On a Saturday evening, Villa played out a 1-0 loss to Manchester United. In the team were several players that fans were asking for such as Bannan and Albrighton. Was this McLeish’s attempt at placating the fans, or was he finally realising there is more to football than defence?
With fans regularly calling for these kinds of players to be introduced, and McLeish doing so, surely fans have to be a little happier? I appreciate that the game was a loss, but all told it was 1-0 and to United. Hardly a battering, and given Villa’s last win against United being 16 years ago, then surely McLeish was doing his best.
The Next Month Will Show The Way
I personally was happy with the lineup that McLeish picked. In fact, I would say that the lineup he went for is probably what most fans would have been looking for. Thus surely McLeish can’t be moaned at?
If he is, and I appreciate that fact that Villa have lost rather than picked up any points, then I honestly do question what McLeish will have to do to placate fans.
We all know Alex wasn’t a choice any of us would have made but, given his position, he’s the manager of the club. To want him to fail is counter productive because as much as I think he might be struggling in his early stages at Villa, I don’t see Villa getting battered by many teams. Even O’Neill had poor results, the hammering at Chelsea being one that sticks in my mind.
So if McLeish is starting to pick the players we want to see playing, and he is being more adventurous, then surely this must be time to cut the man a break? Otherwise he is indeed doomed to fail, not specifically because of what he does or doesn’t do, but because fans won’t accept any changes he makes. That in itself isn’t fair on any person really, no matter the view of the man.
I lost track of the times McLeish was screaming at the defence saying that they need to do more. A particular point was when McLeish shouted something at Dunne suggesting his movement was non-existant. If McLeish is saying that, then just what more can the man do? If he tells the team to play through the midfield – and with that team, that was clearly the target – then just how much more can the man do?
McLeish isn’t playing the game himself. He isn’t being the defence. He’s telling players to play a certain way, and it ends up resorting to route one. How many time does McLeish have to tell these players to play the ball forwards through the middle of the field? I’m tearing my hair out at the repetition, so I don’t know what McLeish is doing.
Standing Up For A Man Under Fire
The performance may have been poor, but the tactics were set up a certain way, and Villa had chances in the second half. I can’t pin this loss on McLeish’s efforts. He’s doing what he is being asked to do, and he’s playing players who fans want to play. Many managers will lose to United, and as much as this was a loss, I can’t see much else that he has to do as a manager.
We can all say x or y should have been done different, and there are valid points out there, but on the basis of playing who we want to play and them actually playing, Villa fans surely must feel a bit more comfortable? The rest of the month will invariably tell us once we are through it.
Strange Injuries
Finally, several strange injuries appeared to happen during the game. Given’s was self explanatory but both Jenas and Hernandez both went down with nobody around them. Will we find out what has happened? Was it something on the pitch? Either way, it’s very strange, and I hope it doesnt mean Jenas is out again for a long period of time.
December has started, and it promises to be a tough month. The question now is was that the beginning of playing a different way, or just another loss? Depends how you look at it after all.
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