IT WAS near the end of July and Martin O’Neill was sat in a hotel in Marbella, talking with a small group of journalists about the season ahead, when news filtered through that Manchester City had just made Kolo Toure their sixth signing of the summer.
“You think you got quite close last season and suddenly another club has just stepped over you immediately before you can go on,” said the Aston Villa manager. “It kind of punctures you.”
O’Neill looked forlorn. Villa’s only new recruit at that point was Stewart Downing, who had arrived at the club on crutches, their most influential player, Gareth Barry, had joined the Eastlands revolution and there was no sign of a replacement for the retired Martin Laursen. Tottenham Hotspur, meanwhile, had just signed Peter Crouch and City’s summer spending was nudging closer to the €111 million mark. Villa, it seemed, would be struggling to make the top six, never mind the top four.
At least that was the theory. Five months later and Villa sit proudly in fourth position in the table, only two points behind second-placed Manchester United and six ahead of Manchester City, the club O’Neill said “we can’t compete with” in the summer. A trip to the Emirates Stadium is up next and if Villa can defeat Arsene Wenger’s side on Sunday they will become the first team to beat every member of the so-called Big Four in a season since Leeds United did likewise in 1994-95.
The big question, though, is whether Villa can sustain a challenge for fourth spot when the pressure is being cranked up during the final few months of the campaign. “There’s no reason to think they can’t,” said Brian Little, who was the last Villa manager to lead the Midlands club to a top-four finish, in 1995-96, when they also won the League Cup. “I just think that somehow this season they do look that little bit better.
“I think the result at Manchester United a couple of weeks back (when Villa won 1-0 to record their first league victory at Old Trafford in 26 years) was one of those results that gives everyone a lift and people think, ‘Hang on, it can be done’,” continued Little.
O’Neill needed no telling he had defensive shortcomings to address and that Laursen’s absence had been a crucial factor in Villa’s decline during the final three months of last season. James Collins and Richard Dunne were brought in for a combined €11 million and have been a key part of the most parsimonious defence in the league. City, meanwhile, spent four times as much on Joleon Lescott and Toure and have conceded more goals than bottom-of-the-table Portsmouth.
With Stephen Warnock also proving a shrewd acquisition and Carlos Cuellar much improved from last season, Villa’s backline is unrecognisable from the one that conceded 17 goals in six matches when Arsenal overhauled them. Competition for places in defence is so fierce Collins has been unable to get back into the side since recovering from a groin strain.
It is a similar story in midfield, with Nigel Reo-Coker, Steve Sidwell and Fabian Delph all on the bench, and up front, where O’Neill has been able to pick from Emile Heskey and John Carew to partner Gabriel Agbonlahor. The contrast with last season is stark. “The wheels came off last year and it was never the same after that Stoke match (when Villa allowed a two-goal lead to slip at home) but I think they’re much better equipped this year,” said Ron Atkinson, who led Villa to second place in 1993.
Liverpool visit Villa Park on Tuesday in the second of two pivotal matches for O’Neill’s side. It is a demanding schedule.
“If they can come out of both games with wins you never know where they might be,” added Atkinson.
