here – http://www.astonvillalife.com/blog/preview-everton-vs-aston-villa
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If you believe the press Everton were desperately trying to unload Rodwell to Utd but Surlux doesn’t rate him anymore.
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