To say Wolves were unlucky to walk away from Villa Park yesterday would be an understatement.
Martin O’Neill may refuse to comment on John Carew’s first goal stating that some decisions made by the referees have gone against us, but I will admit that the goal was offside and we was outplayed by a side fighting to stay in the League.
It’s very rarely I criticize any of our players or the management but yesterdays result and the way we performed changed my views on a few things.
If Martin doesn’t believe in Nathan Delfouneso then he should have brought in another striker in January. When you are behind and are trying to come back in Emile Heskey, regardless of your opinions on the player – isn’t the kind of forward you want on the pitch.
Not because of the lack of goals he scores, but because of how deep he plays, we needed a fast striker who was going to play on the last man, and both Carew and Heskey don’t do this.
Villa took the lead just after the 15 minute mark when Carew converted an Ashley Young cross, which shouldn’t have counted due to offside.
However, it wasn’t long before the away side hit back. David Jones played the ball into the Villa area, and although Ronald Zubar completely miss-kicked the ball, Jody Craddock made no mistake in putting it past Brad Friedel in the Villa goal.
And Wolves soon doubled there tally. Again David Jones broke into the Villa area, this time releasing to the overlapping Matt Jarvis, and he attacked the ball, only for James Milner to make a last ditch tackle, but the ball went into the Villa net.
The second half it was all Villa, and Martin O’Neill even withdrew Richard Dunne so Villa could go 5 in midfield to match Wolves, and Steve Sidwell also replaced a very below par Stewart Downing.
And then with 8 minutes left to play, Villa finally equalised from Carew. Heskey’s flick found substitute Sidwell, who shot towards goal, and Carew pounced to equalise for Villa.
Villa could of also found themselves going on to win the game when Craddock clearly pushed Milner in the box in extra time, but the referee dubbed Phil Dowd in disguise by the Villa faithful said no.
I fear that this result might have just closed the door on the top four for Villa. If you can’t beat a side like Wolves at home, then you don’t deserve to be in the top four.
Sunderland are next up on Wednesday night at Villa Park and Villa will need all three points if they want any chance of that Champions League spot. A win on Wednesday night will see Villa beat the Mackams three times this season.
