Is Our Downfall Really Down To Just One Man?

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, but are we seriously saying all of our worries are because of one man? Surely Alex McLeish would not send the players out with the instruction to just sit back and defend. Why would he that would make his own job hard for no reason, and eventually cause him to risk his own future at the club? It doesn’t make sense, so what other factors could this be down to?

Alex’s Tactics

In my opinion, the tactics are poor, but it seemed when the players either took it upon themselves, or did what they were told in the first place, we didn’t look too bad against Fulham. I just don’t see how McLeish’s tactics can be blamed for it all -before he came he was pigeon holed as defensive, yet we leak goals for fun. During the game, you can clearly see Alex shouting at the players to push up and move forward, so I am not convinced it is all his tactics that are to blame.

Current Players

Like it or not, I think this is where the biggest problem lies for Aston Villa. We clearly have a bunch of older players who have made a mint from the club, and couldn’t really give a monkey about results – this is because this is only their job not their passion.

When you are coming to the twilight years of your career in any walk of life, you take your foot of the pedal. There is an acceptance you have got as far as you are going to get, so you don’t try to get any further up your career ladder.

Then, on the flip side, we have the youth, and with youth comes inexperience. As we are all well aware, inexperience cause mistakes and, when coupled with players who are past it and who cant be bothered to put that extra bit of effort in, you will obviously have issues. In football, such issues cost you goals, and conceding goals means lost points. As far as I am concerned, with certain players, there is only so much you can do no matter who is the manager, and you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

Some may think I am just trying to be argumentative, but I am just trying to play Devil’s advocate. Obviously I see everything you see, and part of me wants to finally fall of my positive perch, if for no other reason than to not get shot at all the time.

However, the other half of me just cant see the logic in it all being down to one man. I can’t believe that the performances are all down to McLeish. Sure, a lot is – the silly comments and his repeated blaming of everyone but himself is bordering on idiotic, and he clearly needs training on how to communicate effectively, or even just to read “How To Win Friends and Influence People”. Otherwise he will continue to do himself no favours at all.

It is not an alien concept that there is also trouble in the squad when it comes to players. We had issues when Gerard Houllier was here, and it’s pretty evident that those problems haven’t just disappeared. For the most part, we have to admit we don’t really know what is going on behind the scenes, and will only find out as and when a player or manager leaves.

Blame The Manager But Don’t Use Him As A Scapegoat For Everything

So, yes, Alex McLeish is at fault for a lot of issues, but the players are as much if not more to blame in my eyes. Their job is simple – go out, score goals, and don’t concede them. Tactics and formations are, to an extent, meaningless because players jobs never change and, if they were good at their job, then the end result would be the desired one surely?

The players get away without any fingers pointing at them and I don’t think that’s right. There is enough blame for the seasons mess to go round, so share it out fairly. I have seen comments and tweets about this player and that player, so if you have that many players that aren’t pulling their weight on the pitch in the views of the fans, and all at any one time, surely its not just the tactics to blame? For me, that’s just logical.

On average, I would say we have about three or four under-performers per game, so we are obviously going to struggle. The real reason lies in why are these players under performing?

For me, that is where the problems lies. We can only speculate on it being Alex’s fault, and we do blame Alex because it is easy – it’s easy to pick on Alex because of his record, where he came from, and his stupid comments but, just for one second, consider it might not be all his fault. Some of it? Undoubtedly. Most of it? Possibly. All of it? Doubtful.

I am not trying to defend anyone other than the club, and I defend them because it’s what I do – that is who I am. I’m just trying to look at something from the other side of the fence in order to be objective. I know I will get lambasted for it because it doesn’t fall in line with the majority, and doesn’t follow suit, but I don’t mind. All I ask is for one moment, just step back a look at it a little differently as I am trying to do. If nothing more this will give everyone a chance to be objective, even if it still provides the same answer.

We all love this club, and we will do what we can to support it and, now more than ever, our club needs our support.

Tell Death Do Us Part, Forever Villa.