Time for Villa to play Ashley Young as a striker

Ashley Young's realising his potential as a senior player. His first international goal in Denmark and a burgeoning partnership with Darren Bent (for both Villa and England), point to a man rejuvenated and focused on his game.

After two wilderness years at Villa Park, frustrated by Martin O'Neill's complicated tactics and often played out of position, Young's being allowed to express himself, behind the front man as a striker.

Anyone who watched Villa in the last months of O'Neill's tenure would've seen a patient, but frustrated Ash forced to swap wings mid-game. The Irishman gesticulated and jumped around on the touchline kicking every ball, disrupting Ash's flow.

Now Young, who only played as a striker at Watford before winging it at Villa says, “I’m really enjoying playing in the middle. Playing just behind that main striker you can get yourself in the box more and have more shots.

“I did that and I got the rewards, scoring my first goal for England. I would be delighted to play there. As a kid I was a striker. Ian Wright was my idol. He was a proper striker.
 

WONDERFUL COPENHAGEN! Ash's quickfire finish for a 1st international goal in Denmark

‘‘I’ve loved every minute of playing in the hole. It gives me more freedom to go and get the ball and to join in more. Hopefully, I will continue to keep playing there.” Ash's migration from striker to wing is the pole opposite to the progression that took Thierry Henry from unrealised talent to world beater at Arsenal.



And Gerard Houllier should take a leaf out of his mate Arsene Wenger's book and unlock the potential in Young. The boy's a born striker.

And if Villa's latest boss did that, he'd unlock more than just Young's ability on the field.

I was fortunate enough to spend time with the Villa squad in Spain during the club's victorious Peace Cup campaign in 2009. I was struck by Young's infectious personality. When he loves his football, he's a really positive force around the squad.

A new manager at Villa, the arrival of Darren Bent at both club and international level, and a renewed opportunity to play high-profile games in the forward position he knows and loves.

Everything has come together to produce the perfect storm for Ash. Let's hope Houllier completes the circle by playing him "in the hole".

Houllier's getting to grips at Villa

Another draw maybe, but the enforced substitution of Nigel Reo-Coker sparked something very exciting in the Villa performance, writes Villa fan and talkSPORT's Jonny Gould.

Putting aside the wretched disappointment of conceding a goal which denied Villa a deserved victory in the 1-all draw at Fulham, this was a very significant day in the Gerard Houllier regime.

Albrighton's strike should've been the winner at Fulham.

Because now the team's looking like his. The Martin O'Neill era is consigned to history. And that moment came at the exact point when we lost skipper Nigel Reo-Coker to injury.

On in his place came Ciaran Clark. Forced to push up to midfield from his customary defensive position (as he did against Blues), Clark found his feet immediately - and produced a consummate display.

But it's not just about a fine young talent producing on demand. It's what Clark represents when he plays alongside Barry Bannan, Marc Albrighton and Nathan Delfouneso.

Villa have a class of 2010 - When these young lads combined with the attacking instincts and experience of Stewart Downing and Ashley Young, Villa looked a threat on the break every time they had the ball.

Now watch Villa's poor away form on the road improve vastly. If they play like that, results and confidence will follow.

Naturally, they'll have to play a different kind of game at home. One can't rely on attacking on the break at Villa Park. And with Heskey, Carew and Agbonlahor all missing at Fulham, the focal point of a target man will change the team's dynamic anyway.

But Houllier's way is being stamped on the players. Not only that, he's giving decent youngsters a proper chance to stake their claim to a Villa career. Something O'Neill just didn't do.

Villa lost Gary Cahill to Bolton for that reason - and it's a crying shame as Villa's youth policy has always produced a conveyor belt of good talent.

I'm excited by the performance at Craven Cottage - and while this is a year of transition forced on Villa by O'Neill's shock decision to quit five days from the season's start, we have in Houllier's Class of 2010, something to make the heart beat faster.

Houllier's still at the drawing board at Villa

I'd like rooom to sort out le Villa, s'il vous plait!

While Aston Villa extended their unbeaten run to seven against Birmingham City, there wasn't much ease and flow about their game.

Part of it was down to the tactics of Alex McLeish, who very effectively stopped Stewart Downing and Ashley Young in midfield.

But it was mostly about Gerard Houllier's inability to stamp his authority on the club. He's preparing and fielding Martin O'Neill's squad. Houllier has to fashion Villa to his mould.

A goalless draw is probably a fair reflection of a game full of bluster and effort, but there were no thoroughbreds in this derby.

Blues had a penalty claim, so did Villa. Ciaran Clark, Barry Bannan, Ashley Young and Nigel Reo-Coker might've snatched it.

What a good defensive unit Villa have. If you remember how James Collins, Richard Dunne and Stephen Warnock all made their debut in a 1-nil derby win at St. Andrews last year, they've never looked back since. No worries there for the new administration.

But Houllier is not yet a big figure at Villa Park. He needs to impress his personality on the team for them to rise again.

Saying things like "they will finish somewhere between seventh and twelfth" hardly echoes around the halls of Villa Park like the words of Churchill. And he's repeated that phrase.

All this after inheriting the baton from Martin O'Neill, who steered Villa to three sixth-placed finishes in a row.

Villa need to maintain the momentum of the last few years if they're to keep pace with Spurs and Manchester City. Liverpool's stunning decline affords clubs like these a great opportunity to gatecrash the Big Four Party.

Villa should take the initiative but it starts with Houllier cutting a bigger figure.

Houllier's coronation looks better without Thompson



Houllier: any clues about who'll be assistant?

I originally declared disappointment at Gérard Houllier's appointment as Aston Villa's first manager hired by Randy Lerner. Now I admit his arrival looks better that Phil Thompson's rejected the chance of joining him!

Our American owner wants a man with both Premier League experience and an international profile. Houllier ticks both of those boxes - but then again so do many other inappropriate figures in the game.

Thompson's turned down the chance because of his TV commitments. A one club man through and through, Thommo would've frankly looked out of place at Villa Park.

Phil Thompson: calm down, la!

Villa is in Birmingham with all its cultural and regional differences to Liverpool. Thommo firmly represents a Liverpool way. Villa are in no way a lesser pedigree of football club to Liverpool. But Thompson's arrival would've intimated that.





But what does Houllier do with Kevin MacDonald? Caretaker manager in the wake of Martin O'Neill's shock resignation, MacDonald's fifteen years at Villa gives him a special relationship with so many players and staff in the club.

MacDonald would make the Ticket look so much more rounded if he were to be Houllier's right-hand man. The Frenchman could do a whole lot worse than get over Thommo with I think, a much better coach.

Houllier is a spikey, divisive figure with a history of buying terrible players at Liverpool including Bruno Cheyrou, Titi Camara and Salif Diao.

Then again, he did produce a team which won the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup and finished fourth in the Premier League - all in one season (so technically qualifying for Europe in four different ways!)

His Anfield progress was disrupted by a heart problem. Nevertheless, he did make a full recovery and led Lyon to two French Ligue Championnats.

I don't want to be too critical - but I just have a bad feeling about this. It smells of a kneejerk appointment of the small pool of available bosses.

If O'Neill's untimely departure was designed to cause Villa damage, then the Ulsterman certainly put the club on the backfoot. 

Let's get behind Houllier because we have to - but Randy should keep one eye on the soul of the club as well as our supposed constituency of the watching football world.

EXCLUSIVE: Cock-up Charlton's Curbishley replacement was under their noses!

The day Alan Curbishley bowed out of Charlton Athletic after fifteen years, was the day the club went into a downward spiral in which they're still spinning out of control. But it could've been so very different.

There's been a succession of awful managerial appointments at The Valley and next season, there's the real prospect of another relegation - to the third tier of English football.

But the answer to their future was literally right under the Charlton board's noses!

I can exclusively reveal I sat next to Roy Hodgson in the Director's Box at The Valley, that very day.

Two-and-a-half-years later, as Charlton stare up at the rest, four-points adrift at the foot of the Championship, letting Curbs slip out "the front door" was a cock-up enough - but watching Hodgson take his chance with Fulham so comprehensively, makes Charlton's mistake dimensional!

Their visionless board didn't know what they had - how far they'd come - and what to do next. 

Hodgson was the perfect replacement for Curbishley.

Curbs, together with Steve Gritt entered the stage as something of a comedy duo. They were the first joint managers in the English game. He and Gritt had zero experience in management. The club had no money and, worse, no ground.

Slowly, painfully, they put a side together and the first signs that something was stirring came at Ewood Park in February 1994, when Jack Walker's millionaire Blackburn, who won the Premiership the following year, were beaten by the penniless Addicks.

Curbishley, on his own after Gritt was sacked in 1995, then dragged Charlton away from all the dreary years of post-War mediocrity.

I'd been telling anyone who'd listen that to kick-on from years of patient, excellent progress, Charlton needed to appoint a manager for the bigger stage. Hodgson, a Londoner, with his Inter and Swiss credentials would've been perfect. He was clearly looking for a Premier League job in London. He got one.

The progress of Fulham couldn't be in more stark contrast to Charlton. 

The board, without a clue what should follow Curbs were keen on a man with no Premier League experience. Billy Davies was a strange Plan A to pursue - but when he wouldn't come to The Valley, Plan B (for Backfoot) was Iain Dowie, acrimoniously hired from relegated rivals Crystal Palace. When that didn't work out, Plan C (for well, make your own jokes here) was Les Reed. 

Appalling.

Charlton's board are so clueless, they must be going through the phone book looking for coaches now: Pardew? Parkinson? it's Pearce next!

They had it all in 2006: an excellent manager: okay, as a team they'd gone back a little over eighteen months, but only from higher to lower mid-table. The stadium was playing to full houses and had been developed very nicely over the years. They were ferrying fans in for a fiver from further afield, fuelling a fanbase.

And it's no exaggeration to describe their part of London as the country's region of opportunity. The City and The Olympics on their doorstep. So much opportunity! Where do you start?

With Spurs struggling at the time, they had a genuine chance to grow the club in the south-east and Kent, behind Chelsea and Arsenal as the region's third biggest club.

THEY'VE FAILED BADLY.

At New Year, Charlton are hurtling towards the third tier; Hodgson's Fulham who negotiated a miracle escape from relegation last season, are in the Premier League's top-half.

"Most managers leave by the back door, I'm getting clapped out of the front door which is how I would have wanted to go", a moved Curbishley croaked at the time. Players from both sides formed a guard of honour as the stadium rose as one in appreciation. They didn't know it at the time, but the poor fans were saying goodbye to the Big Time.

Charlton's board can't apologise enough to the supporters for how badly they've mismanaged the Addicks ever since. They've run their Premier League club more like a Provincial Golf Club. Now they're handicapped, four-under-par the field. They're going to miss the cut.

This looks like damage which could take a decade or more to rectify.

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