Aston Villa: What we learnt as the Transfer Window closed and Paul Lambert paid fine
Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert looks on before the Capital One Cup second round match vs. Rotherham at Villa Park on August 28, 2013 in Birmingham, England. (Getty Images)
It has been a rather dull week for everyone associated with Aston Villa football club. Just as we were beginning to get into the swing of a new Premier League season, the September international break cut in to ruin everyone’s fun.
This week saw the end of the summer transfer window and there was time for Villa fans to take stock, chill out and count down the days until the next Premier League game. Here’s what we learnt:
The truth hurts
Paul Lambert was punished for his remarks made in relation to Kevin Friend’s inept performance in the match against Chelsea on Friday. Previously, Anthony Taylor was dropped from the referee’s list after he made three big calls against Arsenal at the Emirates where Villa triumphed 3 – 1.
At Stamford Bridge, Friend made three big calls against Villa in favour of Chelsea and his performance was widely criticised by pundits on TV programmes such as Goals on Sunday. Friend was not dropped from the referee’s list, however, and Lambert was subsequently fined £8,000.
The message is clear. If you make a big call against one of the ‘big six’ teams then you are punished. If you make several big calls in favour of a ‘big six‘ team then you are not punished. Even Richard Scudamore once admitted that the big clubs stranglehold on the league is ‘good’ for selling TV deals in the Far East.
I’m pleased that the Premier League’s corporate interests are better served by the elite clubs maintaining their hegemony! Villa are in no mood to accept the status quo, however, as we saw against Arsenal, and Lambert had a message of his own: Aston Villa are a big club, who will not accept being ‘done‘ by referee’s.
Roy overlooks Gabby
Unsurprisingly, the England squad contained no Villa player again this time. Roy Hodgson shares Lambert’s fondness for wing forwards such as Theo Walcott and Danny Wellbeck, but Hodgson doesn’t share a mutual love for Gabby Agbonlahor.
Last year, fan favourite Gabby had his best season in a claret and blue shirt for years and he has started the 2013 / 2014 campaign in sparkling form. Gabby contributed nine goals and three assists in 2012 / 2013 season and the development in his all round game could be seen through an improved pass accuracy rate of 81%.
In previous seasons Gabby found his teammates less regularly with a 72% and 67% pass success rate, which would suggest that Gabby is now maturely nicely in his mid-twenties. If the England manager is indeed selecting players on form, you would think that Gabby’s effectiveness in the wing forward position would earn him a call up to the England squad.