No matter which way you care to look at it, Aston Villa’s position in the bottom half of the table is no accident. The points accrued up until now are a result of the efforts (or the lack thereof) of the whole club.
Responsibility, therefore, needs to sit on the shoulders of everyone at the club – not just the manager, not just the players, not just the owner, but the whole club.
We’ve heard, on numerous occasions, statements from the players admitting faults in individual games. Players have said that they haven’t performed to the right level, that their form has been poor, or any other explanation for the reason the game plan has failed to work out.
With regard to the manager, Alex McLeish has often found reasons to suggest why it is that the team are performing below the expected standard for Villa. No Villa fan is expecting a top six finish given the current squad or circumstances, but many argue there should be more to aim for than sixth from bottom.
Just yesterday, McLeish made a statement suggesting that “the gods were conspiring against us.” With the loss of players to injuries, as well as the recent issues that have taken Stiliyan Petrov out of the game, it is entirely fair to suggest that luck, if one believes in such a thing, is not on Villa’s side.
It isn’t just “luck” in the sense of injuries though – Villa have often had chances going where a shot deflects awkwardly, or a player somehow manages to put the ball in the one space where the keeper can get a hand to it, much like Darren Bent’s shot against Joe Hart in the home game against Manchester City.
Is it “luck” that Villa have made sweeping cuts to the wage bill over a very short space of time? Is it “luck” that players were sold without adequate replacements in the past? Is it “luck” when despondent performances have yielded little or nothing? Or is it just simply poor choices or performances?
For whatever reason, and I suggest the issues are far more complex than simple “luck”, Villa have not been getting the breaks that some may have suggested they deserve. That said, under Martin O’Neill, there was an extended period where we seemed to have all the decisions we needed go in our direction. Nowadays, it seems to be the reverse.
Is McLeish’s suggestion that luck is playing a factor an excuse though? Whilst the manager is undoubtedly affected by issues connected to the players available to him, there have been few times where McLeish has shouldered the blame for things going wrong. Often, it is stated that the players are at fault – and, to be fair, sometimes they are – but this slippery attitude is landing the Glaswegian with the unfortunate title of “Teflon Alex” in some outlets.
Perhaps McLeish’s nature is, at least in some way, down to a psychological reaction to the blame game. As we are all too aware, the manager has often been slated as the main cause for many of the club’s problems – sometimes unfairly so given his comparative lack of control vs those above him – and thus his defensive nature, in a non-football manner that is, is invariably a defence mechanism.
After all, when you are the target of such animosity, the invariable response for most people is to either ignore the anger, or push the blame back on someone else. Ignoring the situation is often a choice McLeish has made, often diverting questions discussing his relationship with the fans, whereas “the blame game” has often meant the manager suggesting it isn’t his fault.
In an often black and white world of viewpoints, reality rarely aligns itself with such polar thinking. Those who suggest McLeish is the sole problem are no more right than McLeish is when he suggests everyone else besides him is the reason Villa are in a tailspin. The fact is that we are in grey area – somewhere in the middle of this blame game. It’s not one person’s fault, but neither should anyone be getting off scot-free (pardon the unintentional pun).
As the final months of the season come to pass, Villa need to eschew the blame game and focus on a team mentality. The recent establishment of Gabriel Agbonlahor as captain is a good starting point considering his strong allegiance to the club, but a siege mentality needs to emerge. Whether this comes from McLeish, a spontaneous pull-together from the team, or the fans pulling back from protests, it needs to happen. If it doesn’t, Villa may find their slide downwards accelerating rather than halting.
So, to the manager – accept your part in the situation, and cultivate some solidarity in the team. Now is not the time for infighting, nor time to deflect valid criticism on the shoulders of others. For Villa, what the team needs is a spirit to emerge, ideally under the stewardship of new captain Agbonlahor, as an unfamiliar squad of youngsters and senior players plot the course for Villa’s remaining months.
Should the club rally, all will be well, but it is imperative that Villa do not take their survival for granted, as otherwise they may end up the wrong side of the relegation zone come the end of the season.
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