This one is all about
having the ‘guts’!
The “post-Wembley” & “Tim Sherwood”
factors
Although - under the
stewardship of the former Spurs player and then Manager - Aston Villa’s league
record, at least, reads a not-overly impressive, W: 3, D: 1, L: 4...and they still-sit just 4
points above the ‘drop zone’ with three teams below them having a game in hand;
there’s no doubting whatsoever that Mr Sherwood has had a hugely-positive
affect on the men from the midlands.
Just ask the thousands of Wembley-bound
Aston Villa supporters and, in particular, a rejuvenated Christian Benteke…
Then there’s our
lot and our issues...and I find myself looking at our recent record and
wondering if we can repeat what we’ve failed to achieve since February; and
win back-to-back Premier League games. In
fact the only ‘back-to-back’ record we’ve managed recently is
defeats.
And then there’s
the, ‘how will Villa respond after
their dizzying F.A Cup semi final triumph’, factor? Often clubs
achieve – and can I be so bold as to suggest sometimes over achieve – in cup
competitions only to-then suffer a league hangover. And, of course, I’m hoping like hell that’s the case today!
I hope so…but I doubt it.
In Tim Sherwood you’ve got the kind of shirt-ripping,
chest-thumping motivator that even if they DID
have a wobbly first 45 minutes against us today you can guarantee that it won’t be
the same performance after the interval. And that’s what we have to be 'wary of'
and 'fight against' this evening (5:30pm KO BST).
We’ll need to show some real mental & physical steel
today if we are to get a much-needed (for very different reasons) 3 points
against this lot; a team that will come with a noisy following too. At the Etihad we
must not let them become what their nickname suggests.
v ‘The Villa’
4-1-3-2:
____________________Bony__________
______________Fernando____________
________________Hart_______________
Hart to face a revitalised Villa attack.
Also defending Benteke & Co. – and for the second week
running if my guess is correct – will be the same back 4 that kept a clean
sheet against West Ham.
In front of them, Fernando to carry on 'protecting' also.
Get that department right and we have a pretty-awesome
attacking quintet in midfield-3 David, Yaya & Jesus in-behind, I think, Sergio
and the injury-recovered Wilfried; who I’m sure our manager will have been working
with all week with the intent of finally & fully unleashing on Tim
Sherwood’s men. If he’s not quite 100%
then perhaps we’ll see Edin 'in there'...or perhaps we'll go 4-5-1’ish again.
Willy as keeper cover; Sagna & Boyata to provide
defensive back-up. Three midfielders that can offer both utility & goals; Dzeko as our only striking option from the bench.
Result? It’s an intake of breath and a bit of a cheek-blower
is this one…
You look at our back-4 against a
pumped-up Aston Villa forward line / attacking midfield and I, at least, have
some concerns. If Fernando has another good game that will certainly ease the
wobbles considerably.
Then, of course, they have to
worry about our attacking 5
and if those players are 'on song' then Villa should be very concerned about us.
But for me – as I’ve already more
than alluded to - it all boils down to attitude and fighting spirit. Get THAT
sorted and the player-class-advantage will take care of itself.
It might be a little scary this tea
time; we’ll either blow ‘em out of the water in the early stages and then, as
we’ve sometimes seen, sit back with the attitude of “job done” and, therefore,
see a Villa fight-back that will be difficult to contain...OR...Tim will have them so fired up that they’ll hit us hard ‘n’ fast when we’re
‘cold’ and will end up having to find the sort of comeback-fighting-spirit we’ve seen
little of this season.
I’m so close to putting this down
as a ‘points shared’
but I’m going for our lads to have a renewed sense of finishing the season on
as high-a-note as possible. It’s a City win.
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