Villa 0 Fulham 0 - Missed chances could prove costly

Nov 30 2008 By Mat Kendrick

Aston Villa 0 Fulham 0

Gareth Barry drew a clear line under the summer collapse of his dream move to Liverpool by committing his immediate future to Aston Villa last week.

In doing so the England midfielder made a firm statement that the time of ruing missed opportunities was well and truly over.

One wonders if Barry will adhere to the same view after squandering three chances to lift Martin O’Neill’s men to third in the Premier League.

While welcoming Barry’s decision to remain at Villa Park until at least the end of the season, O’Neill admitted that guaranteeing Champions League football could convince his former captain to stay beyond next summer.

How cruelly ironic it would be therefore if, because of Barry’s profligacy, this opportunity to strengthen their grip on a top four place proves costly in the final reckoning at the start of May.

Of course, in order to miss chances the culprit must be in the appropriate position at the correct time in the first place and Villa’s 4-5-1 system relies on Barry and fellow attacking midfielder Steve Sidwell’s ability to make well-timed runs into the penalty area.

However, when Ashley Young is offering up the kind of deliveries that only a certain bearded, red-suited gentleman who drops down chimneys around this time of year can better, then his claret and blue colleagues really should accept the gifts.

Young revealed before the match that he had been practising with Fulham’s free-kick expert Jimmy Bullard during their time together on England duty in Berlin last month.

Not only did Young outshine Bullard on Saturday, his deadball deliveries