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It’s good news from the coronary ward of the Queen Elizabeth hospital: Gerard Houllier will not require any surgery, just rest and medication. It’s unlikely that we’ll see him in the dugout again this season though, so Gary McAllister will fill in as expected.
So, whether you wanted it or not, we will have a fourth person calling the shots from the sidelines this season. Fortunately, we’re more or less out of the woods and McAllister will just be supervising Houllier’s plans, not trying to rescue a desperate situation.
It’s entirely possible that the whole club; management, coaches, players, and fans will be further galvanised by the latest turn of events. Just as things were looking up, it’s one more challenge, but what does not kill us will only make us stronger. (No pun intended).
When we look back on this season, there will be plenty of lessons which, if drawn on, can only benefit us next season. But we’re not quite ready to look so far down the road just yet; one game at a time. So, next one; Stoke.
Stoke
Three points against Stoke tomorrow and relegation will be practically impossible. Under the circumstances, if those points are won, it would be fitting to dedicate them to the man who has carried himself with dignity and determination through some extremely challenging circumstances.
When you consider all the trials and tribulations of this season, you might be surprised to learn that we’re actually a point better off than we were at this same stage in 2006/07; Martin O’Neill’s season. The bar of expectation was rightly much higher this season than back then, sure, but it still provides some interesting perspective nevertheless.
Lessons from the Britannia
If you cast your mind back to September of last year, you might recall that we lost at the Britannia Stadium thanks to Robert Huth pouncing on a loose ball from an injury time set piece. It was what would become a familiar case of three points dropped in the last ten minutes, but much was made of Tony Pulis appearing on the sideline for the second half after his mother had sadly passed away earlier that day.
Everyone handles grief in different ways, there is no rule book and I pass no judgement here, but I’m not sure Pulis’ behaviour, as inspiring as it may have been, is the benchmark for what is decent or “normal”.
The reason why I bring that up is that Pulis’ appearance prompted some online vitriol aimed at Houllier who was seeing out prior commitments in France (an awards dinner that night I think) and was yet to join up with his new employer. Here was Pulis, mother recently deceased, carrying on as normal while Houllier, presumably bow-tied and drinking Martinis, was still in France. How outrageous!
I saw it differently. Pulis’ actions were a bit weird – as I say, no judgement, grief can do that – Houllier was showing some honour and loyalty to the employers he was leaving (at shorter than required notice) to join us. These are qualities we’re all quick to claim are absent in the game today.
Aerial battle
Anyway, aside from noting the criticism Houllier was attracting before he’d even stepped foot into Villa Park, what he should have learned from watching the tape of the game is that Stoke dominated the aerial game and ultimately bullied their way to a win.
Throw-ins-a-go-go
In short; we could have done with Emile Heskey and I’d like to see him start again tomorrow, despite Gabby getting the injury time winner against West Ham last time out. Actually, for that matter, why change anything from Upton Park? Same again I say, but hopefully with an opportunity to introduce some fresh legs a little earlier.
As for Stoke, I believe that John Carew is allowed to play against his parent club, so I wouldn’t rule out seeing him in front of the Holte End one last time, but I’m not sure he’ll start if he is included. Pulis is much more likely to stick with the Jones/Walters partnership that were part of the FA Cup destruction of Bolton last Sunday.
Other than that, I think we all know what to expect from Stoke. The ball will be in the air a lot, all set pieces will be dangerous, there will be long throw-ins, they have the ability to take advantage of any lapse in concentration, right into injury time.
It won’t be pretty very much, but hopefully a charged up Villa Park will provide the cauldron for the home side to grab all three points.
Three points for Gerard.
UTV
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10 Comments to “Five to go: Stoke next, three points for Gerard”
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here’s an interesting little nugget: carew is eligible to play because villa is *not* his parent club any longer. mat kendrick says his contract had been cancelled:
http://twitter.com/MatKendrick/status/61550102128500736
which makes sense really. he’s out of contract at end of season & not named in our 25 man premier league squad, he wasn’t coming back anyway.
in other twist, villa are apparently saying he’s not eligible.
http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-news/2011/04/23/aston-villa-fierce-row-erupts-between-stoke-and-villa-after-tony-pulis-threatens-to-play-john-carew-at-villa-park-97319-28570983/
who knows? whatever.
typical anti stoke mob again long ball tactics ball in the air…….. blah blah blah!
Do you morons not know we play with two out and out wingers that tear teams apart before getting a quality ball into the middle did you not see 4 out of 5 goals 20yards plus scored at wembley!
Today we go another step closer to losing this stupid tag of long ball when we stitch you lot up again!!! If my memory serves me right when was the last time you beat Stoke not for a very long time.
Who’s the bigger club now, for all your millions you still manage to screw it up and let one of the most talented managers to leave Anway Stoke 2 nil up by half time and game over, enjoy!
stoke rank 20th for number of passes in the premier league. 20th for number of passes per shot. 20th for number of passes per goal.
in fact, stoke have managed to complete just 83% of the number of passes as the next team above them; blackburn. and only 58% of the number of passes aston villa have strung together this season.
and arsene wenger called *us* a long ball team! heh!
someone will need to explain in simple terms how stoke manage to rank 17th on shots and shots on target with so few passes without hoofing it a fair amount.
“direct”, “efficient”, call it what you want. stoke have a gang of big men up front, wingers (as you say) and play a physical, uncompromising game with the ball in the air a lot.
they’ve also become a caricature of themselves with their over-reliance on a player with a freakishly long throw. nothing wrong with that, but it’s a bit weird.
look, sorry, it’s not anti-stoke, just my opinion based on the games i’ve seen and the data. if you’d like to show me some contradictory evidence, be my guest.
or you can just throw personal insults around and whine about an imagined vendetta towards a team and city i could give two shits about.
either way, i’m not really interested in “my club’s bigger than your club” nonsense.
Ian
Long throw. Goal.
kinda ironic, isn’t it?
maybe samba stoke will get a two goal lead by the half, as promised, next year.
assuming they’re around for what will be their fourth straight season in the top flight. exciting!!
When was the last time you beat Stoke and what was it about the stats oh yes the leakiest defence other than Blackpool – your in in good company there!!!
Tell me when was the last time you won at wembley?????? played 4 won 4 soon to be 5 when Man City are put to the wing play sword!!!
Are you in Europe next season course not you will finish a mighty mid table still looking over your shoulder and out of all cup comps again early.
Enjoy tuning in to chl 4 and 5 to watch the mighty City on their European tour next season, as I said no longer a big club villa, sad really…………………
four matches ago. it’s true, stoke are something of a bogey team for us lately.
in the past six meeting in the top flight, stoke have won two, villa won one and the other three were draws.
i’d go back further, but that’s all we have i’m afraid. i’d have to go back to when villa were down in the old 2nd division in ’87/88 – no, we didn’t beat stoke that season either.
unfortunately, we didn’t get chance for a rematch the following season… you know, because we were promoted back to the top flight while you languished around in the lower leagues.
other than that, i’d have to go all the way back to 1985 to find some meetings between us. ah, the good old days, remember that? oh, no, probably before you were born.
basically, stoke *literally* haven’t been in our league very much in the last three decades.
but hey, enjoy wembley and europe next season if you get it. i look forward to seeing samba stoke take their sexy brand of football to half empty stadiums in bulgaria.
oh, and on the serious note… cheers, nice touch.
Still shite at defending them you’ve had 3 years to practise and you still can’t but there agaion that has been your problem all season leakiest defence in the league other than blackpool, the mighty blackpool.
On a serious note this is all good banter but I hope Gerald Houlier is well enough to continue as no one wants to see anybody ill and forced to give up through illness……… best wishes go to him and a speedy recovery.
After all we need him at your helm as it will be another season of mid table / regegation struggles for you lot if he stays in charge, past his managerial best I’m afraid……
I guess your European Tour will have repercussions for the footballing superpowers. I expect to see Barca, Madrid and others employing the long throw, full body charge and hoof ‘n’ rush strategies and abandoning their data pass and move mentality.
‘Stoke(al) Football’ – it’s the future.