So Aston Villa beat Rotherham 3-0 in the League Cup with an almost full strength team.
The happiness of winning a game will, no doubt, be tempered with the reality that this was only a team in League One, and that teams in League One should always be destroyed by Premier League teams.
However, we know this not to be the case. Last season, we managed to lose a game to a lesser team over two legs – if Premier League teams always roll over lesser teams, which we know they don’t, we certainly have evidence that things can, and do, go wrong.
Of course, the result last night was nowhere near as close to the final as the Bradford City result in last season’s two-legged semi. Last season’s cup run by Bradford wasn’t a one match wonder as they took multiple scalps on the way to the final, not just Villa’s so, arguably, one could say they deserved their moment in the spotlight after suffering the ignominy of being in League Two less than twenty years after competing in the Premier League.
Getting back to the present day, cup games are often set up with a fairy tale logic that the league can never, and will never, provide. The tale of the plucky young team that beats the veterans is something ingrained in our own psyche, just the same as the Biblical story of David & Goliath.
Most of the time, as with yesterday, the wins go the way people think they will but sometimes we have the fortune of seeing an upset, whether on the lesser scale of us beating Arsenal on the opening day or Wigan Athletic beating Manchester United in the FA Cup. Those are moments that create talking points, but also show that the root of what makes football magical to us – the supporters – is still alive, in that one team on nobody players can come along and cause shocks against supposed better teams.
Which, fortunately, points towards our own strategy. In our squad, we have numerous players who were either unknown to many fans before signing at the club, or who are felt not to be at the required standard – whatever that is – for Villa. What Villa have proved, albeit not on a regular basis, is that a team paid far less (and worth far less) can still compete in the same, if not better, league position as more expensive players.
In simple business terms, this will please the owners and finance people at the club, but leave some supporters feeling like finance comes first above football, something that doesn’t seem right in the eyes of some.
However, finance is a key part of any business, and whilst Villa may have been in the doldrums for the past three seasons or so, things are getting back towards progress, and at a cheaper rate which, if we’re honest, surely has to be a positive for the club, right?
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