It is that time again – should we be feeling positive or not? It is, as always, a matter of opinion.
With Arsenal the latest visitors to Villa Park, much will be made of Aston Villa’s form by the press – will the Birmingham club respond with a win or not from a strong performance? Strong performances seem the basic expectation imposed by the manager, but strong performances alone don’t bring result as fans have found out this season.
Which does beg the question – How should Villa play? Is Paul Lambert’s ethos working because the passing and style is better? Or is it failing because the points aren’t coming?
If we are honest, most fans expected nothing from the trilogy of matches against Manchester City, Manchester United, and Arsenal, so nil points may well be the result. However, being the eternal optimist that I am, I still think there is the potential to get something from the game.
Much hinges on the team that turns up, and how they can perform under pressure. Villa’s recent performance against United showed that the team certainly have the ability to play well against the top teams, even if the result was less than ideal.
So a solid performance may well be enough to take something from the game against Arsenal – one point or three – but it will require more diligence and concentration as Villa’s mental state is erratic to say the least.
This makes the whole situation very frustrating as it isn’t as though the team are useless, or that they are incapable of closing out games, but rather that they panic. However, given the fact that many fans are panicked too, is it any surprise that the team’s mental state is the same?
Why? Footballers are human beings. Sure, they are sporting professionals, but they suffer from the same issue under pressure as you or I. If a sports person ends up with people around them panicking and jittery, it will permeate the team mentality sooner or later – in the third season of tumult, rest assured that panic has spread.
I firmly believe the manager is doing his best to remedy the situation and that he is leading from the front Look at his statements, his role as intermediary between the team and the fans, and you will see that Lambert is a leader, and one that is doing his best to keep that panic and pressure from the team.
Lambert is doing what he can – leading – in order to make the club move forwards. Should he be doing something different? If so, what? What can the manager do better now that will deliver a win faster than we are currently doing?
The answer, in my opinion is no, he shouldn’t be doing something different. Sure, the wins aren’t coming at present and, yes, that is frustrating for all of us, but there are clear improvements in the team and how they are playing – harder, faster, stronger.
January will mean funding in order for Villa to build on the current platform and I have no doubt that monies will be supplied to the club in order to progress, though January is a month and a bit away for now – Villa will have to make do in the meantime.
So will Villa have enough to beat Arsenal? Potentially, though the team must remain free from panic if they are to close the game out – a mentality that would also be great for the fans to adopt.
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