This was a great weekend for the club. Not only did the club pick up three points, but actually did so playing entertaining, attacking football. Yes, this was a win against a promoted side at home and under such circumstances a victory should be expected. Still, the lads played with passion and the Villa faithful went home happy.
Gabriel Agbonlahor was the man of the match by setting up two goals and scoring one of his own. Gabby has been Villa’s unquestioned player of the season. The only thing left for Gabby to prove is to put in these performances for the entire season. He has had similar flashes of form only to tail off as the season went along. Consistency is what truly separates the very good from the great. If he can make that leap it is inevitable that he will be donning an England jersey next year at Euro 2012.
The most important part of yesterday’s victory was the brace of Darren Bent. While Gabby has been outstanding all season, the club needs its record signing to contribute as well to really push up the table. Bent has not received the greatest service as Charles N’Zogbia has struggled for form and Marc Albrighton has been unable to break into the first XI. Still, Bent had missed several sitters as of late and the last thing he or the club needed was for him to devolve into a slump and lose confidence.
On the negative side the club did ship two goals. Warnock has been mediocre at best and Alan Hutton has just been bad. Given the lack of other options presently at left back Warnock keeps his job by default. Maybe when Eric Lichaj is fit he could provide competition as the attacking fullback that McLeish’s 4-2-3-1 ish formation requires. Enda Stevens will be joining us in January, but coming over from the League of Ireland he will likely play with the reserves and a loan to the Championship would be good experience.
As for Hutton, like N’Zogbia he hasn’t hit the ground running at Villa Park. N’Zogbia was dropped and is starting to find himself. If Chris Herd is going to play in midfield, which given his work-rate may be his best position, Carlos Cuellar should be given a chance. He is not the greatest right back in the world, especially going forward, but he won’t hurt the team in their own half. The team could also use a center back who can pass the ball and maybe dribble. Ciaran Clark needs to be out there.
That should not take away from what was the first fun day at Villa Park in a while. While many fans were waiting for McLeish to fail, the man who turned down the chance to be our manager is sitting bottom of the league. Last week I feel I came across as a McLeish sympathizer. What I was trying to say was that I hope the manager proves us all wrong as unlikely as it sounds. As upset as we all were after that late loss against Albion, a 2-2 draw on the road is not a terrible result. If the club can carry over these past two performances after the international break the club may get some results against the bigger sides in December. That is really the only negative; we have to wait three weeks to see our lads try and duplicate this again.
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