What figured to be a difficult day against Manchester United turned out to be another dour display by Aston Villa. The players admitted that they played scared and didn’t follow the gaffer’s orders to press up the pitch and attack. Given the lineup selected by the manager, it is clear he wanted to play a more attack minded style than the club has of late. The players are deserving of blame for these poor performances but the manager is ultimately responsible for the results – he does pick the players after all.
This past summer McLeish emphasized that he wanted to “evaluate the squad”, and did not make the wholesale changes Gerard Houllier likely would have. He probably told the board that he could help these players recapture their form or would at least try to do so. This was likely part of the rationale of his appointment.
By now it is clear that this isn’t working. It is also doubtful that any manager would want to have his job jeopardized by players he did not sign. If things don’t change quickly, he will have to make changes. It is true that the majority of the team are not McLeish players but, if they are still here at the end of January, they may as well be. By then he would have had two transfer windows to make the changes he sees fit.
The first change he will make is to bring in another midfielder. With Jermaine Jenas done for the year and going back to Tottenham, and Jean Makoun on the shelf with a knee injury, he can’t be recalled to help any time soon. We can expect McLeish to target an experienced Premier League midfielder who can supply Darren Bent and Gabby Agbonlahor in the Jenas mold. What this club really needs is a ball winner or a tall-midfielder to partner with Barry Bannan that can go box-to-box and chip in with some goals.
The defense has leaked goals and their idea of building up an attack is hoofing the ball to Emile Heskey. Again this past weekend Ciaran Clark didn’t see the pitch. The fullbacks could both be upgraded. Realistically McLeish won’t pull the plug on Hutton this soon after signing him. The best we can hope for is for Eric Lichaj to return to health, and push Hutton since Chris Herd has been playing in midfield as of late.
If the club could be aggressive and make a move for Leighton Baines, that would solve both the left back problem and the set piece delivery problem. For that to happen they would likely have to find somebody to take Steven Warnock to clear his wages. Enda Stevens will arrive in January, hopefully he proves himself ready for the Premier League sooner rather than later.
Darren Bent has barely touched the ball of late. Some have speculated that the club could sell their marooned striker to raise funds to shore up the rest of the team. My question is where could he go. English players are reluctant to travel overseas so for the sake of arguement let’s assume he wouldn’t want to play on the continent. With his workrate he is hardly a Manchester United player.
He’s not good enough to break into the Man City team ahead of Aguero, Dzeko, or Balotelli.
Arsenal wouldn’t pay the fee or wages although they could probably use him.
Liverpool spent £60m on strikers last winter and added Craig Bellamy.
There is no chance Harry Redknapp would take him back at Spurs and there might be less of a chance of Mike Ashley paying what it would take to sign Bent.
Martin O’Neill managed to spend £100m on players without buying a decent striker at Villa, I doubt he’d start to do it now. If the men behind Bent do a better job giving him service he should be fine. Let’s all hope he is because he likely isn’t going anywhere.
There appear to be no easy solutions for this squad given their current financial plight. Football management is not an easy job. If it was we would all be doing it instead of working in a cubicle or digging ditches. Changes need to be made and if most or all of the same key players are still with the club on February 1 that will be on the manager.
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