AMSTERDAM – In an English Premier League season that has already seen more than its fair share of twists and turns, Aston Villa netminder Brad Guzan believes his club's best is still to come.
Led by the Illinois native's three shutouts in the season's first four games, the Villans immediately jumped to the top of the table before some key injuries and a nasty bit of scheduling luck facilitated the club's worst losing streak in 50 years. They dropped six straight games from Sept. 20-Nov. 2, the first five by shutout and the last by conceding twice in the final six minutes to visiting Tottenham.
Top striker Christian Benteke has been limited to a single goal in seven games, while his deputy, Libor Kozák, has yet to make his season bow. Closer to Guzan's station, the defense stable has suffered several injury woes, with back-line marshal Ron Vlaar only fit for half their 16 league matches thus far.
"You can look at every season, and it's always difficult," Guzan told MLSsoccer.com by phone from Birmingham.
While most of this player mending was going on, Villa had the misfortune of facing Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, champs Manchester City and Tim Howard's Everton consecutively. Despite all the troubles and the resulting losing streak, Guzan & Co. have quickly righted the ship enough to pull well clear of the danger zone and to within sight of the top half of the table.
It is difficult to catch any trace of Guzan being affected by the rough patch when he speaks of it. To him, such episodes are just a fact of Premier League life. His head remains up, his focus tuned only on what lies ahead.
"It was always going to be difficult to get something out of those games [against the big clubs], and that's when a lot of criticism started coming our way," he said. "But we're not far off the likes of Everton and Tottenham, and there's still a lot to play for."
Since snapping the six-game slide, Guzan has allowed just four goals in six games to help Villa post a corrective 2-1-3 run. It would have been an even better record had they not leaked a waning-moments equalizer twice in the last week of November.
Guzan paid special tribute to relatively green center backs Ciaran Clark and Jores Okore for ably covering the Vlaar absence in recent games, insisting he feels no smaller of a margin for error when the regular starters go missing.
"After that run of games, it was not just that we needed points," said Guzan. "We wanted to do something about it. We're confident in all the guys. The season is long, and you need everybody on your team at different points of the year."
Considering the rocky early road, it may come as a surprise that Villa currently rank eighth defensively in the EPL with 20 goals allowed. Guzan is third in the league in saves with 40 and has claimed 96 percent of crosses sent his way to stand fourth in that chart with 51 aerial captures.
"For us a team, and especially the back four or five, we want to be hard to beat," said the American. "On our day, that's what we are."
Fact is, since winning the No. 1 job away from Shay Given in November 2012, Guzan has been difficult to get past nearly every day. He has started 90 consecutive league games for Villa, drawing league-wide raves along the way.
Though he might admit that his area command or some other specific area of his game has improved in the last two years of action, Guzan says the biggest change he's felt is in the growing comfort that comes from becoming an ink starter on the line-up card. Because of that, he warns he's just getting started making headlines in England.
"When you play games, it obviously allows you to see the pace of the game, the tempo, to see different scenarios unfold," he explained. "For me, it's been all about the experience. It's a different kind of pressure. It helps you grow. I just turned 30, so I think my best years are coming up."
Looking outside Villa Park, taking the Villa top job has also helped Guzan grow into the undisputed US national team starter while Howard is on a one-year international hiatus.
"I feel confident and ready," Guzan said. "When you train with and play against the best players in the world, and then you go into the international game, you're already up to speed. You're able to go into those national team games with confidence and relish the opportunity."
But US matters are a topic for 2015. Before the USMNT get back to work without him in late January, Guzan will have strived for success through the turmoil in an astounding 11 EPL matches, as well as their first tilt in this year's FA Cup. If anyone thought the early season was a battle, he is here to announce they haven't seen anything yet.
"The Christmas period is coming soon, with a lot of games in a short period of time," Guzan said. "You need to pick up as many points as you can, and then the second half of the year always presents challenges from the fact that teams start realizing where they're at. Whether they're near the bottom or the top, everybody has something to play for. Hopefully, for us, our best [of the season] is still ahead."
