TF90M's Tim Sansom discusses football away from last weekend’s big match.
The light is fading on this autumnal Sunday afternoon and one of my favourite James Bond movies is on the television. Most people would have expected me to be on the top of an uncomfortable bar stool, in front of a plasma television, watching what one newspaper has described as the ‘Battle at the Bridge.’ I had even been reading about how playing Chelsea meant so much to Patrice Evra, but it did not mean much to me.
Chelsea versus Manchester United is regarded as one of the set piece games of the season. During one moment of supreme arrogance, one work colleague (and Manchester United fan) wondered whether there was any other worthwhile game happening during the weekend. Although you could dismiss this comment as another example of a Premiership fan caring about nothing more than the top quartet of Premiership teams, this game was on the minds of many people across the UK and the world.
If the ‘fans’ of Chelsea and Manchester United were predictably unable to get their hands on a ticket for the top-of-the-table Premiership clash, it was probable that most pubs, whether these inns market themselves as sports bars or just has one TV in the snug. However, it is also probable that the game could have ended in a draw. I often wonder some fans will watch this game with the hope that ‘it all kicked off’ between Rooney, Drogba, Lampard, Nani and the rest of these highly paid stars. If the fans, who believed that the Chelsea versus Manchester United game was the only fixture happening over the weekend, had ‘lowered’ themselves to engage with any other game, they should have checked out the action at Villa Park. I was watching Aston Villa comprehensively destroyed a very one- dimensional Bolton Wanderers side.I often wonder whether some teams seem to know that I am coming to their stadium, and they decide at 3pm that the game will end in 0-0. This game was slightly different with the final score being 5-1 to Villa. Matches like this will lighten up everyone’s Saturday afternoon. It has been a while since I have left a game in raptures about a game, so it felt fantastic to join a returning 5:15pm train towards Birmingham City Centre within a full carriage of happy Villa fans.
There is a group of teams below the top four of the Premiership that are usually regarded in a particularly patronising way as desperate outfits who are trying to emulate their past glories. To a certain extent, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time to take advantage of the glory-hunting fans in England’s top football league. Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Villa and Manchester City have been generally playing in the slipstream of teams that have often been not that far away in a geographical sense.
Over the last couple of years, these four teams have started to encroach on the territory as well as the ego of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool. Great things are expected of Manchester City this season as a result of their million-pound finances, but it is Villa who are developing an exciting, dynamic and interesting side packed full of English talent, which could fill the World Cup squads of the coming decade. Whether it is because there is a charity that is advertised on the shirts rather than a faceless global financial organisation, or mobile telephone operative.
Whether it is because Villa Park is a stadium that demands top-quality football. Whether it is because Villa are financed by a multi millionaire who wants to keep out of public eye, Villa have many friends in English football (apart from in the blue side of Birmingham, The Hawthorns and Molineux.)
Martin O’Neil seems to have the essential ability to be human, humble without feeling the need to shoot from the hip at the media if Villa fail to meet his high expectations. He seems to have some faith in English talent playing an attractive passing game using wingers. Throughout the encounter against Bolton (apart from the last ten minutes before half time when Villa seemed to have lost their concentration) the home side played across the park. James Milner was especially impressive. It would be outrageous if Milner did not play a key role for England during next week’s desert showdown against Brazil.
Ashley Young has an endeavour that marks himself as one of England’s top wingers. You sensed that Bolton defence froze as another Villa attack powered forward with Young, Milner, Agbonlahor and Carew stationed across the pitch. There were five different scorers of the five goals showing a willingness of the team to share the responsibility to score. This team did not rest on a 1-0 lead. The energy was obvious for everyone to see. It is no surprise that the crowd were chanting “We want six” as a final attack bore down on the helpless Jussi Jaaskelainen.
If I was a Bolton fan, I would be very worried for my team. The Trotters did not offer much during the game, apart from the odd tackle and various arm gestures towards the referee. Gary Megson looked like a condemned man during most of the second half. It is not that surprising that he offered little sympathy for his team after this comprehensive thrashing.
This was a great game in a great atmosphere. Villa Park lends itself to matches like this, and I was pleased to enjoy a slice of the action. Having finished this article whilst hearing the ten-second news blurb that Chelsea beat Manchester United by a goal to nil, it was pretty obvious that there was some great football action taking place across the UK last weekend, away from Stamford Bridge.
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