The third week of EPL action was indeed full of action, at least if the teams hailed from Manchester. Both City and United were rampant, scoring for fun. And not against newly promoted sides, either.
While intriguing viewing, it was a bit hard to watch as a Villa fan, not least because of envy and trepidation in almost equal parts. You had to admire the football, the players, the skill and wonder how Villa will fare if Spurs and Arsenal were such easy sacrificial lambs. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy watching Arsenal and Spurs get battered, because I did. Schadenfreude, let’s call it. After all, we’ve been there, too. But I was well aware that our turn will come, and when it does, Alex McLeish’s reputation for fielding tough-to-beat sides is going to be put to a stern test.
When I did my season predictions, I said City would again finish third. If they do, United and Chelsea, my out-on-a-limb one-two picks, will clearly have earned whatever accolades come their way. If City manage to keep on doing what they’re doing, they’re not going to have to grind out many results. It’s a bit frightening, really. And I can’t see why anyone would think a James Milner wouldn’t want to play a part in that, even if it’s not a star turn every week.
Not Knocking on the Door
However the title race plays out, it’s clear that Villa are well off the pace. Which isn’t surprising; we all knew that going in. We knew that City taking off was only a matter of time, and that Alex Ferguson is no fool and won’t relinquish the title without a fight.
We can see the gulf is only deepening, illustrated by the annihilation of Arsenal. While perhaps their predicament is self-inflicted, their plight shows how difficult Villa’s aspirations will be to attain. Spurs likewise illustrate the difficulty of consolidating on a CL placing.
But, as I’m writing this up, we’ve shipped Makoun off to Olympiakos, and even Beye is being rumored to leave. I doubt Beye will actually leave, but I still have hope. I’m not wringing my hands about these deals.
Makoun, while disappointing in that he is a tidy player, does makes sense. He didn’t seem to figure in the plans immediately, and, as we’ve been saying here, is a player with obvious value. Being relatively deep in CM, if nowhere else, it seems to be the one player we wouldn’t mind letting go in order to address other needs. Whether that’s a CB, a DM, or creative CM, I don’t know. Rumors abound. Best of luck to Jean II in Greece, likewise Luke Young at Loftus Road.
Ireland and Bannan have a chance to step up. Someone more formidable with greater range, pace and vision than Petrov would be fantastic for Delph and the team.
For all the justified complaints about what Petrov does, or rather doesn’t do, to aid our attacking thrust, I would think that if McLeish can find a replacement, we will be better and more dangerous overall as a result. Fingers crossed that Young’s and Makoun’s departures give McLeish the wage room to strengthen areas where we are weaker and that deals can be done.
I hope we don’t spend the money on Hutton, as I think we have cover there and potential, even if there’s a lack of experience. I guess we’ll know by this evening, or even sooner.
In the Meantime
So, given circumstances, it’s prudent for a person’s mental health to take a deep breath and try to relax. I’m not issuing a call for acceptance of mediocrity. But I am asking for a bit of reason and an acceptance of reality. As I write, we sit seventh. The sort of thing to stir the blood? Not really. But all things considered, it’ll do as a start for a side coming off a chaotic season and having yet another a new manager under immense pressure.
Since we’re so far off the pace at the top, I can’t argue with getting our books in order in the short term via the methods we’re seeing. We all have our opinions about who’s to blame for what, but the bottom line is that running at a loss isn’t something we want to compound on a likely futile challenge. Throwing good money after bad isn’t usually a good idea, especially when you’re already running at a deficit. Fifth or sixth don’t matter much, and fourth would only get us hammered in the CL and the league next year without massive investment. You get stabilized without falling too far off the second tier of chasers, and then there’s wages for better players to come in and start aiming higher.
I’m not seeing an inevitable downward spiral. Nor do I see Villa circling the toilet. Without further hard evidence, I’m seeing a team simply trying to clear the decks for upgrades that don’t break the bank while waiting out the contracts of players who will be leaving, but can’t be moved on now. Spurs can do it, and we can, too. Whether or not McLeish is implementing a philosophy of sorts or merely conducting damage control is tough to know at this stage.
We’ve had some time now to wrap our heads round the fact that a top-half finish will likely be the extent of our aspirations while we look to re-tool. The upside is that we will be able to re-tool and mount another challenge on the fourth CL spot. It won’t be tomorrow, but it will come because Villa are not without resources.
Some are also trying to give legs to the idea that Randy is looking to sell on. Maybe he is, but I don’t get that feeling. I think he’s just trying to learn from mistakes. His stubbornness on the wages is to the benefit of the younger players looking to break in, as they will get their chances, regardless, because of it. Injuries, rotation, and perhaps a bit of breathing room will allow/force McLeish to give certain players more time, so I’m not really fretting about this lineup being cemented into place.
And I’m not worried about whether Alex McLeish is really the man to take us there because it might very well be a moot point over the next couple of years. What I do hope is that he is the man to keep us from slipping further by making the most of what we’ve got. That’s job one. I’ve not seen anything yet to indicate that he’s going to take us completely off the tracks. I think the team will be stable, in good financial health, so that we can try to make the moves to make us better. Makoun and Young might be two significant steps.
What Do We Have?
It’s a bit hard to say at the moment. While I thought McLeish might very well depart from the 4-2-3-1 at home to Blackburn and Wolves, he hasn’t. Whether he’s simply trying to give the formation enough time to make a definitive judgment or already has made a decision, I can’t say. My guess is that he’s being “conservative” because of the pressure for results in the short term and a need to pull the team back together. Villa needed to be shored up, and that’s what McLeish is apparently undertaking.
This is why we see Heskey and Petrov playing. Again, not necessarily exciting, but necessary, in his view, for the time being. We lacked goals with the setup, again, as feared. It will be interesting to see what McLeish chooses for Everton. At any event, I think the international break will do us good.
For now, I’m glad that we’ve yet to lose, have conceded only 1 goal in four games, and haven’t started off in a hole. Perhaps anyone who says McLeish is setting the side up not to lose is right…but there are worse organizing principles to start with: “If you can’t win the game, don’t lose it.”
I shudder to think what things would be like if we’d lost one or two of these games, which are the sort last year’s team managed to lose, whatever we think of the opposition. So again, take a deep breath, try and relax, and just keep playing the “If I were in charge” game.
In fact, if deals haven’t already been announced, who should we have in with the newly freed-up wages? What else should we be trying? Ireland for Heskey? Bannan for Heskey? For me, I think a true DM is what we’re crying out for, as it would allow us to set-up differently, link better, stay tough at the back.
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