Villans, Brazilians, and Manchunians!

By Luke Wilkins on Oct 7, 08 02:16 PM

So I wrote my column on Sunday about how Villa's game with Chelsea's would be a great way to see how far Martin O'Neill's side have come to breaking into the elusive, magical, and impregnable top four. I really wanted Villa to win, but oh my goodness, at times on Sunday afternoon it was like boys against men, Chelsea eventually running out 2-0 winners, but they could have and should have had more.
So what does this mean for a Villa side with Champions league aspirations?

Well first up you have to admit, that they are a very good side, but the difference between themselves and Scholari's men was vast at the weekend, Chelsea are world class in all departments, and while I can see Curtis Davies turning a top English defender in the future, it must be said, compared to Chelsea's unknown fill in at the back Ivanovic, he looked about as confident and as assured as Gordon Brown. So work still do be done for Villa, but with O'Neill at the helm, you can actually see them taking this result and coming back stronger, and it will be interesting to see how the big clubs do at Villa Park.

So how about the other team I tipped to break the monopoly at the top Man City? Well they fared much better, going 2-0 ahead against Liverpool at Eastlands, and looking good, but after a red card, they were witness to an incredible Reds fight back, which should go some way to re affirming their title ambitions.

Man City do look good, but at the moment, they are more a collective of extremely talented individuals, while Liverpool showed that they can play much better as a team, and you know it's going to be your day when even Dirk "I like running, but I couldn't hit the white cliffs of Dover" Kuyt hits the back of the net. So the moral of the story? Billions may allow you to knock on the door of the big boys, but until you can get the most out of your players as a collective, you're simply not going to be let in!

Now to one of the best signings of the season, but I bet he is not exactly the most popular Brazilian in North London right now, Geovanni and wow, did he do it again. Unlike last week when his genius helped to beat my beloved Arsenal, this week I wanted him to do well, as Hull went up the road to Tottenham, and once more pulled out a shock result. The rules for promoted sides go a little like this normally:

a. Sign a couple of has been big names, plus a nomadic striker
b. Start all positive, but ten minutes into the first game, start talking about how your just going to enjoy this year, and relegation isn't a bad thing
c. Go back to Championship, and moan about how you didn't get enough money from the Premier League to pay the bill for that big fountain you had put in, in reception.

But for Hull, the rules seem to be:

a. Don't care who you are playing
b. Show passion, and get every player doing their job
c. Sign a Brazilian with more class in his little finger than most players have in their whole family (and yes that includes the Neville's!)

What I like about Hull most of all is that through all their efforts, and amazing results, they genuinely have the belief about them that they can continue this all season, and I would love it if they do, I mean, almost a quarter of the way thorugh, and they're in third! What chance Phil Brown's boys qualifying for the Champions League????

Wouldn't it be great to see Barcelona at the KC stadium! Ah well, I must admit, just from the sheer determination and attitude of their players if nothing else, they certainly deserve it, but as with all promoted clubs, all it normally takes is a few injuries to key players and they could be back in trouble, but with the experienced talent they have brought in, backed up by their younger players, they are certainly an exciting team to watch.

Oh and if you didn't see the Arsenal game, we almost got embarrassed by Sunderland, but luckily the giant Francesc Fabregas towered over the Mackem's defence to head in a very late equaliser, cancelling out Grant Leadbitter's stunning opener, to scrape a point. And with only 13 of these now from 7 games, even I am questioning our title credentials, why can't we just sign Michael Owen? Because for all our beautiful build up play, we still haven't got a natural goal hanger ala Wright or Linekar to bang in the opportunities we create. Honestly, my mum (she is getting quite famous for her sporting prowess in this blog!) could have finished off more moves than Adebayor and Van Persie did on Sat.

Quick mention must go to Birmingham City, who by winning at the weekend leapfrogged Wolves to go top of the Championship, with that man Kevin Phillips (Even he would do Wenger!) scoring his 4th of the season, and wouldn't it be ace if both West Midlands clubs could make the step back up to the top flight this year.

On the rugby front this weekend, it was the return of the EDF Energy Cup, also known as the Anglo Welsh Cup, but more commonly known as the "Let's give the Welsh a Pasting" Cup. Although this year, no one seems to have told the Welsh yet, as the four Cymru regions went unbeaten against the best the premiership has to offer, which bodes well for the six nations, and it must be said I was impressed by all the Welsh teams, especially the Ospreys, who held off a very spirited Quins fight back.

Leicester once more proved that they seem to love last minute drama, coming from behind to beat Bath 19-15, and I have been impressed by the lads ability to close out games when it matters, and it must be said, that new signing Derek Hougaard looks like he might be a useful foil for the on fire Toby Flood this season.
This week also saw the return of Oasis with their new album Dig Out Your Soul. I was a massive fan of Oasis when they first came about, and Definitely Maybe is one of the definitive rock records of our generation.

While the Gallagher brothers have had huge success, I haven't been able to get that feeling out of my head that they haven't been that good since then. I think it was because on their first album, they wrote about trying to escape the poor areas of Manchester, and how life was depressing and a struggle, how they wanted to become rock stars, and they had a raw edge to their music.

Since then, they have become rich, successful, and one of the biggest bands in the world, but personally I haven't seen their music as anything special, yes there are some stand out tracks on each album, but they simply haven't blown me away.

This stems from the fact that it is kind of hard to write about living on the edge of society, wanting to become a rock star and being downtrodden when you live in a multi million pound house in Knightsbridge and are one of the biggest rock stars in the world.

They have also suffered because of their love of the Beatles, honestly, we know you like them lads, and you would love to be them, but move on!

Thankfully with this album, they fare slightly better, while it is no Kings of Leon Only by the Night, it does have enough decent scuzzy rock on there, to reaffirm them as one of the biggest bands around, if not the most innovative, and as they sold out there recent tour dates in 0.72 of a nanosecond, I can see this being a massive hit with those annoying Oasis fans who speak in a fake Mancunian accent and wear silly hats, as well as people like me who don't think that Noel is the Messiah, but just a pretty good songwriter. Good work boys.

Another album worth checking out is by a band we love at Kerrang, called You Me At Six, with their debut album Take Off Your Colours, and while they are not reinventing the wheel (which would be pointless, as it has already been invented) there blend of pop punk/rock will have you dancing around your room in your socks, even if you don't own any socks. Check it out!

So after being on Kate Lawler's drive time show last week, its back to days off during the week, and nothing but listening to music, and stupid amounts of training down at Arch 20 in the Jewellery quarter to keep me entertained, but I did manage to get down to the re-launch of Eddie's (the Legendary Brum rock night) last Friday at Busk, and must admit it was kind of a novel experience to walk into a club and not be the hairiest person there!

Don't forget to catch Offside this week on Kerrang from 2-6pm on Saturday, it's a mixture of sport and music you need in your life!