With Villa in action last night, writing this article beforehand  I—of course—have been unable to provide you all with my synopsis of what I hope was a tremendous night for the Villa, and that we’ve now taken one gigantic step closer to a day out at Wembley on Sunday 24th February, with just the home leg to get through in a fortnight’s time. (Ed: Well, not quite. But a lovely sentiment nonetheless.)

The last week or so has featured a mix of emotions: the New Year’s Day draw at the Liberty Stadium felt very much like a defeat following Danny Graham’s last-gasp leveler, although prior to, and most certainly with half an hour gone, I would have been more than happy with a point. On Saturday we struggled past a resilient Ipswich Town to book a tricky, yet more-than-winnable tie at Millwall in round four. I sense that another cup run could be on the cards in the FA Cup, too, but obviously the priority is to ascertain our Premier League status.

For my reckoning it’s going to be three from any five of the bottom clubs. I’d like to think that on paper we have more quality to hand than Reading at least, whereas Southampton and Wigan do have their days (most notably against us, 4-1 and 3-0) and QPR have given themselves a fighting chance after a heroic performance at Stamford Bridge a week ago. The dream scenario for us is to survive and qualify for Europe. Imagine—it is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Transfer Targets
The January transfer window is now on its ninth day and we are yet to see zip, zilch, nothing—bar some interesting rumours and speculation of course. In fact I have already mentioned one player that we have been linked to recently, Swansea’s Danny Graham, although I baulked heavily when talkSport suggested on Monday that we may be preparing a bid of around TWELVE million for the 27-year-old. Hours later The Telegraph published an article connecting Graham with Sunderland for a much more sensible fee of around £4 million.

With Gabby coming back into the fold following a spell on the treatment table, I see no reason to splash what I’d suspect to be most—if not all—of our January funds on a centre forward for a number of obvious reasons. The first being that Benteke, Weimann, Agbonlahor and Bent (presuming he remains at the club) should be enough attack-wise to keep us safe. Secondly, I wouldn’t wish to see us bring in a striker especially seeing as we aren’t creating enough chances, and there are much more important areas that do need strengthening. We need more than one body.

As much as I feel that defensively we could do with an extra body or two, I think that we’re probably best to just keep it as it is until the summer. Unfortunately we are lacking in both quality and experience at the back, and as I’ve said all season long our frailties at the back lay primarily in fullbacks—the ones we have at our disposal are unaccustomed to top flight football, although I thoroughly believe that they will get better in time. In Clark, Baker and Vlaar (when he comes back), centrally I don’t think we’re all that bad and that’s despite having the worst defensive record in the league. My blame is with the protection—or lack of it—that they receive. A holding midfielder who is able to break up the play and then pick a pass and get us shifting up the pitch is a must: preferably one over the age of 25 with plenty of top-level games under his belt.

With limited funds available, along with a holding player I’d like Lambert to bring in a creative attacking midfield/winger, someone who can bring the fans to the edges of their seats, a new Ashley Young-type player, and by which I do not mean Charlton Athletic’s Dale Stephens. If it were at all possible I’d like to see us make an approach for Inter’s Philippe Coutinho on loan until the end of the season with a view to a permanent deal in the summer.

Villa v Southampton
I remember writing a couple of weeks back that the Wigan match was a six-pointer. Well, if that was, then Southampton is definitely a match that I would categorise as a classic, must-win six-pointer. We must avenge the 4-1 drubbing at the Saint Mary’s and pick up a timely three points. The fact is that we have to start winning games, especially these.

Southampton will make the trip up to Villa Park knowing it’s a fabulous opportunity for them to go back down to the south coast with a win, particularly as there is so much more pressure on our lads to perform in front of the expectant yet panicky crowd. Whatever happens, let’s just get behind the lads. I’m edging towards a 2-1 Villa win.

Until next week, Up the Villa.

Leave a Reply