Micah Richards impressing at Aston Villa ahead of Man City reunion
Sunday 8 November 2015 16:02, UK
Aston Villa are bottom of the Premier League but captain Micah Richards has been a shining light and will return to the team for a reunion with his former club Manchester City. Adam Bate looks at a career threatening to ignite once more...
Fabian Delph might expect to find himself the subject of criticism should he be included in the Manchester City squad at Aston Villa, but one player facing his old fans at Villa Park on Sunday has rather more reason to look forward to the reunion. Micah Richards can be certain of a warm reception from the travelling City supporters.
It's a bond that was forged on the same ground almost 10 years ago in February 2006. Richards announced himself with a last-minute equaliser for City in an FA Cup fifth-round tie against his current employers. He'd only made his Premier League debut one week earlier and a swear-word uttered in his post-match interview only further endeared him to the fans.
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Given City's subsequent success, it's easy to forget just how impressive and important Richards was for the club as a teenager. "I would love to see Micah stay, captain the club, and maybe be here for 10 years and carry the club on his back if he can," said then City boss Stuart Pearce. "He is good enough to do it. I have not worked with anyone so good and so young."
Indeed, Richards became England's youngest ever defender in 2006 and finished second behind Steven Gerrard in the voting for national team player of the year in 2007. In September of that year and still only 19 years old, he captained City for the first time - against Aston Villa. The two clubs have seemingly been intertwined in his career right from the outset.
For instance, it was a 4-2 defeat to Villa at the start of the 2008/09 season, playing in a back-four alongside Tal Ben-Haim, Vedran Corluka and Javier Garrido, that kicked off a sequence of 15 consecutive Premier League appearances. It would be six years until he featured in as many as 10 games in a row. By that stage he'd be wearing claret and blue.
Perhaps that's appropriate for a man made in Manchester but born in Birmingham. Operating at centre-back, he's already played more league games than in any of the previous three seasons and been in good form too. No Villa player has made more clearances or blocks and he ranks among the top dozen central defenders in the country for those disciplines as well as tackles and interceptions.
Unfortunately, while the captain has stood firm, team-mates have wilted. In particular, fellow ex-City defender Joleon Lescott has struggled alongside him. The contrast with Richards has been marked and there are signs, as the player himself has suggested, that he learnt from his loan spell with Fiorentina despite the lack of game time. He appears reinvigorated by regular football.
"He picks up the tempo of the game, drives us forward a bit quicker than normal," said Tim Sherwood recently. "He's been great since he's been at the club so it's a shame that the performances and the results haven't matched his performances because if they did then he would certainly be in contention for an England call up."
Sherwood has since gone and only gallows humour remains at Villa. Defeat at Southampton last week saw supporters run through the full repertoire, including questioning the competence of the Saints side because the score was 0-0 until after the break. Villa eventually lost 2-1 and have now been beaten six times on the bounce in all competitions. It's some task for new man Remi Garde.
At least Richards has endured tough times before and knows they can get better. He made his breakthrough in the 2005/06 season in which City finished 15th. They climbed up a place the following year but Joey Barton was top scorer with seven, a far cry from the 32 netted by Sergio Aguero last season. It's been some journey and just a pity that a fan favourite got lost along the way.
Even so, it's worth remembering that Richards started 23 of City's games in their historic 2011/12 title win - more than Pablo Zabaleta, Edin Dzeko, Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli and James Milner. City supporters haven't forgotten and are sure to give him the respect he deserves. But they might just be hoping this isn't another landmark Villa versus City game for Micah Richards.
