Wolves 1, Aston Villa 1: Why Wolves put Aston Villa to shame

Oct 26 2009 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

AN AFTERNOON at home watching the new Monsters versus Aliens DVD (Asda £12.71), with a American Hot Pizza (Pizza Express, £8.65), washed down with a Pinot Grigio (Tesco, £3.79) before Match of the Day (BBC1, free).

Or a day at Bewdley Safari Park (two adults and two children, £44).

An afternoon at the cinema watching The Fantastic Mr Fox (family ticket £18.80, cineworld Wolverhampton).

Or one ticket in the Steve Bull Stand for 90 minutes where at least one team tried to play football (£41.25, including booking fee).

As far as value for money goes, the Premier League has got it badly wrong. Who else would pay £38 for an away seat and then decide to stand up? And in 45 minutes of driving rain.

“Entertainment”, the dictionary tells us, “is any activity which permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time”.

It was in very short supply at WV1 4QR on Saturday lunch time.

Two teams with very different ambitions, one having bought from Lidl over the summer, the other from Harrods.

But it was Mick McCarthy more than Martin O’Neill who had reason to be cheered by both the result and the performance.

His players were operating at somewhere near their optimum level. There are clearly a good number of clubs worse than them in this division.

As for Villa? Their win over Chelsea a distant memory. Where was the zip? The flair? The ambition?

On this evidence they may be far over-reaching themselves. Portsmouth had given Wolves a tougher examination. James Milner must have covered every blade of that sodden Molineux grass and deserves the many plaudits coming his way. But he is no artisan.

The artisan should be Ashley Young but he spent most of Saturday afternoon on his bottom, thumping the turf with his tiny fists and shaking his head.

Steve Sidwell is no Gareth Barry and John Carew did what only the very best magicians can do – he made himself invisible.