Zat Knight 'Villa can make top 5'

[Rip Van We Go Again]

 
Sep 20 2010 by Mark Mat Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

 BOLTON’S former Villa defender Zat Knight has tipped Gerard Houllier to take his beloved boyhood club into the top five – despite standing up strong to stifle them on Saturday.

Knight’s physical display, which involved bruising battles with his old pals Gabby Agbonlahor and John Carew, helped end the Trotters’ run of three straight Villa Park beatings.

But Knight still has an affinity with the claret and blues – so much so that he nearly became the first Villa fan to get his hands on a shirt when he almost pulled Carew’s off his back during a second-half challenge!

Knight admits Villa Park seemed subdued on Saturday, but he still believes the club can continue to prosper, saying: “With what’s gone on with the manager, it is up in the air at the moment. It wasn’t the same Villa as maybe it was last season.

“Individually they have some of the best players in the Premier League and Marc Albrighton has come on leaps and bounds. If the new manager comes in and does half as well as Martin O’Neill, I’m sure they will make the top five. If you look at Houllier’s record, he has won trophies.

“As a Villa fan, you hope he wins trophies here. There has been mixed emotions and some people would rather have Kevin MacDonald but Houllier has won trophies. Villa are a massive club and have finished in the top six for a couple of seasons but they’re looking for some silverware.

[BannedUserIAT]

Would have been great to have him in reserve instead of Pub-Player-Davis.

[Holy Trinity]

I really like Zat. dont think he was ever up to villa standards but he did a great job at the time and fair play to him for achiving his dream of playing for his club, best of luck to you for the future zat

[kippaxvilla2]

In its strictest terms, if the new manager only does half as well as O'Neill, surely that means we would finish 13th as opposed to where we actually finished last year which was 6th?  And in the cups, we would only get to the 4.5th round of the FA and again the 4.5th round of the League Cup using last years finishes.

[Pete3206]

Saturday was the best I've ever seen Zat play. He had Gabby in his pocket all afternoon.

[andyh]

I though Gabby did really well marking Zat on Saturday. He didn't let Knight get more than 2ft away from him all game !

[curiousorange]

Saturday was the best I've ever seen Zat play. He had Gabby in his pocket all afternoon.

Zat Knight literally did have Gabby in his pocket. I've never seen a player get away with such blatant holding in the Premier. It was Gentile-like, which is surely the only time the two players could be compared.

And where did this appreciation of Knight come from anyway? When we sold him to Bolton there were tears of laughter on here. Now all of a sudden we kept Davies and shipped off the wrong player.

[cdbearsfan]

I always thought Zat was ok, decent enough to be cover, not good enough for a first team place. He did get away with murder on Saturday though. Will always remember his dramatic equaliser against the Arse the year we [rewrites history]finished fourth to pip them to a Champions League spot[/rewrites history].

[Monty]

Let's hope he's a better mystic than he is a footballer.

[Ads]

On another day Knight would have been sent off. It was clear that Knight, as a supporter, is so dismayed at the fact the Villa shirts are delayed till November, that he tried to steal both Gabbys and Carews.

[Ad@m]

Zat Knight was never good enough to play for us and you knew that every time he started there was no chance we would keep a clean sheet - I would love to see the stats on how many clean sheets vs conceding he's kept in his career!!

That said, just like cdvillafan, I will never, ever forget the equaliser against Arsenal the other year.  Simply the best thing he ever did for us and although on the balance of play we should have pissed that game the draw felt like the greatest win ever given the timing of the goal!  Superb!!!

[olaftab]

Zat is  legend in my eyes for two reason. His opening goal against Chelsea  in our 2-0 home win season before last and the equalizer in injury time  against Arsenal when we came back from 2-0 down.
He spoke like a fan which is fair play but I can't see 5th somehow for us this season.

[Namaste]

Thanks Zat.

[Shrek]

Zat is a legend because of that equailiser against Arsenel.

Plus he one of us, a Villa fan.

[dave.woodhall]

'Legend' is a very debased word.