Villa Need to Make Gandalf Their Next Signing


VILLA NEED TO MAKE GANDALF THEIR NEXT SIGNING

If it’s officially silly season in the national press, then excuse me for joining in the torturous fun. With a week to go before the Premier League marathon gives hoof, most teams should be coming nicely to the boil in terms of both recruitment and fitness. Aston Villa, unbeaten in pre-season before the loss to Nottingham Forest, have been concentrating hard on both fronts. The outgoings have been minimal, while Paul Lambert has bought in Ron Vlaar, Karim El-Ahmadi and Matthew Lowton as well as benefiting from Alex McLeish’s final punt in the transfer market, Bret Holman.

After a useful US tour, largely played in scorching heat, it was ironic that Villa looked undercooked against Forest. The technical ability is there, and in the first half they attempted more passes than a divorcee at the local discotheque, but come the change of ends it became apparent Forest were less leggy, had more ideas and found themselves in more space.

Because of this, Lambert needs to find the kind of ‘They shall not pass’ player that makes the top sides so effective. Other successful clubs have their own versions of a brick wall – De Jong at Manchester City springs to mind – who may not have the pace of their teammates, but they bite and hassle and break up play, meaning the whole team has to chase less. At times last Saturday, Villa replicated the cluelessness of the McLeish era and it wasn’t pleasant viewing after all the optimism of the Lambert unveiling.

Certain Villa fans may claim that we had a version already – Stiliyan Petrov – who has been cruelly laid out of action. But we can’t let sentimentality blind us to the shortcomings of his play. Whole-hearted he is; the answer he isn’t. Petrov will run and run, but he could easily lose the initiative to a slicker opponent and visibly tired after seventy or so minutes in every game.

It’s possible there is a player already in the Villa ranks that could be converted into the ‘enforcer’ role but nobody leaps out as an option. Fellow fans trumpet Chris Herd, but the jury’s not just out, it’s holed up in a hotel round the corner. It’s a thankless task, putting yourself in harm’s way, but Villa need a Terminator, a gallant Gandalf, who stands up to fluid danger and says ‘not today, sunshine.’

Chris Stanley

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