The curse of Bodymoor Heath!

By Luke Wilkins on Nov 18, 08 11:07 AM

So with another Video Blog up later in the week to go into more depth, here is my review of the big weekends sporting action, starting with the Curse of the Aston Villa!

It was only on Friday that I paid a visit to Villa's training ground to chat to Ashley Young and Martin O'Neill, and confidence was high amongst the villa players and management team ahead of the clash at the Emirates even though MON had never beaten arsenal in all his attempts trying. I knew I was tempting fate, why did I have to visit them this week ahead of their match against my beloved Arsenal??

I joked about the "Curse of Bodymoor Heath" with my colleagues on Friday, saying wouldn't it be funny, if they now went and beat the Gooners? And damn it they did, those pesky Villans, and if it wasn't that man Ashley Young who had a stormer as well, winning a pen and setting up the first goal.............D'agnabbit!

What does this say about Arsenals title credentials as they are now 9 points behind the leaders Liverpool, and more importantly can't seem to find any consistency, and the Emirates is becoming a very easy place to go to and come away with some points. My solution is simple, Wenger, play the kids, put Vela, Ramsey and Wilshere in, and just sit back and watch them dominate the premiership for the next 14 years...................go on!

As for Villa, there are lots of positive sto take from this weekends game after last weeks damp squib with 'Boro, although I feel Milner has a point to prove, and you wonder what will happen to their first team if a few injuries occur to key players......maybe MON should buy up the Arsenal reserves?? There is a credit crunch on after all; maybe he could get the players on some sort of 3 for 2 deal??

So with Arsenal losing, at least I would have the rugby to cheer me up, as England looked to continue their winning ways under the new Johnson era against an Australian team desperate for revenge after their unceremonious dumping out of the World Cup against us a year ago.

And wow did the Aussies front up, Al Baxter, who was the laughing stock of front rows around the world after twice being demolished by Andrew "Big Ted" Sheridan in that game in 2007 and also famously in 2005, not only managed to stop the rot, but actually forced the big unit to limp off after just 55 minutes looking like he had been running into a brick wall all afternoon.

It was from this base that the Aussies managed to dominate England, and to be fair, although England still had a chance towards the end, they never looked like seriously beating Mortlock and co, and it seems that until we sort out some pretty fundamental basics that I mentioned last week with the contact area and levels of aggression, as well as our decision making abilities, this England team will be another to promise much but not deliver.

I thought Armitage had a good game again at 15, but Cipriani is not dominating the match like he should, and two flashes of brilliance with ball in hand, do not make up for a very lacklustre performance, and I for one think that maybe Toby Flood (the form No. 10 in the country at the moment) should get a chance next week against the Saffers.

Oh also, how many silly penalties did we give away, every time we were building a bit of momentum, we handed that back to the oppo by making stupid mistakes at the breakdown, which you would be angry at if your school team did the same, let alone the national side!

One good thing is that with Johnson, you know he has identified all of these issues already with the players, and will be working hard on addressing them, so it will be interesting which team he picks, and how they perform in next weeks visit of South Africa, but I get the feeling that unless something drastic happens soon, not only will we lose to the Springboks, but we will get absolutely humiliated by the Kiwis the week after.

So far, two sports, two games, two losses, and with the mighty Leicester Tigers losing to Bath in the Premiership as well, I was clutching at straws really when I settled down to watch the 2nd One Day international between England & India, especially as I was hoping that captain fantastic Kevin Pietersen would get the team to respond to their embarrassing defeat to India a few days ago and turn my weekend into a winning one............yeah right.

Not only were we beaten comprehensively again, but the lack of confidence in these England players looks scary, especially when you consider only a couple of months ago they were smashing up South Africa, it looks like the Stanford debacle cost a few of the players their form as well as $1million!

Honestly, I am starting to get that dreaded feeling that you used to get when watching England, a feeling that the 2005 Ashes series worked so hard at replacing, that no matter how comfortable they look, or no matter how much in control they are, at the back of your mind is the feeling that any second now they are going to spectacularly mess it up!

Ah well, at least there was David Haye to restore a bit of pride in our country, a guy that has moved up from Cruiserweight, but has already shown he can take a heavyweight punch, as well as showing the world on Saturday night that he has true class, and damn that man is fast!

In a division full of nobodies, finally we have a truly class fighter to get behind, and one that resembles Ali not only in his technique and ability, but with his mouth too. I know it is very early days for the "Hayemaker", but I for one am looking forward to watching him develop over the next few years.

I can guarantee you that the Klitschko brothers slept a little bit more uncomfortably last night as this exciting prospect targeted them next, and as long as he keeps matching his mouth with his ability, then it should be a wild ride.

Right, this week I am on Mon-Friday 3-5am, Offside 1-5pm on Saturday and Sunday 6am-10am for Breakfast, catch the shows if you can, and watch out for my video blog later in the week, have a good 'un!