Dave Woodhall on the return of a familiar face to Villa Park.
And so it came to pass that the Messiah did return to Villa Park. And rather than be seated on a donkey, He did arrive skulking in a shiny executive coach. And rather than be garlanded with palms, He did get booed to the dug-out and back. And He did, to be fair and to everyone’s amazement, say he was sorry for leaving us in the lurch two years ago. And it would be nice to think that’s the last we’ll say about him, but this is Villa and arguing about past managers who left in acrimonious circumstances comes naturally. Debate still rages about the pros and cons of Ron Atkinson and John Gregory, while I’m sure older supporters could still come to blows over the departure of Tommy Docherty. I suppose the Martin O’Neill debate will rage for many years to come.
As for the match, it wasn’t as bad as might have been expected from just looking at the scoreline. Villa started off well and could have been a goal up inside a minute, but as the game wore on the lack of a creative spark became more apparent. In Alex McLeish’s defence (not a phrase that comes easily to mind) he was restricted in his plans by injury to James Collins and Gaby Agbonlahor, which meant that substitutions were a matter of necessity rather than attempting to change the game.
There were chances at both ends, Sunderland had a goal disallowed and Craig Gardner sent off in the closing stages, but the match was winding down long before then. In the final analysis, it was an afternoon where, for different reasons, neither manager dared lose. If I was a Sunderland supporter, though, I’d be wondering what’s happened to the media-appointed Heir to Clough. No one could doubt his motivational ability at Villa, yet his team didn’t seem at all up for the game I’d have thought he wanted to win more than any other. That’s four games without a goal as well, which is just as well given Villa’s lack of attacking threat. It was the sort of match where Darren Bent gets a winner with ten minutes to go, and boy have we missed him.
Results elsewhere were mixed, which meant the gap between Villa and the bottom three got no smaller, but neither did we get the win that would have calmed the nerves. Luckily there’s the visit of Bolton on Tuesday, in a game which has already had three planned dates cancelled. A win here and the final weeks of the season should be pain-free. Defeat will lead to some very nervy times ahead.
Saturday sees a trip to the Hawthorns, against a strangely-resurgent Albion. They’ll be making a big fuss about finishing above us, which shows that however poorly Villa may be doing, the local sides still judge their ideas of success against us more than anything else. You’d have thought they might have grown out of it by now.