Aston Villa have earned the favour of the neutrals

Aston Villa is a big club. They have won the first division seven times (albeit only once since the First World War), won the FA Cup seven times, five League Cups and are one of only five English teams to have won the European Cup, in 1982. Villa Park holds over 42,000 and was once a venue for FA Cup semi finals, and the club has competed in the Premiership every season since the league began.

The club struggles to compete with the flash teams from London nor the giants from Merseyside and Manchester and under Martin O’Neill the Villains hit a glass ceiling, battling for a top four spot only to slide in the second half of the season to finish sixth three times in a row. That frustration that the club could not or would not spend and push higher led to O’Neill’s departure, and after an indifferent season with Gerard Houllier there was the walking disaster that is Alex McLeish. With a high wage bill and dwindling success, owner Randy Lerner looked to reign in the spending, and the appointment of Paul Lambert was with the understanding that budgets would be trimmed.

Fortunately for Villa, they have a wonderful habit of bringing through youth products. Not all of them go on to the highest level – Gaby Agbonlahor has failed to find the consistency to become a top Premier League striker, Craig Gardner is at struggling Sunderland, Luke Moore is often on the bench for Swansea while the likes of Barry Bannan and Marc Albrighton have seen their stars fade a little – but there is a constant conveyor belt of talent coming through that. Lambert likes to give young British players a chance, as demonstrated by his spell at Norwich where Grant Holt, Wes Hoolahan, Elliot Bennett, Bradley Johnson and John Ruddy are amongst the players who have made the step up from the Championship and lower. At Villa it is the same.

Nathan Baker, Andreas Weimann, and Ciaran Clark have come through the academy to become first team regulars this season, while Gary Gardener would surely have made a mark if injury had not ruined his season. Lambert has also signed players from the Football League (Ashley Westwood from Crewe, Matt Lowton from Sheffield United, Joe Bennett from Middlesbrough, Jordan Bowery from Chesterfield) and given more prominence to battling Englishman Fabian Delph. At a time when Roy Hodgson is lamenting the lack of English players playing in the Premiership, Lambert is giving that talent a chance, showing no fear when it comes to transfers, allying big money transfers like hattrick hero Christian Benteke and Ron Vlaar with home grown and ‘lower league’ players.

This season has not been without its setbacks, and the loss of Stiliyan Petrov to illness was a massive blow. His experience and leadership have been missed and this was exacerbated when Dutch international Vlaar was injured in the first half of the campaign. Villa and Lambert fought through the tough times and have come out the other side, and Monday night’s 6-1 win over Sunderland was clearly their most impressive result and performance of the year. The attacking play finally appears to have come together, although the defence still looks liable to concede there is at least hope for the future.

The January signing of Yacouba Sylla underwhelmed many observers, at 22 the defensive midfielder did not appear to be what Villa needed by Lambert knew better. Lowton has improved as the season has worn on, while Benteke has been one of the Premiership stand out players and Villa will do well to hold on to him in the summer. If the Congo-born Belgian international does leave, Villa will be making a very hefty profit.

After the win over Sunderland, Villa look in a good shape to stay up this season. If Lambert can work his magic again in the transfer window, offloading a few of the higher wage earners like Shay Given, Richard Dunne, Darren Bent and Stephen Ireland, and bring through even more young British talent, the long term future of Aston Villa looks very exciting. While they will never be able to compete on the same level as Manchester United, City or Chelsea, they have at least identified a plan to return the club to its former glories. A financially honest plan that relies on British talent? That is something we can all admire.

Reading ready for the Championship but QPR are the Premiership team

It was fitting that Reading and QPR played out a pretty dire 0-0 draw that confirmed both teams’ relegation from the Premiership. Reading never really looked capable of surviving, and the sacking of Brian McDermott in March was senseless. QPR had a squad assembled by a ten-year-old playing Football Manager, and the malaise that set in under Mark Hughes continued under Harry Redknapp.

For both clubs, missing out on the increased broadcast deal that kicks in next season (bottom will get as much in 2014 as City did for winning the league in 2012) is a blow to their short and medium term futures, but Reading and QPR have their own issues to overcome. Somewhat strangely, Reading look better prepared for the Championship but Queens Park Rangers are nearer the level required to be a Premiership club.

Firstly, let’s look at Reading. The squad has championship written all over it, with only Pavel Pogrebnyak having a CV that looks anything like top flight. Even then, the big Russian showed how unpredictable he could be when on loan at Fulham – he scored five goals in his first three appearances, but 1 in the next 9 – and the fact he chose the Championship champions over an established Premier League side hinted that professional ambition was less a driving force than the pay package he would receive.

The only other player who has been linked with a stay in the Premiership next season is goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, primarily off the back of his stellar display in shutting out Liverpool a couple of weeks ago. No one else has made an impression, even January player of the month Adam Le Fondre, whose goal scoring exploits started and finished over the New Year period.

The side is largely the same one that went on a storming run in the first half of 2012 to march to the Championship title. Added to this have been Gareth McLeary, Danny Guthrie, Steven Kelly and Adrian Mariappa, good second tier players or ones Premier League teams no longer wanted. With Nigel Adkins at the helm, it would be no surprise to see the Royals competing for promotion next season, and the club is run in a way that means they will have made the most of their season in the top flight, but should they get promoted again the starting XI and first team squad needs major investment to compete in the Premiership.

QPR, on the other hand, are laden full of so called ‘quality players’, but their performances on the pitch have beggared belief. There are Champions League winners in Julio Cesar, Jose Bosingwa, Park Ji-Sung; internationals like Rob Green, Loic Remy, Adel Taarabt, Stephane M’Bia, Esteban Granero, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Jermaine Jenas, Bobby Zamora; and Premier League players like Chris Samba, Junior Holiett, Adam Johnson, Nedum Onuoha and many, many others. For both Mark Hughes and Harry Redknapp to fail to find a team amongst that lot speaks badly of both the managers and the players.

QPR are a small club compared to the rest of the league, but they have a massive wage bill and have splashed out lavishly under Tony Fernandes. Loftus Road only holds around 18,000 but the club does have the allure of being in London, and plans are afoot to have a much larger stadium. However, in the short term they have to deal with that wage bill that is already excessive compared to their revenue in the Premier League, never mind the Championship.

Does Fernandes fund the club for another year and hope to bounce back up first time round? Do they try to cut the fat from the squad, or restart completely? Will Redknapp stick around? The club has far more resources on its playing squad than Reading, so if the Hoops decide to sell they can, hypothetically, generate more revenue but with so many players on such big contracts buyers might be hard to find, and Rangers may end up paying a large proportion of the players’ wages even after they have moved on, a bit like Leeds had to.

It is clear the squad is unbalanced and needs a spring clean – that would be the situation even if QPR stayed up – and if Redknapp sticks around he will show his ruthless side and get rid of the players he does not fancy (all of them?). As the ex-Spurs boss said, if the players think they are too good for the championship or think they will sail to promotion then why did they get relegated in the first place?

However, Redknapp is a proven Premier League manager, QPR do have a history of playing in the top league, and if they can get back into the Premiership, even after a lot of buying and selling, you would fancy them to stay up rather than Reading. The base level of the playing squad is, theoretically, much higher than Reading’s, the owner looks more willing to invest and pay high wages, and there is the lure of London (although I appreciate Reading is not far from London, it is still a factor).

Apart from the big shortfall financially, the other problem is whether whoever is left at QPR come August is ready for the unique challenge of the Championship. As this season has shown, anyone can beat anyone. The Championship is probably the most competitive league on the planet and if a team can get on a run they can suddenly surge right up the table, as Reading can testify. Will QPR’s foreign contingent be ready for the physical battles, the intense atmosphere at away grounds, the sheer number of matches? Only time will tell.

Plenty of sides have fallen out of the Premier League and struggled in the Championship despite appearing to have a higher quality team (Wolves and to a lesser extent Blackburn are prime examples this season) but with a summer window to shop Redknapp would be fancied to right the wrongs of the last twelve to eighteen months and get a team that can get out of the Championship and be ready to stay in the Premiership. Reading are a stable side and know what the second tier is all about, but as this season showed they are a long way from being a Premier League team.

Bale double award shows PFA need a rethink

Gareth Bale won the PFA Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year award on Sunday night. Congratulations to the young Welshman who has continued his progress from wing wonder to all out star. No doubt fans of Robin van Persie, Luis Suarez et al will be up in arms that Bale has won, but it is the candidates on the Young Player short-list who should be angered.

It is such a waste to have Bale win both categories. If he is player of the year, he is de facto young player of the year, de facto Welsh player of the year, de facto left footed, side parting and silly celebration player of the year (although Daniel Sturridge pushes him awfully close in the latter category).

You would think the PFA would rather have separate winners as well – Bale wins two more awards isn’t as interesting as Bale is Player of the Year and, let’s say, Benteke is young player of the year. Twice the players, twice the clubs, twice the coverage. The actual number of votes are never revealed anyone so it is not like anyone will care if Bale was technically the Young player winner as well, he’s picked up the big prize and it actually seems bizarre that the Player of the Year winner wouldn’t also win the Young Player award too if eligible – if Benteke was a better candidate for the Young Player award, he would be a better candidate for the full award too, no? It would hardly go against the law of man if the PFA said if you win the full award, you cannot win the junior category as well.

The current set-up is weird. You can argue that these awards are largely meaningless anyway, but if we are to indulge the PFA then they might as well give us the maximum payback.

Tottenham should drop Parker to finish in Top 4

England international does not fit into current Spurs side

After the comeback win over Manchester City reignited Tottenham’s Top Four challenge, there was the inevitable stumble as Spurs were held 2-2 at the DW stadium against Wigan. Despite taking an early, fortuitous lead, Andre Villas-Boas and his men needed a late own goal to seal a share of the points. Fluidity is still lacking in Tottenham’s play, and the lilywhites continue to concede goals.

While the spotlight searches across the side for the cause of Tottenham’s problems, one thing has become clear – this Tottenham side look better when Scott Parker is not on the field. That’s not to pour blame onto the former Player of the Year’s shoulders, for he has done little wrong, but he simply is not suited to how Spurs want to set up at the moment.

Dropping yet more points against teams well down the table could cost Spurs once more, and with games at Stoke and at home to Southampton and Sunderland to come, there is a worry that Tottenham will lose out to London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal for the Champions League places. Spurs had a lot of shots on Saturday, but they still lacked enough goals and it is now nine games since they kept a clean sheet. Stretching back further, Spurs have just two clean sheets in the Premier League in 2013.

It is no surprise this lack of clean sheets coincides with the injury to Brazilian Sandro in early January. Scott Parker has started twenty games this season in all competitions this season in Sandro’s absence, yet has been subbed nine times (45%), and in seven of those nine Tottenham were on the verge of defeat (including on away goals to Lyon in the Europa League). Still to score for Spurs, and hardly high up the assist table, if Parker is not offering defensive solidity then his worth to the team begins to be questioned.

Parker was integral to Spurs under Harry Redknapp, becoming an England starter as well, so what has changed? The loss of Luka Modric and to a lesser extent Rafa van der Vaart has put a greater emphasis on Parker’s playmaking ability, which is not his strong point. Moussa Dembele has impressed since his move from Fulham but is not a classic passer like Modric, and it is to Tottenham fans’ frustrations that Parker is often found bursting forward while his more talented midfield partner covers.

This brings us to Parker’s diminishing defensive value to Spurs. Villas-Boas likes his teams to press high up the pitch, which should play to Parker’s strengths, but the Achilles injury that put him out for the first six months of the season has taken a little energy from his play, while the ex-West Ham and Chelsea player will turn 33 in October and his age is starting to show.

Also, with Gareth Bale’s deployment in the centre and Aaron Lennon’s recent absence, Spurs have continued the evolution away from the 4-4-1-1 system that Redknapp preferred to a 4-3-3 shape. That allows AVB to play a designated holding midfielder but Parker’s positional discipline is terrible and he often vacates his central berth at the drop of a hat, leaving the defence woefully exposed.

Villas-Boas looked to address that on Saturday by playing Tom Huddlestone as the deep playmaker, but given Parker's lack of attacking skill one wonders why Lewis Holtby, who is equally energetic but a far more effective attacking threat, did not start as well.

Tottenham have evolved, and Scott Parker is getting left behind. Sandro has usurped him as Tottenham’s leading defensive midfielder, and the Brazilian’s style and tactical play is far more suited to playing alongside Dembele, who needs to pick up his position off his midfield partner when Spurs defend.

Parker is not offering one thing nor another, and although there are no direct rivals currently available there are better alternatives available. Tottenham are struggling to keep clean sheets, so they might as well focus on trying to outscore the opposition.