That was certainly more like it! Against Liverpool, we saw the team that started the season and finish last season. They always had it in them, but it was reassuring to finally see it.
It is unfortunate that we will be sitting at home this weekend due to our FA Cup humiliation, but at least the club will be rested when they host the Baggies at home for the derby. That will be the real test. Will they be able to play with the same unrestrained passion that they did at Anfield? More importantly, will they be able to create chances at home against a team that will likely sit back?
For all the ink spilled over our home form, the team has to do something. Reading Jenny Truman’s column on the subject only reinforced my belief that a large part of the problem is between their ears when they play at home. Whether it’s wearing their change strip at home, making all the players stay in a hotel somewhere else the night before the match, or something as silly as having the players take the field to “Rock me Amadeus” just to lighten things up a bit – something has to change. With very little left to play for beyond a few extra quid for league position, a win in the derby will give us something to hang our hats on as fans.
Maybe by then Wes Hoolahan will be a Villa player. Elsewhere, somebody raised the point that perhaps the reason why the club is looking to spend a modest sum on an older player was to not to block the kids coming up who also play in the same role. If Lowton & Westwood can step up from League 1 and do a job for us, maybe Jack Grealish can minimally be in and around the first team next season – who knows.
As to the way Hoolahan is trying to engineer his exit from Norwich, it doesn’t sit any better with me than it did when Stuart Downing left us in much the same way. I suppose the player feels like a pawn in a personal feud between the Norwich board and Paul Lambert, and that he is only being forced to stay out of spite. This is also a player who signed a new contract just over a year ago and proclaimed his loyalty to his club. Such is modern football – I’ve accepted it for what it is but I will never like it.
Enjoy the weekend off Villans. I’ll be at Beer Summit Boston on Friday night, so it’s probably a good thing I won’t have to wake up for a 10:00 a.m. kickoff anyway.
The Author
