Source: Telegraph
Aston Villa need to leave out Emile Heskey against Liverpool
He achieved this by maintaining a simple game plan and continuity in team selection. Yet just when the holy grail of Champions League football looked likely, recent results have now made it look only a remote possibility. And I believe his purchase of Emile Heskey has been a contributory factor.[LNB]Villa's forwards have been key to their success but their attacking strategy can be broken down into three periods over this campaign.[LNB] Related ArticlesNil-nil back in fashion[LNB]O'Neill: Villa can survive sticky period[LNB]Agbonlahor defiant despite crowd hostility[LNB]Aston Villa's Uefa Cup cold war in Moscow[LNB]Aston Villa's Martin O'Neill leaves key players out of Uefa Cup clash with CSKA Moscow[LNB]Aston Villa the key to Fabio Capello's England goal[LNB]At the start of the season their front line consisted of Ashley Young on the left, John Carew down the middle and Gabriel Agbonlahor playing slightly to the right, yet close enough to Carew to profit from the Norwegian's physical attributes. [LNB]These three had everything needed to unlock defences. Young delivered a constant stream of crosses, Carew had the size and power to win balls in the air and Agbonlahor's searing pace destroyed defences who played a high defensive line. [LNB]This formation also enabled O'Neill to play with three central midfield players, who invariably outnumbered and ultimately dominated their opponents.[LNB]Following an injury to Carew, O'Neill used Agbonalahor as the lone striker with James Milner and Young providing penetration in the wide areas. [LNB]With such pace up front, Aston Villa were able to retain a good defensive shape while continually posing a threat on the counter-attack; hence their impressive run of away results. It was during this period that they forced their way into the top four.[LNB]In the January transfer window Heskey was bought from Wigan to supplement Villa's attacking options. While I can understand the logic in O'Neill buying another target man, I cannot see why he chose Heskey.[LNB]Since leaving Liverpool, Heskey has continually flirted with relegation , first with Birmingham and then with Wigan. Whenever I watched him play all the attributes associated with him as a young player, mobility, aerial prowess and strength, seemed to have waned. [LNB]Despite this, due to a number of injuries within the England squad he resurrected his international career with some effective displays under Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello. However it should be remembered that apart from Croatia and possibly Russia, the defenders he played against were not of Premier League standard.[LNB]At Villa his contribution has been disappointing. He hasn't carried the same threat in the air as Carew had done earlier in the season, nor has he shown any athleticism to run behind defenders. [LNB]He has worked tremendously hard but he still falls over far too easily for someone of his stature and lacked any dynamism in his play.[LNB] He has never been a prolific goal-scorer but he has often compensated for this by creating opportunities for others. Yet Agbonlahor, the player who was supposed to benefit most from his arrival has struggled to gel with Heskey. So much so that Agbonalahor's substitution was greeted with ironic cheers against Spurs last week.[LNB]By playing with Young on the left, Milner on the right and Agbonlahor and Heskey in tandem recently, it has left Villa weaker in central midfield, thus reducing their ability to dominate games territorially.[LNB]Heskey does try to drop deeper to help his midfield players when the opposition have the ball but this just makes him less explosive when trying to get on the end of Young's brilliant wing play.[LNB]To recapture their form, and it has to start against Liverpool today, O'Neill must revert back to the system used earlier in the season, by starting with Carew, pushing Agbonalahor slightly wider and leaving Heskey out of the team. [LNB]
