| editorial Don't mention the F-word. There'll be
no tempting fate in these pages.
Up to the end of March and things
are still going pretty well, the first defeat of the century at Southampton not
withstanding. Even the usual band of cynics and manic depressives that make up the usual
contents of your favourite matchday reading can't be arsed to cast a damper on matters
Astonian. After all, having to wait in a long queue to get a ticket for Wembley is hardly
the stuff of which revolutions are made.
I suppose that if there is a problem
at the Villa it's the lack of goals. Dion's injury meant that the football improved but
the goalscoring dried up. Julian Joachim's in a bad run and with more squad cover he would
probably have been dropped long before he was. After that there's Darius Vassell, who
looks worryingly injury-prone, Richard Walker, who might make it but is still
inexperienced, plus Beni & the Merse, neither of whom are out and out strikers. Luc
Nilis may be the man we're looking for but at 32 I doubt he's going to go through a
Premiership season unscathed. Dion may be making a miraculously quick recovery but nobody
knows when he'll be back or what the long-term effects will be.
In any case, the need isn't for next
season - it's for now. We're still not certain how European qualification is going to pan
out, but it looks like top five has to be the least we have to aim for (I'm not mentioning
the alternative way of qualifying). To get any higher in the league we're going to have to
start winning matches and at the time of writing, though we're not losing very often,
we've won one in five. We can stop other teams winning but against the rest of the clubs
at our level we're not getting three points often enough. And as has been said before,
getting into Europe shouldn't be something to celebrate, it should be a minimum
achievement. But when we say there's only really one problem area that's another way of
saying that everywhere else is pretty much fine and dandy. Which it seems to be.
Meanwhile, the Benito Carbone
contract debate is rumbling on with all the usual rama of Aston Villa negotiations. No
doubt when it's all over Doug will claim the credit for some shrewd dealing and if he
wants to, then let him. There is one thing, though, that all parties concerned should bear
in mind. The deal is being discussed at the same time that the future of Rover is again
looking shaky. Tens of thousands of jobs might be lost, many of them belonging to Villa
supporters. When footballers who are already earning a fortune are wanting even more
money, it's up to them to make sure they earn it. And a bit of humility might not be a bad
idea.
Finally, a personal plea and one
which will probably be ignored. When we get to Wembley, can we please lay off singing
about Small Heath? It's our day, not theirs.
day by day. the h&v diary
28th February:
Villa are about to sign Luc Nilis, a 32 year old Dutch international forward, from PSV on
a free. Gustavo Bartelt looks like he'll soon be in the Ivo file, if hints eminating from
the Gregory camp are anything to go by.
29th February:
Benito Carbone will sign long-term for the Villa. Provided he gets £38,000 per week,
apparently.
1st March: Sorry,
he was misquoted. He only wants £20k. Well, that's alright then. Colin Calderwood can
move if he wants to. According to John we're alright for cover because we've got Ian
Taylor, Steve Watson..er...think I might have found a flaw in you plan mate.
5th March: Villa 1 Arsenal
1. One of these days we're going to get caught out in a match like this. Arsenal
were strangely out of sorts and the points should have been well wrapped up long before
Richard Walker scored. The sight of Emmanuel Petit losing it completely was the only other
highlight of the second half with the Arse not looking like scoring, until, er, they did.
If we'd won today we'd have been six points behind them and catching up. As it is the
gap's still nine points and that's going to take some closing. How much would a new
striker cost? How much would missing out on Europe cost? Good job the club's run by such a
financial expert.
6th March: Luc
Nilis signs a pre-contract, after geting a bit of a shock when he sees how much houses are
in Little Aston. Of course he doesn't have to live there, there's a nice place in Symphony
Court just come on the market. Emmanuel Petit accuses Villa supporters of racism and then
gets charged with misconduct.
7th March:
Apparently Villa Park is a hot bed of racism, according to various people who I doubt have
ever been. And Steve Harrison & Paul Barron are going to give evidence on behalf of
Petit.
8th March: Except
that John says they aren't, and has a few choice words to say on the subject of Petit,
again. We're not on Arsene Wenger's Christmas card list, either. Paolo di Canio gets fined
five grand for gesturing to us. Gustavo Bartelt's back off to Roma. Paul Merson's Player
of the Month.
11th March: Villa 1 Coventry
0. Back to normality - Villa beating our 'local rivals' without breaking sweat.
It should have been at least five - in fact we could have had that many before half time -
but some poor finishing let down the rest of the performance. Merson and Carbone pissed
through the Coventry defence, but it was the old story; we're missing someone to put the
ball in the net. Joachim is seriouly out of form and if we'd got anyone to bring in I'm
sure he'd have been rested by now. You can never be totally comfortable with a one goal
lead, but at least we were playing a team with no attacking threat whatsoever. We get
three points, they lose their cup final. Sounds fair to me.
12th March: Beni
reckons that everybody at Villa want him to stay "except the chairman".
Ian Taylor is also not too impresed
with contract talks. Not so, says Doug. Everybody's happy and everything's fine. Oh yes.
14th March: The
name of the semi-final referee is announced. David Elleray. The Nightmare Returns. Steve
Harrison says that it's shape up or ship out time for Gustavo Bartelt, who I thought had
already shipped out.
15th March: Liverpool 0
Villa 0. I suppose we'd have settled for this before the match. Well under it in
the first half, luckily Michael Owen takes penalties about as well as Emile Heskey goes
past tackles. Performed better in the second half and the defence, with Mark Delaney in
particular, deserve credit for the way in which they held firm. A point at Anfield's
always welcome but we'll know we're onto something when we're disapponted with a draw
here. Most worrying sight of the night was Gareth Southgate going off injured,
particularly as Colin Calderwood's off to Forest tomorrow. JG has something to say on the
subject of Emile Heskey, you'll be surprised to learn. Gerard Houllier doesn't agree. I
know who's side I'm on.
18th March: Southampton 2
Villa 0. Let's face it, this one's been coming for a few weeks now. The team's
made such an improvement since December they shouldn't be criticised for one off-day,
particularly with what's coming up in a fortnight. Yet more proof that the squad isn't
strong enough. One injured defender and we're playing a stop-gap. Joachim finally dropped
and Mere pushed up front which is obviously not his best position. The two of them out of
midfield and what was left wasn't enough to stop a poor opposition taking control. George
Boateng did well, Hendrie buzzed around while Beni wasn't exactly proving he should get 38
grand a week or however much it is now. We were due one of these and now they've got it
out of their system. Time to move on.
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