You knew it would happen: Robbie Keane comes good, and the six or seven Villa supporters still keeping an open mind on Alex McLeish say, “See, I told you so!”
Okay, I don’t really like doing the “I-told-you-so” thing because it tends to create hard feelings. And I don’t like hard feelings amongst fellow Villans. Even if it is fun to say “I told you so” to anyone (except your significant other, if you know what’s good for you). And even if I don’t really think I can say “I told you so” because I don’t think I ever said, “Just you watch, this will come good…”
But, after a week in which we again endured knee-jerk over-reactions and widespread accusations of criminal idiocy, dereliction of duty, bad faith, and simple stupidity, it’s hard not to point to Robbie Keane’s pivotal pair of goals and imagine Alex McLeish not thinking of his critics, “You don’t know what you’re talking about….” Or is it, “Ye dinnae…”
After all, £500k for two months: Madness. “Assessing his fitness”: Madness. Two goals in 80 minutes: Dead silence.
The propensity to criticize every move made by this manager, board and owner has officially reached proportions of silliness. Maybe we don’t know quite so much more than they as we’d like to think. (And I’d be lying if I said I’d expected to see what we saw Saturday.)
After all, when was the last time Darren Bent carved two goals out of nothing to equalize and then win a game? Well… But: “We just need to give him service!”
Sorry, no. Robbie Keane, “out of shape and over the hill” and having played only 10 game minutes with his new temporary teammates the week before, showed Darren Bent that you can actually play yourself into a game, take your chances, and do it without 10 other men searching for an absolutely perfect through-ball for 90 minutes while you jog around waiting for them to place it on a platter for you. We saw two flashes of quality, someone unafraid to put it on goal, while our lazy savior was making inscrutable, undercover runs that Messi couldn’t have picked out.
(Visual exercise, optional: Imagine yourself in a forest, trying to pass a ball to someone who keeps running the wrong side of trees. Trees that move rather faster than an average tree and react to the ball and know that’s where you’re trying to put the ball, right past them.)
Anyway, it reminded me of the Bristol tie when Gabby came in, played 10 minutes, and made himself a goal because he wanted one and Villa needed one. Well, he didn’t actually make himself a goal, but he fashioned one.
If Keane does nothing else, his two goals and the consequent three points could loom as large as any other single-game contribution this season. With Ireland and N’Zogbia unavailable, Gabby ill and needing to be withdrawn, and Darren Bent doing not much as usual, it was new-arrival Keane who showed the necessary quality to turn what was looking like a possible derby defeat (and, let’s admit it, probably one of a handful of must-win games if we’re to have a chance of just comfortably seeing things out) into an enjoyable, and yes, maybe even surprising win on the day. Up one, down one, up one and done. Mr. Keane, take a bow.
Moving On
What else did we learn? Well, for one thing, Ciaran Clark is not a left back. You can put him out there and say he’s a left back, but he got torched for the first 45 minutes by Wolves.
But, with Gabby needing to be withdrawn, and McLeish seeing what was happening, Warnock was brought on by a manager willing to admit he needed to be out there, and Warnock in turn instantly settled down the left-back position, did himself credit, and delivered at least one thundering challenge that put a little starch in our shirts. Clark calmly shifted gears and played out the game without sustaining psychic scars and knowing the manger still believes in him. That will do him good. He’s not fragile, but if you’re asking him to do something he’s not really suited for, it’s only fair to let him go back to playing where he has acquitted himself well.
Attacks, however, then shifted to our right, where Alan Hutton was unable to stop Wolves putting in crosses.
(This signing isn’t really working out, much as I would’ve liked it to for everyone’s sake. Hutton failed time and again to close down and put tackles in, and consequently Wolves quite rightly figured that if they didn’t get a cross in the worst thing that could happen was that they’d likely do better and get a corner.)
More important, though, McLeish didn’t take Clark off when Warnock came on. He moved him back to midfield and kept faith with the lad. That, I thought, was a quality move. The kind that says you hold players responsible for what they’ve shown you they can do, not the decisions you might get wrong.
Final Verdict
Robbie Keane did what Alex McLeish knew he could do: score goals; make a difference; help the side out. Funny how much a game can turn on a cagey veteran knowing where to be and having a go. If Keane’s brief Villa tenure does nothing else, he’ll have done us a world of good if only a little of that impresses itself on the side.
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