Football. It’s a game of two halves, and it certainly was the case for this match.
The feelings at the end of either half couldn’t have been more different for each set of fans. For Aston Villa, the end of the first half had fans buzzing as the travelling support made the home fans look like they were supporting in a library. However, the final whistle gave the whole situation a total 180 with Arsenal fans roaring as they took their place in the fifth round.
Confidence Crisis For The Team In Claret & Blue
As I stated in my pre-match report, the game was to be won and lost in wide areas. Villa certainly made their chances count from the width of supply and shots, with Arsenal taking their goals from Villa errors.
Some might think that by making such an analysis, I’m not giving Arsenal enough credit. The reality is, though, that when your three goals come from two penalties and a rebound from a poor defensive clearance, you can’t be celebrating it as a renaissance of Arsenal’s trademark passing football.
The sole difference in the second half was Arsenal pressured relentlessly, forcing Villa into mistakes time and time again. Whilst Bent and Dunne were the scorers of the goals that put Villa in front, their sloppiness in play also meant each gave away a penalty, which Arsenal proceeded to duly score.
The other goal, a rebound from Alan Hutton’s clearance that hit Theo Walcott, was far from a moment to remember. It was, though, further proof to show that panicking Villa is a sure fire to make them make mistakes, and mistakes often mean goals.
It’s The Manager’s Fault
What I was bemused to see was the number of people on Twitter claiming this result was the fault of Alex McLeish. As we are all well aware, McLeish has come under intense scrutiny this season, partly because he was a former manager of Birmingham, but at least partly because some fans have considered his football uninspiring and dull.
The former option of why someone would hate a manager still baffles me. Even if McLeish was a Birmingham supporter, which he clearly isn’t, I still wouldn’t care if he took the job. Yes, I support Aston Villa and, yes, Birmingham are our rivals, but McLeish is a professional in a field where it makes no odds. The Glaswegian isn’t a mole on the inside at Villa, cleverly plotting the downfall of the footballing residents of B6, nor is he a particular fan of Birmingham on any level after his issues with Pannu and Yeung, so why the hatred?
Does it really matter where someone has come from? If you ran a company, would you screen your candidates based on arbitrary values such as what football teams they support? I wouldn’t, for obvious reasons, as whilst I may not like teams like Liverpool, I would still hire a Liverpool fan as a candidate if they were the best available person for the job.
The obvious riposte to this is that many felt there were managers out there “better” than McLeish. Maybe there were, and maybe there weren’t, but all we can safely say is that there were no managers who fit the criteria of the board, and who the board tried to get, who are better than Alex McLeish. If there were better candidates, then obviously one of those people would have the job rather than the divisive Scotsman.
Getting back to McLeish’s involvement in the game, or the lack thereof, it seems very harsh to blame a sloppy second half performance on the manager, notwithstanding the way the goals came about. Was McLeish controlling Dunne, game console style, to concede the first penalty? Was he doing the same when Bent’s sloppy challenge gave away the second? Did Hutton’s panicked clearance come from a tactic McLeish had suggested in the half time team talk?
“Aye, when an attacker comes near ta ye, blast it ae him full speed so he doesn’ae need to shoot himself” is something I don’t imagine Alex McLeish said. Alan Hutton’s goal was an individual error. The penalties were individual errors and, in the case of Dunne’s, one that he was fortunate to not see himself sent off for.
Hutton must surely be replaced by another player given his recent calamities in playing, but till Eric Lichaj is ready, I imagine he will continue. Stephen Warnock, a player no less frustrating than Hutton, must also be looking over his shoulder at Enda Stevens. For me, the width of Villa’s team needs to be remedied, and not simply by playing central players in those positions.
Getting back to the game though, sometimes Villa lose. Sometimes they lose because the manager’s tactics were wrong. Sometimes they lose because players are out of form. However, sometimes they lose because stupid situations happen. Villa loss to Arsenal was firmly in the third camp.
I still expect to see the loss blamed on Alex McLeish though, because it is always his fault, isn’t it?
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