Before the Albion game we were a restless lot. We’d just contributed to our own demise in a mild hiding away to Manchester City, reinforcing fears that the unbeaten start to the season was equally flattering and meaningless. We had a good rebound opportunity at home against a side we should be beating at home, yet no one felt good about it.
So Aston Villa naturally obliged and found a way to lose. I won’t say we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, but we did score first. Then it all unraveled.
Where did McLeish get it right? Starting Herd, bringing on Heskey? Well, yes and no (though I expect size had something to do with Heskey’s appearance), but that’s not what I’m thinking about.
Before the game the manager said it would be about who wanted it more.
He was right.
Please Help Me Understand
I know what I’m going to hear, well maybe I don’t, but I’m going to ask it anyway. Why, for so long now, have Villa been so passive? Why is it that every team successfully puts us under pressure? Why is it that we concede so much time and space, giving sides something they never give us? We can’t we close down and win the ball? We can’t we respond to sides who do it to us?
No, this isn’t a cohesive squad. There’s some talent, and there are liabilities. We’re not good in the middle of the park. And we’re suddenly lousy at set pieces. Again. Going both ways. We’ve got a number of players who could be important that are struggling to produce.
You’d think that if nothing else we’d be hard to beat. But we weren’t, really. It just took patience on West Brom’s part. Don’t do too many stupid things, keep us from getting comfortable, work for each other off the ball, convert the odd corner or two. It’s a pretty straightforward game plan for anyone to follow. And depressingly familiar. I’m losing track of the goals like Scharner’s.
All The Rest
Well, we all know the rest. Bent, for all his scoring prowess, once again put in the most token effort in every other phase that a player possibly could. Given that’s who he is, Bent was the first player who should’ve come off when changes were made to account for going a man down. But being who you are isn’t much of an excuse if what you are is lazy. Not getting the ball? We’ll excuse you for not scoring from play. That doesn’t excuse him from the professional obligation of at least pretending to try and do something else useful instead. I’ve defended Bent in the past, but I’m calling on him now to care about something besides his tally and England spot.
Unfortunate Chris Herd had another promising outing in the works before he was wrongly sent off. There’s your bright spot. Alan Hutton at least showed some menace if not sophistication. Bannan showed some fight even if the final ball was always lacking. Dunne and Collins? They were Dunne and Collins. Why they’re lumping it up aimlessly when no one can hold it up is beyond me. If that’s down to the manager’s instructions, then I’ll be upset with McLeish. A lot of players were pretty anonymous (which is about the worst you can say: be Good or be Terrible, but dare to be Something). And poor Marc Albrighton’s inclusion only highlighted why he’s been left out.
I’d hold McLeish accountable for everything if most of what we saw was surprising. But it shouldn’t be, because we’ve seen it before. What’s different now? We don’t have Barry. Or Milner. Or Ash and Downing. They were all, to varying degrees, difference makers. And the possible difference makers we do have, besides Agbonlahor and Given, haven’t made much of a difference.
Yes, I think Herd’s sending off changed the game. I’m not saying it should have, to the extent it did, but it did change things. And Albion equalizing just before the half probably played into Bent staying on. But I don’t know that it would’ve been different if we’d gotten to the half up 1-0. And regardless of being down to 10, we should be good enough, and hungry enough, to hang on to a lead at home to West Brom. No one’s going to confuse them with Manchester City.
After the Everton game, I thought we had the bottle. Despite only losing to City, and by less than the Damned United, we seem to have lost it.
I will ultimately hold McLeish responsible, even if it’s an abstract sort of thing about where the buck stops. We all know how that works. But this isn’t the first manager to preside over an insipid performance from largely the same cast.
So before I have to start pointing fingers at the manager, I’d like the players to hold themselves accountable. The sad fact is that changing managers is a lot easier than fixing a lack of heart. Whatever anyone thinks of McLeish, Saturday’s performance was not indicative of what he, or any other manager, would be asking of the players.
If you can’t do anything else, the least you can do is get stuck in.
The Author
