A remarkable correlation between Villa not playing and an improved mood amongst the fan base seems to have manifested itself in the last few days, leading many to ask whether it wouldn’t just be better if the season ended next week.
The players aren’t the only ones wanting a holiday.
However one appraises the side and everything on up at the club, most would agree that overall, it’s been more fun when Villa have been idle. In the off-the-pitch way.
And wherever one thinks we’ll finish, whatever one thinks of the strategy or lack thereof, it really has been nicer not to be worried about it.
But it’s our lot to be worried about it in the end, isn’t it?
It’s feeling an awful lot like last year, for me, mainly characterized by a lack of consistency, a certain apparent aimlessness that defies common sense. It seemed more than once like a corner might have been turned, and then it hadn’t. You’d think you’d seen something the side would build on, but then they didn’t.
You’d see that more could be expected. And then you’d wonder why you ever expected more. You’d blame the manager. You’d blame the players. It all ended up about the same. Because what matters is results. Are you getting acceptable results from the talent you’ve bought for the money you’ve paid for it given a certain basic set of circumstances (ie, the talent hasn’t been injured)? And the results were all over the map. It’s not what you paid for, but it’s perhaps what you’ve bought.
Now, as you all know, I’ve tried to look charitably on why things might be the way they are. I’ve worked from a base assumption that McLeish has enough to work with that in his own self-interest, if nothing else, he should be able to get adequate results, much the same as the most likely replacements we’d have had in.
I presume that McLeish isn’t an idiot when it comes to basics. I presume that solid, if unspectacular, performances will more than likely yield enough points. And the numbers put McLeish in the middle of the pack for Villa managers in their first year in charge in the top flight.
So you can see why, in the big picture, I haven’t been freaking out. There’ve been better and worse performances, better and worse groups of players. Better and worse circumstances. And it was never the case that McLeish, or the side, were expected to accomplish much this year. While Paul Faulkner foolishly mentioned Europe, the pre-season’s “improvement on last year” gave accuracy a little more wiggle room.
Now, Villa can do a couple, three things:
The players can decide they’re not going down, and just out-work opponents in the next four games. The points on offer, in context, could mostly finish things off. Villa just have to want to stay up as much as the other guys. That’s all there is to it. There’s enough talent to parlay that into results.
Villa can instead do the timid routine, cede the initiative, and plunge themselves into an entirely avoidable battle for lack of heart. I know. It’s not a new view from me.
But I really don’t think it comes down to much else, unless McLeish has really shot himself in the foot and fallen out with Ireland and N’Zogbia. I’m not saying I know he has, but I do know they’ve got to play and play well. Just like Cuellar has to partner with Collins, and Warnock either gets welcomed back into the fold again, or someone else goes out there and does something.
These are the sorts of things that ultimately make or break most managers in McLeish’s position: key players are coming into form and then there’s a hiccup or three. Has he gotten it right?
Or has he lost them, and the side, just when it mattered most? We’ll find out what Villa are made of soon enough.
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