1eye83

Sorry for the length of this but i didn't think it warranted a contribution on the front page I think it is great that somebody has attempted to lift the gloom enveloping Villa Park on the basis the season came to an anti climax. Without doubt being so close to the coveted top four only to see that hope evaporate over the last quarter of the season leaves a sour taste in the mouth and leaves you thinking that we threw away all the hard work of the previous 18 months. It is fair to say that MON could have given us some hope by now and try to raise our spirits by saying we have irons in the fire and stop the speculation surrounding Ashley Young, but I am sure we will be in the market for quality players. Whether MON will spend the money required is another matter. Whilst MON is being lambasted by the Villa Faithful for his transfer policy and tactical naivety it cannot be argued that he hasn’t brought the best out of those at his disposal after all 12 months ago who would honestly have predicted we would enter December with a realistic chance of challenging for the title (Mathematically I mean) that we would be ten minutes away from winning at Old Trafford after being a goal down, that we would win convincingly at the Emirates and boss the return fixture at VP, That young would be PFA Young Player of the Year, that Heskey, A Young, L Young, Gabby, Barry, Milner and Davies would be called up to an England Squad only beaten by the best team in the world (At Present) Spain. We wouldn’t have believed we would be 8 points ahead of Arsenal in 4th Place. It goes to show that we are well ahead of the five year plan to get amongst the Elite –we were perhaps over performing and getting carried away with what was a false position, but there are certainly encouraging signs of us building. On the flip side of this coin it is only fair to say that we shouldn’t have capitulated and MON should have strengthened sufficiently to cover for Laursens absence, and numerous players dips in form and should have used subs more. There can be no excuse for not changing the personnel with a run that culminated in a record of two wins in 15 games. Whilst Barry and Petrov were our locksmiths unpicking defences with their passing they were both prone to following the ball forward and not having the speed or stamina to get back and break up a counter attack when our attacks broke down. In a 451 we had an anchorman such as NRC, Gardner and Sidwell to pick up the pieces and not leave the centre exposed. O Neil lives and dies by his reputation forged for man management and polishing diamonds in the rough and therefore he had to keep faith with those he put on the pitch. In some cases form never recovered and he had to be humble enough to drop those players. Shorey has never looked good enough – his saving grace been when players played out of position at RB and he was spared the defensive duties. Gabby was Woeful from January onwards and looked disinterested, Knight has always been prone to errors and misreading of the game and Heskey in all fairness suffered from not being able to build a partnership with Gabby (It didn’t help that Gabby appeared to expect Heskey to do all his donkey work but was then never in position to finish off a move. In O’Neill’s favour though look at the players who went through dips in form but rediscovered it to great effect because he stuck by them – Young, Friedel, Davies, Petrov, Carew, Barry. Can we not give O Neill Credit for instilling the belief in players that they can get up after a kick in the balls like Everton Away and win with the last kick of the ball, Everton at Home when we looked dead and buried against a very good side, The demotivation of outplaying Arsenal at home and being two goals down and numerous other great shows of character and resilience. The biggest question mark over O Neill is his transfer policy – yes he has made some good signings, but he has made a lot of bad ones at a big cost and he has certainly not acted quickly enough to replace those leaving with adequate replacement (After three years and 12 makeshift right backs we still only have one recognised right back and even he was only signed last year) Which team would we prefer? MON didn’t rate - Sorenson, Samuel, Mellberg, Cahill, Hughes, Berger, McCann, Davis, Angel, Baros, Phillips MON signed – Friedel, Shorey, Cuellar, Knight, L Young, A young, Reo Coker, Sidwell, Milner, Harewood, Carew I know not all players in the first team are great and some in the second side we wouldn’t be without but the first team recouped 13m and the second cost 62.3m and I don’t believe there is a 50m amount more quality. What’s more is players like Routledge and Maloney and Djemba Djemba were bought and sold without hardly featuring and costing us about 5 million in transfer fees.