As Aston Villa cruised to a 5-1 win against Crewe Alexandra on Friday night, there was a familiarity to the team in playing terms, with more than three quarters of the starting eleven likely to feature at the Emirates.
With a 5-1 victory, Villa seemed to prove that there is potential there in the current squad. Yes, it is only one game and, yes, it is against a lower league team, but the signs are getting there – this was no ramshackle team with NextGen players featuring at the heart of the defence.
Moving forwards from the Crewe game to the Walsall match, Villa can start to build on what the pre-season is there to do – give players chances, build fitness, and start to look like the finished product.
What will happen at the Emirates? It would be a tad presumptuous to suggest that a Villa win is any kind of certainty, or even likely as an option, but it isn’t impossible. Sure, Villa have struggled amongst teams at the wrong end of the table but, and this is only my thought, there is more coming together now than there has been in seasons past.
Which isn’t to suggest that every player brought in will become a star but, and this is key, I expect the majority of the purchases made during Paul Lambert’s era to be at a good standard within a few seasons of joining – it isn’t perfect, but it is a step forward.
In addition, things are far too early to be getting too adrift of reality just yet. My hopes are what I state above – cautiously optimistic – rather than wildly off the scale in either way.
I’d love to see some success at the club, though the reality is that the context of success in the current Villa era is maintaining stability, comfortable mid-table mediocrity, in the first instance. This doesn’t sound like much I know, but it is what is needed.
After all, Villa are building something, and last year was just the foundation stage. This season, progress needs to be achieved, although I imagine some may find the progress to be unsatisfactory which is, of course, their right.
What we do need to understand is that we are almost out of the mire that has threatened our Premier League status for the past three years, with most of the players who were overpaid, underplayed, and overvalued mostly out the door.
Sure, we still have people to get rid of, but they are in a section away from the main squad. Some have criticised this view to isolate “the Bomb Squad”, but I ask exactly what value there is in including players who aren’t interested in teamwork, don’t care for the cause, and are otherwise not wanting to play for Villa. Some will argue that Bent, arguably the jewel in the Bomb Squad crown, needs to be included by virtue of his wage, or his scoring record, but things aren’t ever that simple.
What does it say to a team who are trying to coalesce that a player can stay in the team and potentially play when he costs more than most, works nowhere near as hard, and is struggling to find a suitor. Does this sound like the hallmark of a player who must be retained? Not really.
Which leads us to the conclusion that Lambert is doing one of a limited number of options available. Can someone do better? Who knows, but the nature of things illustrate that Villa will sink or swim as a result of hard decisions, culminating in being within touching distance of wage freedom.
The Author
