As we all know, the performance against Manchester City was far from music to the ears of an Aston Villa fan. As much as I can sit here and argue the case for the fact City are title contenders this season, Villa lacked the spark to actually make it a game.
Make no mistake, this isn’t the first time that we have had to suffer the trials of watching Villa show no passion. The times, sadly, have been numerous in this season alone. We’ve been lucky to escape with only a 2-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur away. We’ve been beaten by Swansea at home. Neither result is anything approximating good, or even acceptable.
So Why Aren’t We Going Crazy About The Manager?
Yet, perhaps strangely, some have found my reticence to become another “Alex McLeish out” writer as puzzling. As though, by some contorted logic, I am seemingly watching a different Villa, one that is making large strides forwards in the league, as opposed to living firmly in the doldrums of mediocrity.
For me, it’s not because I’m a “McLeish apologist”, nor that I am the kind of person to suggest that sub-40% possession scores are to be savoured. The only reason I am behind McLeish is because he is the manager of the club. Nothing else.
No, I wouldn’t have picked him as manager if I was in charge of the club.
Yes, I totally understand why the appointment of him made the job a lot harder than it needed to be.
Villa’s performances haven’t been great, in fact in some instances, they have been far from it. However, all of them have been unified under the same logic – Villa are scared to win games.
It sounds stupid, I know, but is it far from the truth? After all, last season, and despite a ninth placed finish, Villa hardly covered themselves with glory. In fact, if it wasn’t for the unexpected wins against both Arsenal and Liverpool, Villa may well have found themselves a lot closer to the relegation dogfight than a ninth place appeared to show. So as much as this season has been poor, last season wasn’t much better, and there is more to the Aston Villa rot than one manager’s sacking might solve.
The Problem With Demons Is That They Will Haunt You For As Long As You Let Them
This season, things aren’t much better than last season, nor are they much worse. The season in general has been, on the whole, just as competitive as last year. Small teams have beaten bigger teams, and bigger teams have beaten smaller teams. So, as a positive, it has been more competitive.
Which is what we all wanted, right? We wanted to see more competition, to see clubs who may not have been perennial winners of the title do something different? We wanted to see teams who don’t make FA Cup finals do so, right? Last season, unfashionable Stoke made the FA Cup final, whilst this season, Manchester City are in with a shout at the title. It’s new blood, and it’s better.
Except of course, that I don’t actually think increased competition is actually what fans want to see. Let me break it down.
The only reason Villa fans wanted to see more competition, wanted to see other teams break the top four is simple – it’s because Villa fans wanted Villa to be the team breaking the monopoly. Had Villa been in the place of Manchester United throughout their recent glory years, I doubt we’d hear a word out of the fan base. Except to complain when we’re going to win our second European Cup.
Villa’s worries are, sadly, more basic at present than worrying how many titles the club will pick up this year. The primary worry is how the club can start picking up points, and fast. It doesn’t take an expert football statistician to know that the more points you have, the less chance you have of being relegated.
Part of the reason why Villa have both a reasonable goal difference, but a poor number of points is fairly easy to explain – we play to draw.
The only problem with playing to draw, as I mentioned in my post match review, is that you don’t always get what you want. Aim to draw, and you’ll lose sometimes. Aim to draw, and you’ll rarely win, unless you change your tactics late on with a smash-and-grab, as we did against Chelsea.
If you play to win, nobody is suggesting that your life will be a bed of roses, or even that you’ll claim any more points. However, you’re far more likely to win if you believe you can, than if you’re looking back over your shoulder wondering if you’re going to lose.
I mean, come on, it’s not exactly rocket science but, whether we like or not, Villa are glued in that position, startled like a deer in the headlights, unable to move forwards.
Perhaps it’s because of the fact that footballers are modern day mercenaries, who can easily become apathetic. Perhaps it’s because the players aren’t good enough. Or maybe it’s because McLeish, for all of his managerial experience, seems unable to kill Villa’s demons of worry.
Villa need to turn things around under McLeish, or the options become increasingly limited. Should Villa find themselves, one way or another, in the pack with the teams that are currently comfortably below us, then the board really should be getting the jitters.
At that point, whether it is the right thing to do or not, sooner or later the board may have to consider the option of sacking the manager and hoping they can find someone with a sideline in miracles. Jesus would be good, but I don’t think he has much Premier League experience, so that’s him ruled out straight away by the board.
But it won’t come to that, surely?
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