Some of you are never happy unless you’re moaning.
It’s an odd paradox that I’m sure is not only a problem for Aston Villa, but it really doesn’t seem matter about the result or the performance—a large proportion of people will still find things to be critical about, and much of the time it isn’t even constructive.
It’s a real struggle understanding where people are coming from. I respect opinion, a lot of football is based on personal opinion, but when that opinion is contradictory of previous complaints it riles.
Let me give you a prime example. MoN brought success to this club, with his one-size-fits-all formation. He’d started it at Leicester, tweaked it at Celtic to suit the poor league quality, then went back to its default setting at Villa. Sit deep, win ball, kick and chase quickly, and repeat. People complained “long ball”, boring, no plan B, selling our youth players, buying in expensive replacements…
Houllier comes with a philosophy of building and improving players individually: playing football on the floor and giving the fans what they wanted. Did we show the patience whilst they adapted the style of play? No. We complained—”no penetration”, too slow getting the ball forward. Letting too many goals in, standing too far up the pitch. We need to learn how to defend. Not playing to our strengths, youths are useless.
McLeish has the bare bones of a squad to deal with. Played to the strengths of the experienced players he had been given. The football was dire but he did what he was supposed to: keep us up.
Lambert once again has the bare bones of a squad, given money to spend, but only for investment in future players. No, the difference with Lambert is that he does not have a one-size-fits-all approach. We’ve seen he’ll change the personnel and the way we approach the goal. Yet people still complain.
Positive performances, positive results met with negative comments and dismissive applause.
The fact is, though, with Lambert the complaints are different every week. Against Reading it was the “long ball to Benteke” comments… yes there were long balls against Reading, because clearly Lambert felt it was a weakness. And it was: look at how many times Benteke won the ball.
Didn’t do it against United. Benteke was asked to peel off CBs and get in between the fullback and the centreback. Which he did, which worked. Against Arsenal he was asked to drop a little deeper and allow the outside players run past him to drag the Arsenal defence out of position. Which he did. Which again almost worked. Clearly attacking areas where Lambert sees weakness. Yet we complain.
I’ve said this all before: MoN built a grand country mansion on sand with the understanding Randy would underpin at a later date. Houllier decided he wanted a minimalistic approach and tried putting on a huge extension. McLeish then squatted for a year until Randy decided it’s best to build slow, stably and sustainably.
Anyone who thought this transition would be a rapid, painless process is kidding himself. Anyone who feels that these younger players should be allowed to leave without being given a chance to learn, develop, and improve properly under a decent manager is, frankly, wrong.
Not all of them will make it. No one suggests they will. But we have to at least give them the chance. Do we want another Cahill, or, to a lesser extent, Gardner scenario where they go on to perform for our rivals?
I genuinely feel we are at a turning point in the season. We are improving whilst others are still scrambling around. The important thing about this season is the club getting its soul back. A team that are together, and a manager with a vision and, well, this might be a bit hopeful, a set of fans who will support the team without placing huge expectations upon them, forgoing the jeers of disappointment as they fail to live up to them.
The future is very bright: Lambert is not papering over the cracks. He’s fixing them properly. Which sometimes means stripping things back to the bare material.
I understand the concerns, but I do not understand the constant slating of our younger players. No, they are not above criticism, but when they are out there giving their all for the cause, they may not be the most skillful players, but they at least show they care. Hasn’t this been a major gripe of the fans in recent seasons, with Dunne and Collins swanning around (in what might as well be smoking jackets), Bent shrugging his shoulders and feeling he is above hard work, Downing wanting out the minute a supposed “Big” club come sniffing…?
Come on, take a long hard look at the situation.
Survival, and a recapturing of our identity, is this season’s aim: Enjoy the progress of the team. We will survive and we will progress and our support can only help that.
Confidence will be ebbing back, but it is still fragile at the moment. There are still improvements that need to be made, but Lambert has signed some quality players of Character: Vlaar, Benteke, Westwood. These three, I hope, will be around for a good while yet. Each bring their own skills to a team. Guzan, too, is a Lambert signing, a brilliant bit of business.
The past has gone, we are where we are and we are improving. Let’s stop focusing on the negative and be Geordie for a bit. Let’s look at the massive positives, too.
This season is the foundation stone, the lowest point.
The very point everything is built from…
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