A week and a half into the Premier League season and donners of horned-rim glasses from the coffee shops of Williamsburg to the record stores of Echo Park are already musing about a side on the rise โ Aston Villa.
Perhaps thatโs a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.
Villa are young. Theyโre exciting. And theyโre fierce (yes, in both meanings of the word).
Throughout the course of the season a variety of clubs will rise to the forefront of intellectual football fans, itโs all about Paul Lambertโs wee Villans.
Iโve already written at length about how Aston Villa were done wrong by referee Kevin Friend in yesterdayโs Chelsea match. That article got me all kinds of jazzed up so here are a few more thoughts on Villa andย last nightโs performance at Stamford Bridge.
Jores Okore, how I love thee
It took one and half matches and two injured defenders to get there but Jores Okore (pictured above) finally got his shot at strutting his stuff for Villa. It was an impressive display.
Entering the match in the 43rd minute for a bloodied Ciaran Clark โ who had replaced the injured Nathan Baker in the Arsenal match โ Okore needed no time to adjust.
No matter that it was his Premier League debut, that it was against the mighty Chelsea or that he had no time to warm-up. Okore immediately took to making life absolute hell for Demba Ba.
Following the match pundits were quick to note the obvious โ that Romelu Lukaku is Chelseaโs best striking option up top. But one of the main reasons they arrived at this conclusion was because Okore marked Ba straight out of the match (and to be fair, did pretty well containing the wrecking ball that is Lukaku).
Iโll be surprised if the former F.C. Nordsjรฆllandย man doesnโt keep his spot in Lambertโs starting lineup going forward.
Welcome to the league, Tony Moon
In his Premier League debut against Arsenal last week, Spanish left-back Antonio Luna immediately became a household name after slotting home Villaโs third goal to defeat the Gunners 3-1.
It was a gut-busting, breakaway run seldom seen from a defender and a cool finish that youโd swear was hit by a striker. The effort was laudedย ad nauseumย and for his exploits Luna landed on just about everyoneโs Team of the Week.
Six minutes into Wednesdayโs game, however, and The Tale of Tony Moon took a harsh turn when the 22 year old couldnโt prevent his momentum from chesting the ball into Brad Guzanโs net.
Yes, the dreaded OG. Heโs a tricky one to figure out โ will sink his teeth into your tuchus when you least expect it.ย Welcome to the league, kid.
Christian Bentekeโs calves
Iโm not one who typically admires another manโs calves but when it comes to Christian Benteke, I canโt help myself.
Those things are shockingly tiny.
They remind me of a woman I dated a few weeks back. Decent looking girl but a calveless wonder of the fifth dimension.
It was a bit like dating the female version ofย Seamus Levineย but sadly, I myself was in a far worse position sinceย like George Costanza, I had no hand.
But thatโs another story.
Point isย โTekers may be one of the most powerful strikers in the game but one place that juice ainโt coming from are those calves. Perhaps itโs those airplane hangar shoulders.
