On the face of it, it would be quite easy to sit in the corner and complain that we lost a game, and be negative about things going wrong already.
It would be an easy option, but I don’t do things the easy way for the sake of following a pack, or peer pressure. Oh no. On the contrary, I like to look at things objectively.
Ok, we lost a match. Sooner or later, we were going to lose, and we are going to lose matches in the future. What matters is learning from the matches we play in, whether they are wins, draws, or losses, and move on with that experience.
So yes, I could sit here and whine, bitch, and complain about how Alex McLeish had no idea, the end is nigh, and how I should suggest we all sell our worldly possessions and go form a mass suicide pact because we’ve never had it so bad.
Reality
Yes, I am being totally over the top for comic effect, but it is only in extremes that people seem to sit down and listen to what is said. Sit down and meander along a path that is rarely deviating from tepid, and you will get plumped in the “average” category and promptly ignored. Success never came from being average, nor from being indecisive.
Anyway, I digress. Villa participated in the Barclays Asia Trophy and beat one team. They also lost to one team, but that is the nature of football. If Villa finish above Chelsea next season, I will be astonished because they are a top quality team. When we laud the signing of Bent, they have an embarrassment of riches up front. Anelka, Sturridge, Drogba, Torres. Hardly a poor team.
We lost the game, and the game was largely lost down to poor defending and lapses of concentration. It wasn’t poor defending overall, it was poor defending in incidents. Chelsea, being the top side that they are, made us pay for such a lapse in concentration. However, we are not going to be facing teams of that ilk week in and week out, so it is not indicative of our results going forward.
Looking at Shay Given, it is clear that we have got an absolute steal in terms of a replacement for Brad Friedel. The saves performed by him on numerous occasions were indicative of a top keeper who still has a lot to prove. Yes, I could sit down and say the defence exposed him, and I could complain that he shouldn’t have to be tested that much, but he was and he performed very well. Thus, we have learned more about the player, and it is a positive, not a negative.
Formations
What we have seen from Alex McLeish since he has took over is an attempt to get lots of players in and trying lots of positions. Again, following on from the theme of positivity vs negativity, it is easy to sit down and say that it is nothing more than a shotgun approach, and that Alex McLeish has no idea of what he is doing, or where he is playing players.
It would indeed be very easy to do that but, again, I don’t think that is the case at all. He is attempting to get the most out of a squad that has suffered the loss of some of it’s best players in the close season. However, we are arguably replacing those players with a better standard.
On his day, Shay Given is a far better class of keeper than Brad Friedel. Likewise, Charles N’Zogbia is far better than Ashley Young. Don’t believe the latter? Look up the dribbling stats for last season and you’ll find that N’Zogbia came second out of the whole of Europe. Who was first? Lionel Messi. Hardly a bad person to come second to.
So we lost a match. We didn’t lose heavily, and we didn’t play badly. We played in a very hot, tiring climate, and we played with a squad that is, on paper and in reality, far less studded with talent than Chelsea. Try playing a team that lives on possession football in those kind of temperatures, and try to run around to force them to make mistakes. I guarantee you that 2-0 in those circumstances is actually pretty good.
I’m not suggesting we capitulate to teams that look better than us on paper, but those who want to criticise Alex McLeish at this early stage might do well to remember Martin O’Neill’s last attempts at playing Chelsea. He lost and, in one case, pretty heavily.
So losing a match is never easy to bear, and not something we should accept as standard or good for us. What we have to accept is that losses will be part of a learning experience, and that we take them on board, and use them to develop the team, both individually and as a unit.
Next up is Derby. Reserve your judgment on McLeish. Don’t be a sheep and follow the obvious line of negativity. Be objective. Not pretending nothing ever is bad, but look at reality through objective eyes.
Give Villa a chance, and the club will give back to you ten fold.
The Author
