Vår man på Holte End
Michael levererar en sylvass krönika direkt från Holte End.
With Aston Villa, at the moment, you just never know what you are going to get. They have developed the ability to be appalling one week, then outstanding the next. How can a team like the one that rolled over against Chelsea, Man City and Blackburn, play so well against Liverpool, Middlesboro and Bolton ?
We had better ignore the two cup results. The 4-3 defeat by Liverpool was a brilliant game which either side could have won. The nightmare against Blackburn was just plain crap. The fact that Judas Yorke should score twice at the Holte End just summed up the day. He has hardly scored at all for Blackburn, and then does it twice, forcing us to get a close up of his jagged gnashers as he took the piss in front of The Holte. At his peak, Yorke was adored by the Villa fans, but how he acted before he left was a disgrace. His last game for us was Everton away; during that game I can’t remember him touching the ball. It was obvious that he was not trying. That really was taking the piss.
Generally, Villa are playing ok, though there have been a few games when they have been crap. The 2-1 victory over the Baggies was a high point; a last minute bullet from Hitz to win it was sweet. God knows how they were promoted last year, but there is no doubt that they will go back down this season. The atmosphere in Villa Park was good but there was a bit of trouble outside after the game, which was a follow on from the last game at Albion.
Another good day was had when Villa beat Boro. Southgate and Ugo were booed constantly by the Holte End, who are bitter about the way that they both left (It’s a pity we didn’t get the opportunity to boo Boateng). Ugo missed a few chances, which increased the slagging off that he got. It looked like the stick he was getting was unsettling him and he played bollocks.
Gregory is to blame for letting both players go. (By the way, Derby are having a poor season). When Ugo stated that he wanted to leave, he acted like a twat, inventing injuries and refusing to play in the Intertoto Cup for us. (He thought that a big club was going to come knocking for him and he didn’t want to be cup tied for European games). Then he joined Boro who have never played in Europe, and never will. At least Southgate was honest with the Villa; he continued to play his heart out for us before he left. I met him in Vigo before a UEFA Cup game a few years ago, he seemed like a decent bloke and took the time to chat to us, unlike the others he was with, Simon Grayson, Alan Wright and Michael Oakes who acted like superstars and would hardly speak at all.
The away draw at Liverpool was another promising performance and we could have easily won the game, Dublin, though he scored, missed a few good chances. Whilst he does miss sitters, Dublin is regularly getting goals for us and his effort cannot be faulted. Even when he is not having a good game, he always looks to get involved and never hides. He also took the piss out of Hypia and bullied him all game. A trip to Anfield is always to be enjoyed and most of the Red Scousers are ok (unlike the Blue Scousers). There is a bit of a myth about the Kop end at Liverpool and the incredible atmosphere. Don’t believe it, they have not sung since 1977. All of the singing was by the 3,500 travelling Villains. Phil Thomson was repeatedly told to ‘Sit down Pinnochio’ and the Scousers were constantly reminded of their reputation to be thieves, by the Villa fans chants. The only worry from the day, was Vassell, he (again) played poorly and went off at half time. He has not had a good season and there seems to be a problem getting him to sign a contract. There are rumours that he will go in the summer
It looks like we have seen the last of Alpay who is never seen on match day at Villa Park and apparently is disliked by the rest of the players because of his attitude. The Villa fans would like to see him go, though there is not a long queue of clubs wanting to sign him (apart from Blackburn offering 2 Million). He came back from Japan thinking he was Franz bleeding Beckenbauer, unfortunately for him, nobody else does.
Mellberg continues to impress the fans and everybody agrees with the decision to make him captain, but we are not too sure about his liking for beards! Quite simply, Mellberg has been outstanding for us and is very highly thought of. Other players, doing well at the moment are Hitz (who ran round like a madman after his goal against Albion), Dublin (who is always good for a goal – or a laugh) and Jlloyd (who is far better as a left back, but has done well on the right while Delaney is injured). Christ, even Wrighty has done ok in the last few games. Enks remains outstanding and the Postman had a couple of good games while Enks was injured.
I suppose its time for Deadly to put in our application to enter the Intertoto Cup again. He really should be getting a bit embarrassed about a club, the size of Aston Villa, being reduced to shuffle around with FC Bollockski from Bulgaria or somewhere trying to get in the backdoor of the UEFA Cup. The problem is, unless anything dramatic happens, we aren’t going to get into Europe any other way. Maybe that shows how we have declined over the last five seasons having been left behind by similar clubs like Leeds, Newcastle and Chelsea
If you believe in the power of prayer, then the bastards from Small Heath, will be sure to down. Their form has collapsed and it looks like they could be in trouble if they don’t turn it round, they have got some difficult games coming up and hopefully they’ll lose them all. They spent a few weeks above us in the league and spent the time taking the piss. It will be tremendous to give them a good hiding in a couple of months time and send them back down where they belong.
