An open letter to AVFC:
What pains me most about the current Villa campaign is the lack of will shown by both management and the players. We may indeed need to go through a “transition” from a business standpoint, and may not have the individual talent shown in seasons past, but that is no excuse to lack purpose and determination.
Nobody expects us to win the league but there is no reason we shouldn’t aim to overachieve for a spot in Europe or at a minimum, stand up to the top table (money, money, money) clubs and let it be known that they are in for a fight and that points won’t be simply taken from us. For example, Newcastle United have played the way I expected us to play this season. And there is no excuse for us not to have their mindset.
Parking the bus from minute 1 vs. Spurs is the latest slap in the face to long-time Villa supporters. We are not a Championship side happy to be in the Premier League. We are a club that has history, pride, and a supporter base that deserves purpose from its players and manager.
When a club is in transition, realistic fans will bide time and still provide support if the players and club show confidence, effort, and improvement. Outside of a small minority, we are not seeing that from them this season. And the manager’s tactics and quotes are less “coach ’em up” and more “just try to survive”.
I could care less if Alex McLeish managed Blues. I care what he does when he is at Villa.
When McLeish was hired he said, “There is no use being expansive if you are losing games. We’ve seen that before. So we’ll be organized and we’ll make sure we attack with purpose but also that we keep the door shut at the back.”
The problem is, we can’t even shut the door at the back! When we are fortunate to take a lead, we turn negative and concede late. When we start negative, we just aim to lose by a little rather than a lot. So we’re stuck. Nowhere to go.
McLeish seems to think a draw is as good as a win and that it’s better to draw than risk losing. The numbers over the course of a season don’t back that up. Wins get greater reward in this league because the victors have earned something. Aiming “not to lose” is just treading water, and a recipe for disaster.
We also seem to lack accountability from the top: Randy Lerner — admittedly — has not been around enough, for reasons some characterize as questionable (though I won’t criticize further without more details). But a strong chairman who has watched our matches would not stand for the negative style, inconsistent effort, and mind-numbing errors Villa have left on the pitch. There are successful methods to manage a transition that allow the club to keep its pride. We are not implementing any of them right now.
False promises of players being held accountable for repeated defensive errors; saying things need to be fixed but not fixing them; and not maximizing our talent on a week-to-week basis can put us back in a relegation battle. Our team has enough talent, and the supporters are too prideful, for that to be allowed to happen.
McLeish has one month to show improvement. We dropped too many points from leading positions during our easiest block of fixtures. If the Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool matches resemble our futility at White Hart Lane, it will be time for McLeish to go and for Lerner to realize he needs a proper director of football because someone needs to right the ship. And whoever that is doesn’t currently bleed claret and blue.
Mike
The Author
