I am usually unapologetically positive about Martin O'Neill's Villa. As a season ticket holder, I have had very little to complain about: measurable progress; exciting football; big home crowds; great atmospheres and a whole bagful of goals to boot.

Despite the home hiccoughs against Boro and Sunderland, the team has showed great resilience in driving itself back into form. One of the highlights of the season, and one of the greatest contrasts with the O'Dreary Villa, has been a dressing room full of the fight to come back from behind or to bounce back after a dip in form or results.

And so, after a battling and well-deserved draw at Goodison, this weekend was - in Alex Ferguson's words - "squeaky bum time". And our boys bottled it. Completely.

It didn't start too badly. Wigan packed themselves behind the ball, pressed hard and defended excellently - but chances came and were missed by both Carew and Gabby.

I though Athletic had been superbly prepared by Steve Bruce: they had realised that they needed to nullify the threat of Ashley Young by fair means or foul and they did that - even though Rob Stiles should have given the boy a bit more protection than he did.

It shouldn't be any surprise to any of us that watched Bruce and Pallister at United to see the Wigan defence snuff out big JC. There was plenty of the "streetwise" about it - a tug here and a shove there - but Carew should have the experience and nous to beat that. He didn't.

I had decided after the week's press rumours to look very closely at Gareth Barry's body language during the whole afternoon. For those who weren't there, he ignored the screen close-ups of the various "Barry Please Stay" banners; was less energetic than usual in his dash to the Holte End before kick-off; didn't acknowledge the chants of "Barry for Villa"; went woefully missing during the game and then looked less than interested during the "lap of honour".

Maybe he wanted to leave the stage to the Wolfman, I don't know. But if ever we needed the reassurance of a dominant, composed and skillful Barry performance, it was yesterday. And it looked to me as if his mind was a long way away.

To me, given what we have come to expect from GB, he let himself, the fans who have backed him for so long, the team-mates who have looked up to him, and the manager who has got his career back on track down very badly indeed. I hope Rafa wasn't watching, because this was a midfield battle there for the taking - and Barry lost out.

This may be a personal view, but there were still 180-plus minutes of very important football to be played this season when we all turned up in B6 yesterday. But the "last home game of the season isn't our lovely big flag nice ooh it's Olof Mellberg viking day buy the DVD and keep your cards for next year" atmosphere took over.

With Villa fighting for an immensely valuable UEFA Cup spot and in with a damned good chance of getting it, I think the atmosphere should have been different. This should have been a lions' den for Wigan, not Billy Smart's circus.

But on came the clowns and the big prize went up in a puff of smoke. Is that what it was all for? All the fight and the excitement and the long nights travelled for important away wins - to see this lily-livered surrender?

Sure, even if we end up 7th with 59 points - that will be progress. And all the statistics will be pointing in the right direction. But what a glaring opportunity will have been missed.

I hope I'm wrong: but I have a nagging feeling that this match will turn out to be a milestone for all the wrong reasons.

Man of the Match: Antonio Valencia/Chris Kirkland, Wigan (both 9)

Villan of the Match: Olof Mellberg - not sentimentality, he played a fine game

Villa: Carson 6; MELLBERG 8; Knight 5; Laursen 6; Bouma 6; Reo-Coker 5; Petrov 5; Barry 4: Young 7; Agbonlahor 4; Carew 5.

Comments (19)

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Damian said:

Doc, it does look like a missed opportunity at the moment, especially because Everton lost today, but we've still got next Sunday. What you say about Barry though, 'went woefully missing during the game' - it must be just me, but I see that every 4th game and it usually lasts for 2 or 3 games .. like I said, it must be just me. Anyway, bed for me now.

May 04, 2008

taglor said:

If Barry goes it means he knows villa's intentions and that will be clearer than any Villa Park PR bulls**t.

May 04, 2008

nhuggy said:

UEFA Cup is a waste of time. If Bolton can't be arsed to field a team It's not worth anyone turning up!

May 04, 2008

Harvaldo said:

Lets not get carried away. If portsmouth win the FA cup - we're in the Uefa cup via 6th place. A deserved result for a fine season

May 05, 2008

SuperSeanUK said:

I agree with what you've written although I think you can read into Barry that day whatever you choose to or, perhaps, more accurately, what you may be feeling about the situation yourself. I am choosing to sit on the fence and as thus I'd say he came off as deep in thought in the lap of honour. He was crap in the game but so were most of our squad (Mellberg and Laursen aside - I think Laursen deservesbetter than a 6!). A season ticket holder who drinks at the club I work at and who I've known since I was a kid (he's y Dad's mate) think Barry will stay and reckons he saw Barry give the Holte End a thumbs up whilst wee were chanting for him to stay. I dunno. Spurs fans must've thought Berbatov was off last summr and he's still there. I honestly think that, whether he's already almost made up his mind or not, he'll keep his word and sit down with MMON and discuss his plans before making a final decision.

May 05, 2008

nan was a fan said:

Good season. Moving forward. Barry may stay, Barry may go, whatever happems we'll be better next season. His decision is unrelated to Villa's ambition. He'd go if he wanted to even if Lerner assured him we intended to spend £100 miliion this summer. Mind you he'd have to go, he wouldn't get a game. How many other clubs in the Prem have made significant strides forward this season and have solid foundations?

May 05, 2008

pazzler said:

F**k it, everton are playin newcastle an i am gonne giv the geordies sum support for once. west ham wud hav been tougher a year ago, so im holdin onto that small glimmer of hope. ppl say we scored 15 goals in 3 games against crap teams so it means nothin. it F**kin does wen u lose at home to s**t like sunderland and wigan

May 05, 2008

I HATE BLUES said:

Let him go, we'd have a better balance to the team without him.

May 05, 2008

Leroy said:

Mellbergs kids - 9.5 Probably could have threatened more if the littlies were on the pitch during the game. At least the crowd would have had something to cheer about

May 05, 2008

villafandan said:

perhaps i'm a sadist, but i watched the game again yesterday. we weren't as hapless as i'd first thought. thinking about our previous several games, we actually weren't brilliant in any of them for the first 20 minutes or so. often the first goal sent us on our way. saturday's game had that same feel, we just didn't get that first goal. it's not like we didn't have chances, they just didn't go in this time. what we needed was barry to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and he just didn't do it. you can read any number of things into that, but it certainly demonstrates his importance to our team IMO.

May 05, 2008

RSamVillaFan said:

Have to admit that Olly's kid showed a lot more desire and ball control. I have one question though; A lot of people have said that if, i repeat IF, Barry leaves then he obviously knows the clubs intentions and has chosen accordingly. Now i don't know about you lot but my boss has never confided in me the plans of our company, it took 2 months of constant asking questions before we found out we were gettin a new fork lift truck!! I know football is slightly different but not that much. MON and RL are by their own admission playing with their cards close to their chest, and there is a difference between having faith and putting your faith in others. I trust in MON and put faith in him to do the job he was bought in for. As for the season so far we may get European football we may not, but we did spank a few teams including small heath!!! It's been a good season by our standards, let's be positive and stop the doom and gloom.

May 05, 2008

kayarcee said:

VFD- I saw the same thing you did. The difference wasn't desire; it was Kirkland, who made 5 or 6 fantastic saves that I'm not sure Carson would have made. O'Neill should offer the 10 mill that Rafa's asking for Carson to Potato Head this summer, and see if we can't get a quality keeper in here.

May 05, 2008

mike S said:

I honestly CANNOT see barry goin cos he should know he wont get many first team appearences cos after a couple of games at the start of the season liverpool would find him useless. He'll start playin s*** for them.

May 05, 2008

Sasa said:

We've had a good season, I'm not bothered about Barry - he's best years were in a back 3 with Southgate & Ugo and that 1 season under Taylor we're we won 11 home games but only 1 away which saw us finish 16th. MON is good at getting the best out of average which again makes me think we'll buy average. As for Carson the only point he has won us was away to Newcastle with 2 good saves otherwise he's done jack.

May 05, 2008

jfourplusone said:

Doc, Agree with your diagnosis and scores with the exception of young. I thought he had a stinker - diving around in the first half and when we went 4-1-5 in the last 25 minutes only Berger had the balls to collect the ball of the back 4. Barry went AWOL, Young looked like a boy playing against men and as for NRC every time he drops into right back I can't help thinking MON is guilty of football mis management on a grand scale. Also, Routeledge - WHY? Expecting big things of next season and MON make note: Tottenham have got out of the traps early with the signing of Modric, it will be a free for all with Euro 2008 and the cash will be splashed by lots of clubs and I am nervous that we will not be at the races.

May 05, 2008

Brenda said:

C'mon lads, i can see newcastle beating everton 3-1 even tho everton take the lead and villa winning 2-1 last minute winner barry or mellberg from a corner!!! its gonna happen keep believin

May 05, 2008

theprimeminister said:

RSamVillaFan said "it took 2 months of constant asking questions before we found out we were gettin a new fork lift truck!!" Pure class comparison

May 05, 2008

jeremiaswodo said:

I just have to think that if he wants to go, he's going, no matter what we promise him in terms of signing new players. Even if Villa spend the money to potentially crack the Top 4 next year, it will probably be harder for us to be that competitive than it will for a team with the resources, players and reputation of Liverpool or Chelsea to drop out, so it's far from a done deal. Regardless of whether he leaves or whether we get European football next year, I think we're showing marked improvement. Hopefully it will continue.

May 05, 2008

aravind said:

Barry's last match?

May 06, 2008 | url

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