Written by: Zidave

It has to be easy for anyone not wearing the claret and blue that is of Aston Villa to declare the team completely undeserving of 3 points on Tuesday.  Even for myself amidst the frantic cheering I have become almost accustomed to around the 90th minute to feel at the time we did not. I even caught myself swearing our side's chances off from a draw or maybe it was feeling like my feet were touching ground once more. Despite all of the indications that we did not deserve the win maybe we do?

Let me first be clear, this is not an excuse for the way Villa played offensively, but more of a (hold your breath) analysis of why we may have actually have the right to the three points. I believe there is a correlation when you look at the top sides.  They not only have a winning mentality in that they never give up, but they have key players who can change a game from nothing and I think that without a doubt all of them experience their own bit of luck each season. 

I don't want to sound arrogant, because it can be very easy to do so why your team wins and I will admit we are sure as hell a long ways from being a Manchester United; seasons and massive amounts of spending.  However they are who I am comparing this result to.  Take for example Manchester United's win versus Sunderland who put out a full 80+ minutes of solid defending.  Compare that to a Hull side who defending Villa very well.  Even their forwards pressured Villa while their defenders sat back.  Many times they had 11 men behind the ball, but they have the right to do that and it was very effective.  Yet in the dying minutes of the game a flash moment of brilliance from Ashley Young turning his man to whip in another classy cross that results in a goal.  Villa win 1-0 in thanks to a player who can change a game in the blink of an eye and a little bit of luck, just as Manchester United have.

To say it's a win without problems is naive of a team wanting to move into Champions League. And with the transfer window being the most highly discussed subject as of yesterday I want to look at what we need to fix.  If we had one major problem our midfield was the problem.  We hardly had anyone looking to get on the ball.  And I think we all could see this frustration in Petrov who had to take defending and attacking into his own hands on more than one occasion.  Either way our midfield needs to be a little more dynamic and willing to string together a few passes together to build up a chance in the center of the field.  As we've seen on Tuesday when the opposition is sitting back and not allowing us to break forward we are in need of finding ways to work around it. Antanio Valencia anyone? The fact that he is still sitting in a Wigan team, versus a Real Madrid team is pure grace and is a great opportunity to purchase who in my mind is a world class right winger.

But did we have anyone in front who could get the ball? Hull defended Agbonlahor superbly. This is why I am so adamant about the purchase of another center forward and not a midget like Defoe.  Would Defoe have changed anything in this game for us?  Not with the Hull's center backs putting so much pressure on our forward.  What about someone like Roque Santa Cruz?  His strength and his height would have won us a few balls and his silky layoff passes would have gotten us more into the game.  If Man City go in for him I'm afraid he's not worth our time and I am certainly not a big fan, but I can very easily see Martin O'neill moving for Crouch, mostly because no one else wants his beanstalk legs!

Thank you for reading!