All too often it has been the same story, one step forward, one step back, a leap forward, then a stumble.  As thrilling as the Chelsea result was, the Swansea result was disappointing.  That the club played a largely unchanged side after only 48 hours between matches did not help matters.

Stephen Warnock was particularly awful.  Perhaps not coincidentally, he is the only man to play every minute of every league game this season.  This Saturday’s FA Cup tie against League 2 Bristol Rovers is an ideal time to rest Warnock.  With no midweek games, he will have almost two weeks of rest before Villa’s next league fixture against Everton.  Enda Stevens has also finalized his move from Shamrock Rovers.  The 21 year old can’t be expected to contribute to the first team right away given the massive jump in quality from the semi-professional League of Ireland to the Premier League.  League 2 opposition is an ideal time to hand Stevens his Aston Villa debut while resting Warnock.

Speaking of Stevens, this exactly the kind of transfer the club should be making.  Signed for a minimal transfer fee it is a low risk, high reward move.  The best case scenario is that the club has a future left back, while the worst case scenario is that he turns into Isaiah Osborne and the club are out a paltry £250,000.  If he can’t break into the team, the club could sell him to a Football League club and recoup a large portion of the initial fee, if not all of it.  The club should aggressively be looking to supplement the young players coming out of the academy with young players in positions where the academy might be weak.

Clubs like Lille and Udinese, clubs that are of a similar, or even lesser, stature to Aston Villa in their respective domestic leagues have adopted this approach with great success as of late.  Udinese in particular have a network of 50 talent spotters around the globe looking for bargains. 

Youth will be the way forward if Aston Villa hope to compete.  As flawed and maddeningly inconsistent the current squad is, it is good enough to stay in the league and probably finish mid-table.  The focus needs to be on young players who might be able to contribute to the next Aston Villa team that can mount a push for Champions League Qualification and beyond.

The window for the Martin O’Neill, Ashley Young, and James Milner team has come and gone.  The time now is to regroup and try and assemble the next young team who can push on.  If like Young, Milner, and Downing the players in the next wave move on, we can at least sell them at a profit and run the club in a sustainable way.  I know many of you don’t think this manager is the man to build such a team.

Looking at the short term this is an important cup tie this weekend.  At the end of my last column, I coyly suggested that perhaps Villa would win the FA Cup.  Honestly I can’t wrap my head around that idea, but the club’s last several cup runs have been quite disappointing and a deep run in a competition the club have not won since 1957 would bring some needed excitement back to Villa Park. 

While suggesting the club rest Warnock, the club still needs to play a strong team.  The U-19 Next-Gen team should be able to negotiate this tie but there is no reason to take any chances.  I like the idea of starting Agbonlahor on the bench, with the idea of giving him rest as well.  His run of form from earlier in the year has petered out and truthfully I wouldn’t have been upset if he had been rested against Swansea on Monday with Bent returning to the team sheet.  Resting Petrov isn’t a terrible idea either given his age.

My team for Saturday – 4-2-3-1:

Guzan, Stevens, Dunne, Collins, Hutton, Clark, Bannan, N’Zogbia, Ireland, Albrighton, Bent. 

If the manager fields that team and they don’t win, you can’t blame the manager.  There is more than enough quality in that team to defeat a struggling League 2 side without a manager.  If the club takes care of business in Bristol and they end up in the hat for the 4th Round, let’s treat it as a step forwards and something to look forward to. After recent times, we need something to boost our spirits.

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