Aston Villa started the season with a loss but there is no need to panic. Sure, it would have been ideal to take three points but opening games are notoriously difficult to predict and often bear no relevance to how a season pans out.
Now that the emotion has died down a little bit, it is time to take apart some of the reasons why Villa lost the match despite West Ham being “only a promoted team”.
Firstly, the team as it stands is still very much in the process of gelling. People had been saying the reason Darren Bent had received the captaincy was because he was the most senior player in that team in terms of appearances, but I do have to question the suitability of a poacher type striker as a leader. Whether Bent is an ideal captain going forward remains to be seen.
Secondly, the team selection did illustrate that at least one or two positions are currently understaffed. Nathan Baker starting for Villa was probably the most surprising pick, though some may have seen Fabian Delph as a surprising choice given his past injury record.
Delph playing wasn’t exactly a shock in reality as, assuming the Leeds born player remains fit, he is in a make-or-break season. Few doubted his potential when he signed – I can remember vividly the fans who thought he was the real deal in his first few games – but injury has certainly blighted his career.
The team certainly toiled under a hot sun and looked tired as a result, but these are early days and the first game of the season can offer predictably strange results as Liverpool fans will be quick to tell you.
Getting back to the captaincy, losing Stiliyan Petrov, especially in the circumstances we did, was a real blow to the team. In Petrov, there was and is a relentless player who gave as much as his body would let him. In light of his leukaemia diagnosis last season, it is truly amazing he managed to give as much as he did. Losing him meant we lost our usual captaincy pick which leaves a massive void to fill.
For the West Ham game, Darren Bent was selected as captain. Whilst I can acknowledge that he is amongst the most senior players in terms of appearance, Bent’s style of play does not really lend itself to a captaincy role. Villa’s newly put together team need a driving force to push them on, and I have doubts about how players who need to be on the shoulder of opposition defenders can direct the team when their focus is elsewhere – on turning a centre half.
I don’t want to get into the seemingly infinite discussion about Bent’s style of play in terms of the man as a player – we all know he is a goal scorer – but offering that type of player the captaincy is a tad puzzling. What I do know is that the team, not just Bent, is going to need to exert more energy if we are to see Bent with his hands aloft like in the picture above.
When one looks at the criteria a captain is picked on, it is easy to see why Petrov was picked in this role as his tenacity and attitude are perfectly suited. His statistics back him up as a leader and support his persistence and terrier-like pursuance of the ball. However, we all know that Petrov is, for now at least, unavailable to be picked in the team.
On the basis of what we have seen so far, both in terms of the friendlies and today’s performances, it would appear that Karim El-Ahmadi is a strong candidate for the role. Often being involved in the middle of moves, his link up play was superb, regularly being the fulcrum on which Villa’s moves hinged. Today, I thought he was Villa’s best player by a good distance.
Some might suggest that El-Ahmadi is unfairly represented in terms of involvement as midfielders will, more often than not, see more of the ball than many players given their location on the pitch.
This is, of course, true, and is part of the reason why I feel the best captains are either central midfielders or central defenders. Both sets of players are usually physically strong as well as being involved in seeing where the ball is being played.
For me, at least, poachers are far too far forward to be able to intervene as a captain because of the nature of their role – if a striker is employed as a poacher and thus isn’t expected to track back, how is he directing his team to play? If a poacher needs to stay up because of his role in the team, then can he influence play? This doesn’t mean you can’t employ a poacher, rather that a poacher has little in common with a captain’s role.
Offering Bent the captaincy reminds me of Arsenal offering it to Robin van Persie – to do anything to stop him from leaving. That isn’t, of course, to suggest that Bent is leaving the club.
It may well be the first game of the season, and I am repeated in my statements that people shouldn’t worry about one result though losses invariably prompt yet more discussion about acquisitions.
The future’s bright, but the end of the tunnel may well still be a little further away than some had hope and it may well involve more player purchases.
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