Premier League Betting: Why Villa aren't just boring Brummies

Premier League / Dan Fitch / 09 February 2010 / 2 Comments

Richard Dunne has been superb in his first season at Villa while Stephen Warnock is pushing for an England World Cup place

Obviously we all know that Saint Wenger’s team would never hit a long ball in anger, but then why would you when you play a 5ft 6” midfielder as a centre forward?

Everyone's got it in for Aston Villa at the moment and are calling them 'boring'. Dan 'The Betting Man' Fitch concedes that they can be a bit dull, but knows the reason why.

Why do stereotypes exist? Well, it's because they're generally based on some truth and it's much easier to assume that we know something, than to bother to take the time to learn something new.

This shorthand exists in all sorts of walks of life, but nowhere is it so relied upon, as when trying to evaluate people from a different part of the world than yourself.

French? Arrogant. Germans? Efficient? Americans? No understanding of irony, despite the evidence that exists to the contrary in the form of The Simpsons.

Such stereotypes exist within countries too. Cockneys are crafty, Scousers are scroungers and everyone from the West Country is related to each other.

One of the strongest regional stereotypes that exists, is the assumption of Brummies being boring. I think that it stems from the fact that as a city, Birmingham doesn't quite have the glamour of London, or the cool of Manchester.

Then there's the accent. Whilst some regional dialects tend to be rapid fire, the Brummie accent is slow and ponderous. At it's thickest, it makes its speaker sound boring and well... a bit thick.

Now on of Birmingham's football teams are being tarred with the 'boring' brush. Aston Villa have recently had to suffer the taunts of North London show-offs Arsenal and Tottenham.

After their 0-0 home draw against Arsenal, Villa were labelled as a 'long ball team' by Arsene Wenger, before Tottenham fans got in on the gag, by chanting 'boring, boring Villa' during their 0-0 draw on Saturday.

So are Villa a boring side and do they play long ball? I would say that they are capable of doing both, but that's there's certainly more to them.

Any side that plays with either Emile Heskey or John Carew up front are going to resort to the odd long ball, but Villa don't turn to this tactic as often as Tottenham do when fielding Peter Crouch. Obviously we all know that Saint Wenger's team would never hit a long ball in anger, but then why would you when you play a 5ft 6" midfielder as a centre forward?

In terms of the 'boring' tag, it's true that Villa can play very tight and don't take many chances. For a side including attacking players such as Milner, Downing and Young, this is something of a surprise.

I tend to think though that Villa play this way against the better sides, because they know that they're weaker in some areas than others. If they played an open game against the likes of Arsenal or Spurs, they're likely to be outscored, as none of Villa's strikers are particularly prolific.

So instead Villa play to their strengths and make sure that their excellent back four are well protected and try to sneak a victory. It might not always be pretty, but Villa have beaten both Chelsea and Manchester United this season, which is more than you can say for Arsenal and Spurs.

Villa can currently be backed at [5.0] to finish in the top four. I don't think that they have the goalpower and will win enough games to make it, but they will go close.

O'Neill's side just play to their strengths. So do Villa's neighbours at Birmingham. Less goals have been scored at St Andrews than anywhere else in the Premier League. Birmingham certainly keep it tight, but no one accuses them of being boring. The Blues can be backed at [14.3] to sneak into the top six.

Ultimately it comes down to expectation. When you have a team full of internationals, people expect you to be a bit more adventurous, but 'being boring' never hurt Steve Davis or The Pet Shop Boys and it won't hurt Villa.

Comments (2)

1. Villan | 09 February 2010

   So Arsenal and Spurs, who also failed to score in the matches against Villa call us boring. Really? It's but a month since Villa entertained the nation with a 6-4 semi-final win against Blackburn. The real issue here is that the North London whingers can't accept they were not good enough to beat Villa and have to find an excuse. Typical Cockneys?

2. Mike | 09 February 2010

   I really don't get the argument about whether a teams plays the long ball game or not, whether a team is boring or not - most of the time it's just sour grapes on one side's/person's behalf.

   There is absolutely nothing in the rule book that says playing a long ball game is not allowed, there's nothing in the rule book either that say's if you don't string 27 passes together, flick the ball up, and volley it into the top corner then it won't be allowed.

   If a team wins ugly then they win ugly, if a team wins pretty then a team wins pretty - it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever to me, and I guess it makes no difference whatsoever to the fans of the 'accused' team(s).

   True, there are some teams that I prefer not to watch because I don't like their style but that's a personal choice. I have absolutely no inclination to hope that one teams fails to win because they are boring or because they play a long ball game. If that's how they play then good luck to them.