Rickrolled Villa miss the Europa train, but full steam ahead for Dempsey and Howard
By James Curtis
It’s called “Rickrolling“. Described as an internet meme - a web term for a bait or a switch - Rickrolling happens when a person provides a web link claiming to be something, but the link actually takes the user to a video of Rick Astley’s 1987 smash hit, “Never Gonna Give You Up”. I have been “Rickrolled” before, and it was the same feeling last night when Aston Villa were dumped out of the Europa Cup.
It’s easy to get Rickrolled twice in succession, and the first one last night came when Martin O’Neill named his starting XI. Nigel Reo-Coker, Steve Sidwell and Gabriel Agbonlahor were all dropped to the bench after Villa’s win at Liverpool on Monday, and in came Emile Heskey, John Carew and Fabian Delph. Brad Guzan replaced Brad Friedel in goal.
The changes may not have been as drastic as last year when O’Neill was slammed for fielding a weakened side in Moscow. But consistency in results is built on momentum, and this can be achieved in football by finding a formation that works, together with a group of players who naturally gel to that arrangement.
Winning 2-1 on the night was not good enough though, bailing out 2-2 on aggregate and losing on the away-goal ruling. Villa were guilty of missing good chances, including a penalty taken by Ashely Young.
MON said: "We had a number of chances to go from 2-0 to 3-0 and that would have sealed the tie. I'm desperately disappointed."
MON also said he felt the team would need three goals before the game to be sure of qualification, but with a stronger side, Villa could have sealed this game by four or five. With the defensive depth of Reo-Coker and Sidwell, they might have kept a clean sheet on the night. Not conceding would have been Villa’s other path through.
Villa were guilty of setting their alarm to late, failing to get the vital away goal in Vienna, where this tie looks to have been settled, only now in hindsight. It is the heavy price of not starting the season sharply and because of this they have missed the Europa train.
Villa fans might also feel Rickrolled, purchasing their ticket on the night with a ‘buy one get one free’ policy; pay money for a Rapid Vienna ticket and get one free for a tie that now doesn’t exist.
The Villains entertain Fulham on Saturday knowing their opponents qualified for the Europa League through the same route. Fulham ended up nine points behind Villa last year.
Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey await to see who they will facing in the group stages after Everton and Fulham both saw out second leg ties against Sigma Olomouc and Amkar Perm respectively. The draw will be made later today.
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