Aston Villa News 24/7And the hits just keep on coming. The breaking news is that John Carew is the latest name on the casualty list with a torn calf that will keep him out for three weeks.
Curiously, the Birmingham Mail, in an exclusive, say that the injury occurred “during a challenge with Brad Friedel during a training ground practice match yesterday afternoon”. What’s odd about that is the official site published an article this morning entitled “Houllier looking for Carew to terrorise top-flight defences“.
Whoops! What we have here is a failure to communicate.
The most unfortunate part of that piece on the official site is the less than fantastic assessment of Nathan Delfouneso, the only one of five recognised strikers available. The article reveals that Houllier was considering allowing Delfouneso to go out on loan for a month, like Curtis Davies, until Heskey’s injury ruled that option out.
Gerard Houllier
I explained to him that it is not possible for us. I said if I could give him maybe one month’s loan like Curtis then I would have done that, but now it is not possible.He’s very young. You’ve got to be patient with the young, but I think he needs to be a man with muscle if you know what I mean. It is a mental thing. He doesn’t have to bulk up. He just needs to be a bit stronger to withstand the pressure of pushing and shoving and things like that.
He’s younger than Barry, Ciaran and Marc, but he trains with the pros every day. He’s not with the reserves, he’s with us and he’ll be travelling.
I wouldn’t go betting any large sums of money on Delfouneso starting at Craven Cottage, but either way, he needs an arm around his shoulder and his confidence boosted sharpish, we need him hungry to grab whatever opportunity he’s handed and prove his mettle.
UPDATE: It’s as confirmed as I believe it can be, Delfouneso will start against Fulham. This is exactly why I don’t gamble.
You might also like...
5 Comments to “Carew out with calf injury, but is Houllier likely to show faith in Delfouneso?”
Leave a Reply
“It’s as confirmed as I believe it can be, Delfouneso will start against Fulham.”
Good job too.
If GH had gone with Young up front on his own, I think I’d have been calling for his head.
At least we’ll get to see if Fonz has it or not. It really is make or break time for him.
With GH questioning his mental attitude, let’s hope he doesn’t find it too much to cope with.
An early goal from him would obviously work wonders.
i was just thinking that maybe the little striker-less experiment against burnley will help fonz tomorrow.
GH said he wanted to encourage playing to feet, which i’m not sure i buy entirely, but the fonz really isn’t at his best when the focal point of attack, so it may well be that anything learned and applied in that game will help fonz play to his strengths.
we’ll see. i’d love him to grab a goal or two, that would be just fabulous for his confidence.
My Italian team (AS Roma) won a record 11 consecutive games under Luciano Spalletti without a striker, with what ostensibly was a 4-6-0 formation and for the Villa, especially a Villa bereft of strikers I can see the benefit.
Hangeland would love to square up to a lone striker whereas a five man midefiled would leave him wondering where to play and what to do. If we do take to the field with no recognised strikers per se then Hangeland’ & co’s natural inclination (to defend’mano o mano) would/should encourage them to inch forward towards in a bid to engage with our offensive unit, non existant or not. In doing so, the potential is presented for us to exploit Fulham via the one thing we have plenty of…pace…courtesy of the space ‘in behind’ that’s manifest by Fulhams backline pressing forward to ‘engage’.
It’s an unorthodox approach, but born of such a left field tactic is that we cause confusion and consternation amongst Fulham’s defense while simultaneously agreeing with the away-team protocol of five men midfields but also answering Villa’s very own strength/weakness conundrum of ‘loads of pace’ yet ‘no recognised goal grabber’.
In a heartbeat I’d play 4-6-0 at Craven Cottage and use the pace Young & Fonz to spring what should be a higher than normal defensive line.
Whatever Houlier decides to do, let’s hope it shows a return, after we’re just 3-points north of the drop zone.
it was probably a year ago now, but i’ve been thinking for a while that fonz has a lot of potential to play a false nine type of role. i don’t know how coachable he is, but with the right technical tuition that could work for him and us.
Great! Obviously its wonderful If he scores (wonderful if anyone scores; haven’t seen that in league play in five weeks), but just his energy, and a different look, will be refreshing.