Anyone who has ever seen the movie Groundhog Day will know what it is to be a Villa fan right now. For the uninitiated, the movie’s main character is forced to relive the same day over and over again until he becomes a better person and considers others, placing their needs before his own selfish tendencies. As with most things Hollywood, everything works out in the end and everyone lives happily ever after. But this is real life and not some box-office blockbuster.
The social and popular cultural takeaway from the movie is that the phrase ‘Groundhog day’ is now commonly used to refer to an unpleasant seemingly re-occuring situation.
Well, as i write this post, that’s exactly how it feels to me. Another game, another insipid performance, another two points dropped at home. I could just as easily copy and paste the previous weeks’ posts and simply change the opposition we faced. That however would be cheating and would not tell the full story. So below I will use the movie as a base and try work through what is happening right now.
Now, i do not for a moment suggest that by the posts end that I will have answered all the questions, or indeed that we will all be better people, more that we can understand why it’s happening. So it depends on your viewpoint. It’s another point gained, or should that be two dropped?. Still unbeaten—or just one win from five—you decide.
Main Character – Alex McLeish
A hugely unpopular man among the masses, Alex McLeish is said to be set in his ways—egocentric even. His critics would suggest he is a stubborn man who sees little wrong in his approach, however unpopular it is to them. They would suggest he either does not listen or does not see the bigger picture and, as they know, the spectator sees more of the game. At least that’s what they think.
McLeish the individual is a strong, single-minded man who operates in a results-driven world. A product of his environment he knows that ultimately, not losing is as important as winning, especially given the staunch opposition to his tenure. So with this in mind he has reverted to type in his short time at B6. He has set up his team much as he did with his other clubs; he has given us a solid look but we lack creativity and invention.
This dour style reflects his own playing style. He was a rugged, strong, no-nonsense defender: no swashbuckling Beckenbauer-esque moves forward from Eck. Instead, he put his head where most wouldn’t have even put their booted feet. This style reflects his working-class background also. Born in industrial Glasgow, a product and gradute from the school of hard knocks, much like his mentor Alex Ferguson.
The Plot – An Attempt to Return the Glory Days to a Sleeping Giant
Aston Villa are a massive football club who have been in something of a deep sleep for a long time now. A temporary awakening from this slumber was on the horizon as we briefly flickered life under MON. However, since the Ulsterman’s departure we have fallen under even deeper it would appear.
Shorn of our best and most creative players and following a farcical season of in-fighting and ineptitude, the Villa hierarchy turned to the manager of our most bitter rivals. A man who was recommended to them by the likes of Gerard Houllier and Alex Ferguson, no less. Ferguson knows Eck well and I think he sees a younger version of himself when he looks at his one-time protegé.
Despite the apoplectic rage they knew it would generate, Villa’s board offered the job to a man twice relegated across the city. In Eck they see a man who can re-unite the dressing room and it may just be soundbite, but the players say all the right things when asked on the subject.
The rebuilding job Eck has been charged with is not an easy task and the road ahead is long and strewn with danger. With limited money and a need for prudence, Eck has had to look at players who were in the main deemed surplus to requirements elsewhere, N’Zogbia excluded.
The initial phase of restoring some semblance of unity seems well underway and the team are performing with a renewed vigour and resilience. Nothing like the soft underbelly that hamstrung Houllier’s reign. The next step was to get us back to being a solid unit and that, too, is coming along really well. The addition of Given as been a masterstroke. In addition to Dunne, Collins and Warnock again looking like PL footballers, and with Hutton coming in as an able and solid right-back, it is as good as a brand-new defensive unit.
It is this fugal approach at the back that seems to be costing us further up the field, however, and it’s here where Eck must concentrate next. With Petrov and Delph given primarily defensive duties there is too big a gap between these two and those in the attack. Jenas could well be the answer and I look forward to him getting game time. He has the creativity needed and is mobile enough to be the “missing link”, as it were.
Jenas also gives us options, we can switch to 4/3/3 at home, with Petrov playing centrally supported by Delph to his left and Jenas to his right. With Petrov being the holding player, his two more mobile colleagues can drive forward while still having the energy to get back. Indeed, on rare forays upfield from our skipper, Delph can sit in and cover the space he leaves.
But these are decisions easily made on a keyboard and it may work quite differently on the pitch. Eck works daily with the squad and he is charged with re-invigorating our club, not me.
The Villans
Every good movie needs a bad guy and we have a few. Lerner, Faulkner, Krulak, and Eck—take your pick. All have come in for great criticism and are in the main (growing increasingly) unpopular. I wrote a piece a few weeks back on our Chairman but i think it fell on mostly deaf ears. To go all Star Wars for a second, people have made their mind up and if Lerner is the Emperor then Eck is Darth Vadar—an exponent of the Dark Side.
In this script, McLeish is type-cast in the Villan role. He was hated last season when in charge of our rivals and remarkably since joining us he is now hated even more in most quarters. The man can do little good it seems.
“The Force” being employed by Eck is dark and dour. Pragmatism and prudence isn’t something Villa fans wanted when even clubs like Stoke threw money about, let alone the Man Citys and Chelseas. We also have a recent history of selling our better players, which doesn’t help, and replacing them with lesser lights.
The Heroes
Compared to our rivals, our production alas lacks a stellar cast. Our best players to date this season have been players who were under-performing last year. You would think Eck would get some credit for this—but not really, such is his unpopularity.
Players like Dunne, Petrov, and Gabby have looked like new signings and have worked hard and are deserving of the plaudits coming their way. For me, however, the true hero is Shay Given, a man whom, without, we surely would have recorded at least one loss already.
I know it is early days but if he can remain our No. 1 for his entire five-year contract we have a keeper who may very well go down as our best ever. He has been superb to date, and again McLeish should get credit. He took a chance on a guy who played only four times (none in the PL) in a year. A man who was being written off as injury prone or too short.
I have local interest in Given—he was born just three miles from me—but I say this in all honesty: Schmiechel aside he is the best goalkeeper of the PL years bar none. He rarely ever makes a mistake and is worth at least 12 points a season. He was hero worshipped at Saturday’s opponents for years and fittingly gave the traveling Toon Army a reminder of what they have missed since he left. His personal dual with the very impressive Cabaye was something to behold and his reflexes and shot-stopping mark him as being world class. He has been exemplary for both club and country this season.
The Future
Make no mistake, the Villa job is a massive job and by no means an easy one. As fans we want to see the team winning playing great football but this is surely fantasy given our resources. Some may say even to win games would be a start but that wasn’t good enough under O’Neill, who came in for criticism for his playing style despite fantastic results.
The future is yet to be written and for many fans if McLeish is the answer then it must have been a pretty stupid question, but for this writer at least, I see a future under Eck but we must be realistic.
This is not Hollywood and without the billions and blank chequebooks that the top clubs have at their disposal the future I envisage is a more sustainable and organic one. One where the best we can hope for in the next few years is top six, and even that would represent something special. We must be patient, we must believe, and we must support our club.
I have no doubt in Lerner and I equally have no doubt in Eck’s ability to lead us forward. I despair when I see or hear fans call for his head so soon. The biggest problem at Villa as far as I see it is the unrealistic expectations we harbour as fans. In terms of finance and playing staff we are not among the best six clubs in the country and that is a fact.
I predicted 7th before a ball was kicked and I see nothing yet to doubt this. Stoke and Newcastle will be our biggest challengers and like ourselves they are set up to not get beat—as pretty much every side outside the big six do. So lets undertstand and appreciate our limitations rather than bemoan every little bump on the road that leads us there.
The Author
