At present we have something wrong with the team. To just use the term “something” perhaps sounds both vague and non-comprehensive. So what I will do to back up that “something” statement is try to focus on some of the facts. Not of how we are in the situation where we are not (as that is under the bridge now) but rather where we are now, and what we really can do about it.
In this kind of situation, it is invariable that finger pointing is going to occur. It doesn’t take my background in psychology to know that people are often very quick to attribute blame, and blame rarely lies with themselves. If you are to believe the media, then we have a manager falling out with players, players falling out with each other, fans falling out with both, and everyone saying “It is their fault – they are the ones to blame!”
The problem is that nobody can really see what exactly is definitely to blame. It is like a person taking their car into a garage and saying “It’s not working properly” but having no understanding of exactly why is isn’t. Only a specialist can really tell you what is at fault, the layman really has no chance no matter how much he may have said that he has driven a car before. Except of course that when your car breaks down, you don’t often wake up in the morning to hear that your engine is on the back page of the newspaper complaining how the petrol tank isn’t up to the job.
What are the facts?
So what have we got here as facts to go through? Surely we can pull some up. Well for the interests of logic and fairness, lets do that.
At the time of posting, Aston Villa have 33 points, and are one point and 0 goal difference from 18th position. We are, to put a slightly optimistic spin on it, 3 points from 11th position (admittedly with a much poorer goal difference). There are only 7 points between us and 7th also. In some part this should illustrate just exactly how insane this season is because it is still within our reach of a place that would get you a slot in the Europa League in some years.
7th to 20th is a pretty big swing
We could finish in any one of the places from 7th to 20th. That in itself says a lot about the league this year as it does the plight of our club. Whatever happens this year, it is going to be heart pounding stuff – at least until such time as we are definitely up or down.
Personal thoughts on it
I personally think we need to kick Ashley Young out of the second striker position. Look at his scoring record this year – it’s not what you’d expect from a striker. We also need to stick pace on the wings so either Ashley Young left side, or Stewart Downing. Logically that leaves Marc Albrighton on the right hand side.
We need to stop persisting with this idea that Gabby is, in some other lifetime probably, a winger. He has a lousy first touch, and he is just not working on the wing. Is it just me that thinks why have a winger up front, and a striker on the wing? Why not just, you know, switch the two? Even if only that shifted, it would certainly be better than watching Gabby fail to have the control to take people on.
Gabby operating just behind Darren Bent, and using his pace to surge forward and turn a 4-5-1 into a 4-4-2 in very quick fashion would do a job. With Jean Makoun and NRC in the middle (Makoun the playmaker – a la Makalele) to protect the defence, you’d have to wager that even with some recent calamitous defending, that we should be well covered. If NRC isn’t about, and the midfield are going to sit back on top of the defence, you could even partner Makoun with Pires. I know he hasn’t got the pace, but if he is that far back, he doesn’t need it – he only needs to pick out passes the same way as Makoun does.
The defence has to be whatever we have to put in, and it’s straight forward – play players that are supposed to play in the position they have been given, i.e. none of this Delph at left back nonsense. L. Young – Clark – Collins – Walker or L.Young – Dunne – Collins – Walker should be enough if you have Makoun and NRC as backup.
Friedel has to stay in goal for now. Whilst he is not good enough any more, the only other option we could even try would be Ben Siegrist – and I think that is expecting a lot from the young man.
To my mind these changes are not major overhauls, but they will make a difference. We can’t just endlessly persist with Ashley Young in the hole. If Heskey had scored the same amount of goals as Ashley Young in that role, everyone would be asking him to be sold immediately. Young has none of the excuses that Heskey does in terms of age, yes he is still performing at a very poor level.
Evolution not revolution?
None of these opinions are what you’d call “revolutionary”, but I don’t honestly believe we need to be revolutionary to get the job done. We are not a team of newly promoted Championship players heading like sheep to the slaughter. We’re a team of internationals for God’s sake – we have it in us to do more.
So will we finish in the top half, or will we start next season in the Championship? Or maybe somewhere in the middle? Are the team actually up for it at all?
Another item to discuss for the people feeling pretty blue about the current situation – who’s to blame, and why?
Favourite memories
On an unconnected note, we do have another post up today which is dedicated to the favourite memories of the fans. I’ve mentioned two of mine on the post, and I’d love to hear what yours are. If you want to check the post out the link is here
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