After the disappointing draw last week against Norwich, the first murmurs of discontent were staring to be felt. While they were probably 1% of the outrage brought at the nadir of Alex McLeish’s reign, it was there.
The results have been somewhat disappointing. At times the team has abandoned the possession footballing ethos we as fans were sold and the team has gone back to route one football. When the team is maintaining possession, that possession hasn’t translated to goals or chances. While disappointing, none of this should be entirely unexpected.
A rebuild of the size required was never going to be an overnight process. While the club is having a worse start than last season, the young players should improve with more experience. When examining the squad I like our players. This is in stark contrast to last season when most of us wanted Alan Hutton, Stephen Warnock, James Collins, and Emile Heskey to all hit the bricks.
What this club needs more than anything is stability. Even if the worst happened and the club is relegated, I would still trust this manager as much as anybody to bring us back up. It shouldn’t come to that, but at the same time that is the level of support the manager needs and deserves. A panic sacking and appointment of Harry Redknapp would accomplish nothing. After wasting a small fortune chasing big name managers on both sides of the pond Randy should have learned his lesson.
As difficult as the November fixtures are there’s no reason why the club can’t pick up some points. None of the top sides look solid at the back at all. If Villa can keep possession and not fall back to playing McLeish-ball too much, they will have chances. If we can pick up 5-6 points in November, there’s still plenty of time to move up the table.
The League Cup has been a welcome distraction. As cliched as it sounds, the team did make the trip to Swindon trickier than it should have. With the fitness issues in the back it is understandable. Moving on is all that counts in any knockout competition, and Villa did that. The quarter-final draw could’ve been better, but avoiding Arsenal and Chelsea is all anybody could’ve asked for. Going to Carrow Road won’t be easy, but it is eminently winnable. The competition as a whole is starting to feel that way, but we still have to do our part. In Benteke we trust.
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