Coming off the back of a 5-0 thrashing of Bolton, it was interesting to wonder which Stoke team would be facing Villa, but after watching what one can only attribute as a fairly dour and uninspiring game it was pretty evident that this was the Stoke of old, and not some nouveau footballing colossus. One can only be thankful that the spanking was handed to Bolton and not to us.
To my mind the game was played with the same old hackneyed approach from Stoke, i.e. defend well and rely on Rory Delap and counter attacking. If I am honest, it sounds almost hypocritical to make a judgement of that kind given the prior manager’s propensity for such tactics. Well barring Rory Delap of course, although you wouldn’t have put it past our former charge to purchase such a player of said calibre. Stoke do what they do very well, in that they stay in the Premier League and are very difficult to beat both home and away.
The game itself was mostly non-descript. We didn’t really impose enough on the game in order to make any real points for analysis but, as I am sure is the case, this was mostly down to the shock of the manager’s health scare on the team and tactics.
Preparing for life after Houllier?
Seeing Gary McAllister in the dugout gave me a jittery sense of Kevin McDonald all over again, i.e. that both are/were in the job because they are essentially there due to circumstance, and that neither of them would stand a snowball’s chance in hell of being in charge for any real period of time. It wasn’t that McAllister did anything overly wrong during the course of managing this game, it is just that he didn’t really do anything right. Whilst there was no possible way for this set of eventualities to have been avoided given existing circumstances, one has to view the outside logic that Villa are more likely to be sucked into a battle again given the lack of a manager in the dugout. I’m not suggesting for even a second that anyone would take any kind of happiness in the situations that have occurred, but I personally believe that, given our current setup, a team with Gerard Houllier in charge is stronger than a team with Gary McAllister in charge. This, I feel, is enough to make our relegation rivals have a little more impetus.
Some might say it is rather early to be mentioning the impact of Gerard’s recent health scare, but I do think it will act as a point where I think the man will (quite rightly) put the view of his health above the club, and resign at the end of the season. I personally think that the methods of the man in the way he wants to run a football club are of the highest level, but I have concerns (as I have expressed here and on TVB where I used to write) that started after the debacle that saw Gerard quickly rushed into the position of first team manager. Had he been, as it was originally supposed to be, installed as a Director of Football, I think that the lifestyle of such a role is much less public, subject to immensely less day to day scrutiny, and thus would pose less of an ongoing stress related health risk. Whether Gerard will be able to adopt that role next season given both his health, and the potential for a top class manager to sit in such a setup, is very debatable. Whilst one could argue that Gary McAllister or Kevin McDonald would happily work in such an environment, I doubt you would find many Villa fans who would entertain the view of either person taking on the role.
Flat barring the record signing
My primary concern once we get past this relegation hoodoo that is still hovering over us is that an unchanged Villa of 2011/2012 are still in danger of being a fairly one dimensional team. Nobody in their right mind can doubt the impact that Darren has had for us, but we seem to rely very very heavily on him. Bent did what was expected of him in that he scored, but I did feel that the team were pretty much just playing under their own impetus rather than under the direction of any kind of managerial structure. Of course, one can argue that Gary McAllister wasn’t imagining that he would be in charge today at the start of the week, but the team really did appear like it was missing something cutting and, I would have to say, it is the absence of our manager.
As for Darren Bent, I would hate to think that, God forbid, we have to endure a time without him in the starting lineup as his appearance has shown just how important that “number 9” role is. People may worry about the sales of Downing, Young et al, but in comparative terms I think we could get by if they left. As for missing Darren for even a few games, I’d rather sell both Ashley Young AND Downing than be without Bent for a few matches. I honestly haven’t felt that happy with a player for his exploits since the time of Dwight Yorke. If he stays with us for the duration of his contract, then I have absolutely zero doubt in my mind that he will be as revered on the terraces as Withe, Yorke, and McGrath.
So where now? Are we contemplating life after a manager who hasn’t managed a full season? Irrespective of whether we are, what I feel will be one of the biggest pressing issues for the board to deal with come the summer is not that of the manager’s role, but of a board member who actually has a grasp on the game. In my ideal mind, I’d like that to be Gerard upstairs, but will it be? Who knows. Either way, we really can’t afford any more slip ups as this season should be the jolt that makes us realise just what is (and isn’t) good enough at the club.
Maybe, just maybe, a change of manager might do us good, especially given the desire of a certain Portuguese chap to return to England to build a dynasty out of a “nearly” club. Now THAT really would be a statement of intent by the board, don’t you think?
The Author
