To Be a Villan

Who would true valour see, let him come thither. Well, to be fair it was only Reading. Yet with hand firmly placed faux-oak Ikea desk, after a marvellous 3-1 decision at home this weekend the Villa may have well and truly proved they’re a top seven club, at least for the time being.

However long ‘the time being’ turn outs to be is an open question. Having already dodged the threat of O’Neill somehow warming to the charms of Brian Barwick (a tall order if there ever was one), Villa sits precariously in the January transfer window with two of the best young wingers currently in the Premiership. Their English origins will likely over-inflate their price-tags, but with the ascendancy of the Winger with the continued success of Christiano Ronaldo over at Manure, Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor may seem like tantalizing prospects for a certain struggling, soon to be manager-less (you heard it here folks!) Big Four club, if not now then certainly over the summer.

Villa without the two players looks dismal. While Laursen and Mellberg are as secure as they’ve ever been, the back still looks shaky with Zat Knight taking time to get in his stride. Carew is on form at the moment, but in the area he tends to manoeuvre like a Greyhound bus trying to parallel park at Safeway. Gardiner can be great as we saw back at White Hart Lane. Barry continues to be Barry, which is mostly a good thing when he doesn’t buy tabloid national team hype. But the fact that Martin Laursen is second only to Gabby in goals coupled with Villa’s lethal finishing on set-pieces points to excellent service, even better than the Indian restaurant on Queen West, Babur’s. Take away the service and all you’ve got is some soggy nan and some paneer that tastes like rubber.

O’Neill is aware of the fragility of the squad and has already warned off clubs from approaching Young and Agbonlahor (which seemed oddly to me like an invitation). We may see some surprises as January progresses. The squad needs expanding; it is, as O’Leary used to point out after every single loss under his tenure, one of the smallest teams in the Premiership. Yet there are many positives, biggest of all being Martin O’Neill’s healthy relationship with Randy Lerner and his commitment to the club. The players look happy and resilient as their bounce-back from both the Carling Cup and the FA Cup has demonstrated. We shall see when the cracks form. But for now, I’m just happy to be on level with one of the best Big Four clubs in the Premiership: Manchester City.

POST SCRIPT: Apparently this jerk supports the Villa 'because the name sounds like a nice spa.'