As we’ve been asked to chime in with our own personal predictions for the drop, I thought now was as good a time as any to show my hand. With eight games left this season the league table is as tight as ever (it wouldn’t surprise me to see West Ham make a late push for the title!) So it’s rather hard to pick three teams, I’ll probably end up wrong, in fact, I pray I’m wrong with one of my choices (no particular order by the way)
Blackpool
There’s a slight bit of bias in this one I must admit; as a Villa fan I still can’t quite get over Mr. Holloways comments that we are a “half-arsed club who used to be famous” (the irony that he later spoke highly of Liverpool was not lost on me). All I have to say is, if you’re gonna put yourself on a pedestal, make it a damn sight more stable than Bloomfield Road; even Holloway's fragile frame could collapse the shaky foundations of that “half-arsed stadium”.
Ian Holloway in a rare moment of not talking complete shit.
Of course, I wouldn’t base my opinion that they’re due for the chop solely on comments by Monsieur Holloway, their brand of attacking football, which started as a revelation, has quickly lead to less and less points on the board. The result against Tottenham was impressive, until you realize that Tottenham had enough chances in those ninety minutes to win 38 games. There’s more than a whiff of Hull about the seasiders, and with the lack of that all-important home form then I can see them going one better (or worse, depending on how you look at it) than the Tigers’ debut season and sliding straight out of the “best league in the world” ©Every pretentious bastard who works for the Premier League.
Wigan
Ah, Wigan. The Lactics. The physical embodiment of mediocrity. Support that would make Bolton fans feel smug, and a narcissistic owner who probably cries into one of his overpriced football shirts every time he remembers the day he turned down Manchester United. In Wigan’s defence, they have a bright young manager in Martinez, and a good pool of players picked up by the current regime, as well as the ones left over from Steve Bruce’s time in charge. Unfortunately Wigan’s main problem would be their consistency, or lack of it to be accurate. It’s all well and good to get a draw against one of the big teams, but if you can’t follow it up with a win against your fellow strugglers then it can only end one way. That last point brings me nicely to my final pick for relegation.
Aston Villa
Yep, Villa. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, 2-2 draws with Manchester United and 3-3 draws against Chelsea are all well and good, but when you have teams like Sunderland doing the double over you, and a home loss against a home sick Wolves side, then there isn’t much in this league for you. Everything about our position defies belief, looking at the players we have, it’s hard to see why exactly we’re in this position.
Oh, that's why.
A team of England players (admittedly fringe players) that has been added to with goalscoring machine Darren Bent and the silky skills of Jean II Makoun should only be looking up, but this has not happened. I’m not going to get caught up in the current “Houllier out” campaign that a lot of Villa supporters are rooting of at the minute, with eight games left it’s far too late to risk such a change (Newcastle’s brief fling with Alan Shearer as manager springs to mind) and I truly believe, based on the signings we made in January, that Houllier, given a proper pre-season, will see us back to those glory days of 6th place and the odd Wembley appearance. The worrying thing about Villa is that we had one of the easiest run-ins of all the teams at the bottom, on paper we’d have been expected to beat Bolton and Wolves, as well as Blackburn, but it’s not happening. No matter how long we wait, Villa cannot gather any momentum, even West Ham have shown themselves capable of winning three or four games in a row, whereas we struggle to win two. I really hope I’m wrong, and I’ve picked Villa today in the hope that I’ve somehow jinxed it and some higher power will keep them up just so I’m wrong. But as it stands, with us unable to win the easiest games, and with our final two games being Liverpool, and a match with Arsenal that could potentially decide whether or not they end their wait for a Premier League trophy, it’s hard to see any other way but down for my beloved club.
I really hope I’m wrong; I’m not looking forward to having to sift through the football league show for Villa highlights. At least it’ll force me to broaden my admittedly poor knowledge of the Championship.
Not pictured: Dignity
-Aaron
No comments:
Post a Comment