Well I think you get the idea. This is the state of the Aston Villa defence. Alex McLeish was brought in with the reputation as a manager who will solidify the team at the back and build outward. As the season has progressed, the manager has actually done a better job of getting the most out of the attacking talent on the team than the back four.
Gabriel Agbonlahor is having an outstanding season after a disappointing campaign last year, even if he has not kept up his torrid pace from earlier in the year. After a slow start, where fans and media were starting to cast a critical eye, Darren Bent has resumed his goal poaching ways. Barry Bannan and Marc Albrighton have both contributed at various times.
In what might be his greatest accomplishment, Steven Ireland has been reborn as of late as he is finally finding form and confidence. Charles N’Zogbia put in a man of the match type of performance against QPR and could be ready to break out. The captain, Stiliyan Petrov, is having a fine season as well.
That may be an optimistic view, and it is undeniable that the club has also turned in performances that have ranged from putrid to pathetic. While there have been ups and downs, there is an upward trend. Perhaps with the sale of both Ashley Young and Stewart Downing and the relative lack of investment in the summer, the players that remained needed to get used to playing without Young and Downing, and gain the confidence that they could attack and go at opponents without them.
The achilles has been the defence all year. The more I watch this team defend, the clearer it is that it’s the players and not the manager that are causing the problems. The defenders keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Say what you will about the manager, but you don’t have to be Fabio Capello or Sir Alex Ferguson to notice and correct these basic errors. That these errors are happening over and over again is a reflection on the players.
This Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday. While it is not a perfect parallel, the AFC Champion New England Patriots experienced a similar dilemma. As Head Coach Bill Bellichick attempted to rebuild his defensive backfield with high draft picks and seasoned veterans opponents passed at will as his defense gave up big play after big play.
Bill Bellichick is renown as a tactical genius and is one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport. As he and his staff worked with the secondary, his highly touted youngsters kept making the same mistakes over and over again. This summer and this season he finally had enough and basically cut his entire secondary and rebuilt the unit with a bunch of castoffs and nobodies.
The new players were not as heralded or athletic as the players they were replacing, but they were coachable and the unit has steadily improved. Admittedly in the NFL, where contracts are un-guaranteed and players can be cut at any time and not be paid it can be easier to make such changes on the fly. What McLeish can do now is wield the axe and give chances to the kids in defence. With Europe out of reach, the club has nothing to lose seeing what they have in youngsters by giving them meaningful playing time in the league. I’d also like to see more of Gary Gardner and for Andres Weimann to get more than two minutes at the end of matches.
This summer with the wage bill finally under control funds should be available for the manager. If you believe this report, the manager will have £20m to spend which sounds reasonable.
An established, upper echelon Premier League center back needs to be top priority, especially if Ciaran Clark’s future is in the midfield. Another full back is also a priority. Lichaj can play either right or left back; his likeliest path to starting for the United States is at left back with Timmy Chandler cementing his place as the right back of the future. He should be given a chance to start for Warnock against Newcastle to see if he can handle the position in the Premier League.
Alan Hutton needs to be replaced too but it should be easier to find a quality right back than a left back. Asking both Lichaj and Enda Stevens to play in the league would be a bit much, especially as Stevens is only a few months removed from playing semi-professional football in Ireland. Nathan Baker held his own in a couple of appearances late last season, he should be given a chance as well.
Fortunately, the club appears to be in decent shape in midfield and up top. Adding quality defenders should be easier and less costly than adding goal scoring to the team. If investment and fresh blood can restore the defence to the level it was at when it was shielded by James Milner and Stiliyan Petrov, under Martin O’Neill’s system the club might be onto something.
Let’s just hope we don’t get two or three more Alan Huttons.
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