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I went for a Chinese last night. At the end of the meal (and mighty fine it was too), the words of oriental wisdom inside my fortune cookie were these: "...true success is going from failure to failure without ever losing optimism...". How very apt.
You need to bear with me while I break the habit of a lifetime, as I intend to start with some negatives.
This was an evening begging for a performance, as well as requiring of three points. The atmosphere at Villa Park was positive - not only hopeful, but confident too.
A point, let's face it, is a poor result. And Villa's first half performance was not just inadequate, it was desperate. This was disorganised, uncoordinated and unintelligent football and we were so, so lucky still to be in the game at half time.
This is not the first time that I have written with bewilderment of Villa's unnerving knack of playing two completely different halves. But then this is a Villa that is beginning to swell with its own contradictions.
Often hard to break down, organised and busy. But equally often, as between 2000 and 2047 this evening, sluggish, sloppy and untidy. Often lacking in ambition and deeply cautious. Yet sometimes, as between 2102 and 2150 this evening, urgent, incisive and malevolent. How fitting, then, that the point-saving strike should come from a player who was nothing if not utterly anonymous for the rest of the game.
Loudly booing the claret-and-blues off the field after their inept first half display, the Holte End added to the growing mood of schizophrenia with a rousing welcome to the team as they entered the fray for the second period. And rewarded with five minutes of - dare I say it? - real attacking threat, the crowd may just have made the difference, Kop-like, in that second half. Sooner or later, the damned thing was going in - even if we had to suck it in.
Let's get positive. There was many a lesson to be learned from Villa's abject first half performance, and it was clear to see that those lessons may well have been absorbed during the break. Gavin McCann, for all his praiseworthy commitment, lacks the mobility and skill to take Villa forward.
Whilst he may not have shown his attacking credentials, Petrov - when he settled into McCann's anchorman role in the second half - revelled in it and provided the foundation for Villa to play some football. He may not have the got the ball wide quick enough, but he got the ball wide. I make no apology if this sounds harsh: Gavin McCann looks a spent force at Premiership level. Stan Petrov, on the other hand, bought as a Lampard, may turn out to be a Makelele. Contradictions aplenty.
You don't have to be a footballing Einstein to have realised that Patrik Berger has the skill and vision to change the game when he comes off the bench. Offered a full forty-five minutes this evening, he conducted Villa's orchestra, changed the tempo, demanded and distributed the ball into dangerous positions.
Sure, he showed some ring-rustiness, as is only to be expected of a player who has played so little first team football over two seasons. But his was the gamesaving intervention on a quiet night for our usual talisman, Gareth Barry. Only Walford, Roberston and O'Neill know how fit Berger really is, but there has to be a very strong case for a place in the starting eleven - and soon. Ashley Young's injury (?) may make that an easier decision for the boss.
Lessons, lessons. In the first half of the game, Villa tried to hit Carew with everything, often slowing down an attack when more promising and wider options were available just to get the ball up to the Big Man.
Regardless, incidentally, of the fact that Everton's back four were doing a pretty tidy job on Carew. In the second, Carew looked far more dangerous coming on to "second phase ball" (in rugby parlance) once the ball had been spread wide.
Some more contradictions for you. Young, ?9m. Maloney, ?1m. Are you serious? Yes, I've read all the stuff about Ashley's promise and the fact that he will come good.
I trust O'Neill's judgement and I am sure that will be the case. Still, like many Villans in the block where I sit, I saw no injury and I was quite content with the decision to substitute him before half time. Young is floating on a strange duvet of uncertainty, unable to make an impression on a game and looking lost in the clouds.
Maloney, on the other hand, buzzed with urgency, showed us all a have-a-go mentality and was a massive contributor to Villa's second half revival. He has to command a starting place from now on, the wee man.
I'm afraid I'm not going to give Gabby all the plaudits for scoring the equaliser. Why? Because for the other 94 minutes of the game he posed no threat at all. Null. Zip. Zero. I've written it before and I'll write it again: Agbonlahor is a tired and over-used youngster who has plenty of potential but desperately needs a rest.
We need to cover Villa's defensive performance this evening. Freddie Bouma gave another fine display at left back, quick and aggressive. Quite where last season's pie-muncher has gone I have no idea, but he has made the position his own, regained his place in the Dutch squad to boot, and we now have no need of anything but cover for him in that position. Bardsley, once he realised that whacking the ball long to Carew was getting us nowhere, gave a display closer to his promising early starts for Villa. Ollie was superb thoughout, and Cahill all over the place a lot of the time.
I presume we do not need to dwell on the schoolboy textbook fact that you don't let the ball bounce in your own penalty area? Enough said about Everton's goal, and we won't mention my nagging suspicion that it may have been a Bouma OG.......
So is the glass half full or half empty? I don't know. What I do know is that Portsmouth, Wigan and Sheff Utd will come to Villa Park looking for points. If we play like we did in the first half, they'll all get three. If we play like we did in the second, none of them will get any. Such are the contradictions and uncertainties of this Villa side right now.
I started with a story, so I'll finish with another. When I picked my lads up from school this afternoon, their best mate said to me: "you support Aston Villa, don't you?". "Of course", I replied, "who else?". "I like Villa too", he said. "They're not like Man U or Chelsea, they're a normal team, aren't they?".
Yes we are. Normal. Mediocre. Middling. But then, if you take the average of great and woeful, normal is what you get. Sometimes great. Sometimes woeful. Always "normal".
I may be the Doc, but I think tomorrow I may need to see a shrink. The trouble is, I think I may be suffering from schizophrenia.
Villa: Sorensen 6; Bardsley 6; Mellberg 8; Cahill 5; Bouma 7; Agbonlahor 5; Petrov 7; McCann 5 (Sub: BERGER 9); Barry 6; Young 5 (Sub: Maloney 7); Carew 6
Man-of-the-Match: BERGER - made all the difference
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