A lot has been written since Saturday’s match. Calls for McLeish to resign for the good of the club. Thoughts that the problem runs deeper. Given out for a month. You know the score. You’ll tell me what you think.

It’s pretty much what the majority of Villa fans wanted to be saying at this point in the season. It was inevitable if McLeish hadn’t managed to silence them by now with a string of wins or swashbuckling performances.

And with a team bereft of stars, it was always likely Villa would be just about where they find themselves now. As I say, I’d thought there would have been fewer draws, more wins and losses. But since it’s the exact same record as the blues recorded at this point last season, people will say I told you so.

People also will say blues had a crap side. Whether Villa do as well… Or is it just that McLeish is the common factor?

I can’t say I know. Gabby, Bent, Bannan, Albrighton, Jenas…Not a defensive set-up. Also not a side that looked like they’d played much together. Which, to be fair, they haven’t really. But Petrov and Heskey were off, N’Zogbia had been naughty, and McLeish freshened things up. Neither Bannan nor Albrighton covered themselves in glory, but then, nobody else did, either.

McLeish gave it a roll of the dice, however. It didn’t pay off. But not much of anything would have come good without the requisite effort from Villa. And once again, the requisite effort wasn’t there.

Villa perhaps can be forgiven for mistakenly thinking they’re better than other clubs in the league. The facilities, market, stadium, ‘club stature’…They all say, “We’re big.” But the talent and the performances don’t. Haven’t for quite a long time.

Yes, there’ve been good players. But not enough at the same time. Not that critical mass of a certain degree of quality, compatibility, and cohesion. Not enough difference makers at the same time. There’ve been more exciting seasons, but the football hasn’t been very good for a while. We have to be honest about this.

And McLeish inherited a team that just doesn’t fit. And doesn’t seem to want to, or be able to, simply play hard for a new manager. McLeish’s frustration is clear. The players’ diffidence is, too. Has he lost the dressing room? Are the players now in charge?

I can’t say I know. What I do know is that the tactics weren’t naive or particularly negative. You can say “4-4-2 at home” or some such all you like, but the level of intensity that was lacking ultimately makes tactics moot. As do the lack of composure, touch, belief, and organization. If a supposed five-man midfield is going to to be inadequate, I don’t really see how two players being isolated up front was going to get us the ball back or let us hold onto it and pass it, or keep us from sinking back to the six-yard box. Two midfielders weren’t going to be more effective than three in not tackling, pressing or winning the ball back. Of course, they couldn’t have done much less.

For me, I can’t imagine a pragmatic and supposedly “unimaginative” defender like Alex McLeish wouldn’t be stressing basic things. If he has nothing else, he certainly has the same old chestnuts we do. Why the players are seemingly refusing to cooperate, I don’t know. Possibilities include:

They don’t believe in him and want him out; they don’t have anything else in their lockers; their limitations make anything but what they’re currently offering impossible; they think they’re better than they are, that Villa are bigger than they are; they know they’re crap and they’re playing like it; they’re still mad O’Neill is gone.

It would be easy for me to say McLeish out. And I don’t know, because you never know, whether someone else would suddenly get more out of this group. Maybe Basil Fawlty or Steve Bruce would take them on a new-manager-syndrome run of stirring Roy-of-The-Rovers wins.

At a certain point, when things get bad enough, it’s easier to say doing something that might be wrong is better than not doing something, anything, if things are obviously going wrong and don’t look like changing. Have we reached that point? Again, I can’t say I know. Many of you will say you’ve known since the summer. I wish I had that certitude, right or wrong.

I do know that it’s beginning to be disappointingly repetitive. Where we stand come January, well, maybe it’s a factor. Does Lerner pull the trigger and change horses midstream like Sunderland if the tough run of fixtures sees us in a predictably possible degree of peril? Does he bring someone in and give them money? Does he believe McLeish will keep Villa up? Does he care? Will Villa look safe enough that replacing McLeish seems more risky than keeping him on?

Will Lerner show a cynical side and say, “Right…you lot know best, I’ll fire the manager to appease you, and instead of Alex being the scapegoat I’ll let the fans take responsibility”? He could do a survey at matches, with fans’ top-four choices on a ballot. Maybe the choices would make the players reconsider. Maybe not.

Again, I don’t know. What I do know is that things are starting to get interesting, because now the speculation, arguments, prophecies…They all start to have a cumulative effect. The self-imposed period of crisis is upon us. What comes next…well, it’ll be more compelling than a scoreless draw or lacklustre defeat to United.

But for me, in the meantime, I’d like to see supposedly professional footballers at least show the requisite professional pride to show more urgency and hunger. If they don’t, Lerner’s got a helluva couple tricky decisions facing him. Because forget the fans…If these players can’t muster some self-respect, then it’s because these soggy underachievers would like to pick the new manager. Or at least force that choice on Lerner.

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