Editorial

Three days before going to press there wasn't much that I could say about the start of the season. We were playing well, not quite up to the level of last season, but improving with every match. Then came the appalling display at home to Helsingborg, easily the worst performance since the start of the Little renaissance, and what should have been a comfortable away leg is now going to be a difficult one. The only good thing to come out of the night was the behaviour of our supporters, who generously applauded both the Helsingborg team and their fans,

I still think we'll get through though, although we'll now be going over there with hope rather than expectation. If we get through then it'll be another one when we'll look back and wonder what the fuss was about. If we don't, then there will just have to be a next time. European qualification has to be the minimum achievement every season; that's where the prestige, glamour and, most importantly, the money is. We should be able to finish as high in the league as we did last season, and the standards that we are setting ourselves are high enough to regard anything less than this as failure.

And the team that's going to do it all for us? Michael Oakes is looking a competent deputy for Bosnich, he isn't making any horrendous errors and his goal kicking is much better than Bossie's. Safe rather than spectacular is definitely the Oakes way, and he should be congratulated for the way he's played so far.

Our defence is more or less what you'd expect. Gareth Southgate is playing as well as ever, although Ugo looks a bit suspect at times. As for Steve Staunton there's a lot of Villa supporters, me included, who must be eating our words at the moment. Last season he didn't want to know, this time round he's much better, it seems as though he wants to stay at the Villa and although he's not a natural central defender he's certainly not letting us down.

Alan Wright's another player who isn't quite up to the form of last season, but again there's no real cause for panic. On the other side of defence we've got Fernando Nelson, who is already shaping up into one of the best European bargains any English manager has bought for a long time.

Mark Draper has been a bit of a disappointment this season. He certainly hasn't shown what he's capable of and needs to up his performance level a bit if he's to get the England place that should be his of right. Luckily though, Andy Townsend has continued to show good form alongside him. Sasa Curcic joined the Villa too late to get a mention in the last issue, but he's settled in well so far

Up front we come to the paradox that is Savo Milosevic. Yet again he can look a world beater and abysmal in the same match. He score two against Arsenal then faded versus Helsingborg. If only some way could be found to wind him up a bit then we'd have a world-beater on our hands. As it is we'll have to wait a bit longer and hope that having his best mate in the team will help him out. Dwight Yorke. Hmm. He hasn't looked anywhere near as sharp as he did last season. Maybe he's not 100% fit, maybe he's suffering from a lack of confidence because the ball's not running for him. Either way I hope he improves soon. He's not another one season wonder, but it would be a relief to be proved right.

The only slight hitch is that the Paul McGrath saga seems to be starting up again. At this stage of the game Macca naturally has to put himself first. Brian, though, has to act in the club's best interests so he must always have the last word.

And the last word here is progress. We're still making it.

Day by Day

14th August: Nightmare Scenario time. At 2.00pm issue no. 44 goes to the printers. At 5.45 the news comes 'over the wire' that Villa are signing Sasa Curcic from Bolton for £4 million.

15th August: The 121st Annual General Meeting of the Aston Villa FC plc takes place. The share conversion is passed; Doug gains six million quid, or loses the same amount depending on which set of figures you believe. Everything else passes off peacefully for a change.

17th August: Sheffield Wednesday 2 Villa 1, Welcome to the new season. 3.01pm, kick-off. 3.03, the bloke with the drum pisses everybody off. 3.04, Gareth Southgate's first interception is greeted with a standing ovation. 3.06, Steve Staunton's first misplaced pass is greeted with a chorus of abuse. 3.14, the first drunk of the season is thrown out. 3.21, Staunton is advised to seek alternative employment in the Merseyside area, firmly establishing himself as this season's scapegoat. Second half, Villa play badly and let in two soft goals, Tommy Johnson gets one back but there's no likelihood of an equaliser. Critics of our supposed weak links from last season should note we missed someone attacking down the right wing and a forward who could hold the ball up. Players like Savo and Gary Charles, in fact. Wednesday are a poor side and we'll play much better when the injuries are cleared up, but it's three points that we won't get this season

21st August: Villa 1 Blackburn Rovers 0. A big improvement on Saturday, but it still isn't right yet. lan Taylor's many things but a full back isn't one of them. Tommy Johnson isn't recapturing last season's form, and Julian Joachim looks out of sorts. Dwight needs a goal and Mark Draper isn't back to form. Thank God for our defence and Blackburn's ineptitude, once we'd scored they didn't look like an equaliser and we could have scored again. Kenny Dalglish resigned after the match and I don't blame him. Getting better, with at least a couple of players back Saturday should see a further improvement.

22nd August: Glenn Hoddle's first England squad sees no major surprises - Southgate's in, as is Matt Le Tissier, and Stuart Pearce completes the shortest 'retirement' in history.

23rd August: If you're all going to Helsingborg clap your hands. It's a little town in Sweden, the most peaceful place in Europe. The club will no doubt undertake a fact-finding mission and return to announce that it's Checnya meets Beiruit,

24th August Villa 2 Derby County 0. Dwight goes off injured after fifteen minutes and the prospect of any goals at all recedes. Luckily Joachim was having one of his good days and we should have won by five or six against a team who look like they're heading back where they came from, Our forward line probably broke some record for the amount of chances missed by players whose names beginning with 'J', Sasa made a most impressive debut, every time he got the ball he looked like he knew what he was doing with it, it's too early to tell for sure, but it looks like Brian's found us another winner. As for Fernando, his first touch as a Villa player was of a Derby player Fair enough. Six point out of nine is less than we should have got, but with a few more difficult opponents coming up we're improving with every game and the signs are promising.

27th August: Paul McGrath's dropped from the Republic squad and says he might have to leave the Villa to get his place back. An era might be ending.

29th August: The capacity of Heisingborg's ground will be 8,000 as it's a high risk game because an English club are playing. We've been back in Europe for seven seasons, there's been no problems and we still get treated with contempt. No other country would allow such blatant discrimination without protest but the FA fight for English supporters? Let's stand and 1 watch hell freeze first. Gordon Strachan brings a match to a halt by refusing to leave the pitch after getting sent off. it's obvious who he used to play for, it's interesting how Fat Ron supports him. And some people would still have him back as our manager.

4th September: Everton 0 Villa 1. The easy games have finished and it's into the second phase of the season, when we start to play teams who are liable to be there at the death, Goodison might be a bit of a museum piece but there's still an aura about it that says 'this is a real football ground' and it gives off the impression that any team who gets anything there will have to be something special. Villa certainly were tonight, the full the match was a great, typically English of incidents, controversy and surprisingly just one goal. There were a few eccentric refereeing decisions, a lot of commitment and to fourteen heroes. Everton were disappointing they've got two ways of attacking, a long ball wide to Kanchelskis and a high ball hoofed up to Duncan Ferguson, both of them are dangerous and in fairness gave us a couple of scares, but our defence is getting back to the Mean Machine standards of last season. Savo's reappearance gives more options in attack, even if he's not doing much himself he can at least hold the ball up for the rest of the team and Fernando was the second Villa player in consecutive games to have an outstanding debut. It was surprising that a goal took so long and when it came courtesy of Ugo it was the cue for a celebration that proves yet again how much playing for the club means to this team. All that remained was nineteen minutes of routine defending, a couple of dangerous breakaways and more injury time than on Casualty. Second in the league and still improving.

7th September: The day starts badly courtesy of usual boasts, quotes and half-truths in the a splash interview with Our Leader full of the Mirror. Doug, when will you realise that A) sacking managers is an admission of failure and nothing to boast about and B) this club works best when you keep your mouth shut and the rest of you out of sight. Villa 2 (Milosevic 36, 63) Arsenal 2 (Merson 70, Linnigan 97). British Summer Time ends early in Aston as the referee decides to play until 4.45 GMT. To look at it objectively, for half the game we played our best football of the season, but then Arsenal scored totally against the run of play. Even then we shouldn't have be in any trouble, but as time wore on the nerves got increasingly on edge and well, when you've got three international central defenders the opposition shouldn't be able to I score from two corners. When the final whistle went, and the crowd rushed to get home before the buses stopped running, we had two players booked while the entire Arsenal team lined up to shake hands with the referee. Make of that what you will.

10th September: Villa 1 Helsingborg 1 was part of the second most prestigious competition in European club football, It felt like a practice match and the players treated it as one. A goal up after fourteen minutes they must have thought they'd done the hard work and were content to pass the ball around for ever more. There was no running off the ball, no imagination and no way round the Swedes tight defence. Their equaliser wasn't deserved, but we were awful and a kick up the arse might be just what the team needs. The second leg is going to be difficult but there's no way that we can play so badly again and I'm still confident. Honest.

Go back to top