I know this is going to make a lot of you laugh, but I actually really hope we keep Emile Heskey. Surely I wasn’t the only person last season that noticed whenever Villa played their best football it was with Emile Heskey was on the pitch.
The reason, as he showed against the USA for England, is that Emile holds the ball up better than any other player in the country.
I have to admit that I am not a fan of big John Carew and was frustrated so many times last season when the Villa started off brightly with Heskey at the centre of so many fine moves and then on came Carew. Yes, Carew scored goals but he just can’t hold the ball up.
With Heskey our defenders have an out ball and we play some great one touch football, but with Carew more times than not he fails to control the ball or loses out to a defender. Give me Heskey any day.
When Villa were at their best in December, winning five straight games, Heskey played in every game. When Villa put six past Blackburn it was Heskey again and he scored. When we put five past Burnley and four past Reading then big Emile was there again too.
Then there was the horror show at Chelsea when every Villa attack broke down and ended in a Chelsea goal – how we missed Emile that day to hold the ball up.
There is no doubt that Emile Heskey is not a goal scorer, but I believe he brings far more to the Villa team than Carew.
Carew might be a fans favourite, but I hope for the good of Villa next season and the quality of the football that he is one of the players leaving Villa Park this summer. Let’s give Heskey another season and let him not only lay off balls for Gabby and The Fonz but also allow Villa to keep the ball.
I am sure if you asked Gabby who he would rather play with, Carew or Heskey, then he would choose Heskey.
So I am urging all Villa fans to get off the ‘let’s knock Heskey’ bandwagon and get behind him next season. The more minutes Emile gets on the pitch the more Villa will keep the ball. The more you have the ball the more chance you have of scoring.