We all knew that the minute Aston Villa lost a couple of games Alex McLeish would be under serious pressure. Not that he wasn’t under pressure since the day he was appointed, but the string of draws sprinkled with a couple of wins kept the most negative projections at bay, even as people sat in their garden sheds sharpening knives in anticipation of the inevitable.

Now that McLeish’s side has inevitably lost a couple and Villa have already once again dropped more points from winning positions than any other EPL side, the Villa faithful are calling for blood. Well, renewing their calls for blood. The honeymoon, such as it was, is over.

I understand. It hasn’t been a spectacular start. If I don’t seem as fussed as some, it’s only because I was never expecting much out of this season. It had financial consolidation written all over it, and I figured, after we saw the summer signings, that it also had “underwhelming” written all over the pitch as a consequence. If we weren’t spending £50 million to £100 million and shipping out loads of players, it was never going to be a season of excitement.

After all, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Heskey, and Petrov were still in the side (aka “under contract”), while Ashley Young and Stuart Downing weren’t. We added Charles N’Zogbia, who didn’t start showing us until the Sunderland game why we paid £9.5 million for him. Shay Given showed why he was bought from the off. Jermaine Jenas had some potential to offer if he can get fit enough to play, and Alan Hutton had a solid reputation as Spurs’ number-three choice at right back. I never thought this side was going to win the World Cup.

But What About McLeish?

Well, it’s easy and hard to fault a man for failing to make a silk purse out of sow’s ear. Yes, he is the manager, and bears ultimate responsibility, right or wrong, for what happens on the pitch. But to be fair, he doesn’t have a lot to work with. And most of what he has to work with seems dedicated to making life hard for everyone who thinks fondly of B6.

I don’t think he’s done particularly badly. Neither do I think he’s shown signs of genius. But most of the underwhelming aspects of Villa’s season thus far, in my mind, rest squarely on the players’ shoulders.

It’s not a cop out. Watching the game Sunday, the halftime stats showed who’d covered the most distance. The top seven players were all Black Cats. Hardly surprising, is it? That wouldn’t be a revelation to any Villan.

The simple fact is that wage cutting has left a thin, disjointed squad. The back line are barely adequate for the Premier League. The midfield is full of perhaps promising players with little experience and even shorter track records of success. I know it’s McLeish’s job to get the best out of them, but what is their best, really? Bannan, Delph, Ireland…they’ve all struggled, but they’ve hardly played a lot of games at this level besides Ireland, and he’s been rusting away for two or three years now. Petrov is just a year older. Chris Herd is showing promise, and McLeish gave him a second run-out.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It all starts at the back. And we’re poor at the back, lacking athleticism, pace, and agility. When you have to set your side out to compensate for this, you’ve got a difficult job. If they fail to deal with something as straightforward as set pieces, the job only gets harder. Young and Downing papered over a lot of cracks, as did Milner and Barry.

I Hear You

I’ve heard all the comments, and I know where everyone’s coming from. But the simple fact is that McLeish has tried a lot to varying degrees of success. If there’s one thing he’s failed at, it’s in getting a timid side to stop being timid, and I don’t think it’s for lack of trying. He’s not the first to have tried and failed with this group, and the others have had more to work with. We’ve been overrun in midfield and sat deep for a long time now. And at the end of the day, if this group can’t see what their peers in the league are doing, like working harder off the ball, I’m not sure what else McLeish can do but keep trying. I’m sure there has to be someone out there who could do better, and I know you’ll give me lots of suggestions.

In the meantime, here’s what I do. I try to put myself in the manager’s shoes, and ask myself what I’d be doing. So instead of slagging McLeish off, the question is what would you do in his place? Consider the lack of wingers. Consider the limitations of Dunne, Collins, Warnock and Petrov. Consider that the younger players can’t just be expected to be better than maybe they really are. Why have five managers come to largely the same conclusions? Consider the real options.

And give me your opinions. Perhaps McLeish is a dead man walking. But I’m not at all convinced that of the likely candidates to replace him there’s one who wouldn’t stand as much chance of failing as succeeding.

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