Nobody to Blame But Themselves

If there is one constant theme to this season it’s that. In actuality it’s a fair statement to describe the past several seasons. It certainly is a fair assessment for the club’s failure to see out Bradford on Tuesday.

The excuses that we have heard about a lack of experience or injuries no longer apply. The manager had more or less his pick of who he thought the best XI was or at least as good as a manager has to expect in the middle of the season. Senior, experienced players like Gabby Agbonlahor, Charles N’Zogbia, and Steven Ireland were all in the team while Darren Bent came on as a sub. Villa undoubtedly controlled the first half, but didn’t exactly create as many chances as they should have. They spent the half lobbing in cross after cross trying to find Christian Benteke. There was no short passing, 1-2’s, triangles, clever running off the ball, or any of the type of play that one would expect from what is supposed to be a free-flowing side. If anything the first half reminded me of a Martin O’Neal team trying to break down an organized defense.

The only thing more depressing than how the team responded to conceding yet another goal from a set piece is how predictable that response was.  Bradford created more chances while controlling the second half than Villa did in the first. Paul Lambert’s desperate substitutions also reminded me a bit of Martin O’Neil. The only time O’Neil would make tactical substitutions would be to throw on a bunch of strikers in what was ostensibly a 4-2-4. The end of the Bradford game was reminiscent of the 2010 FA Cup Semifinal against Chelsea and the penultimate Premier League match against Manchester City as the club’s Champions League campaign hung by a thread. Villa lost all three matches as they flooded the pitch with a bunch of strikers running around like headless chickens.

The manager, the players, the backroom staff, the board, and the owner have nobody to blame but themselves. If the club’s increasingly inevitable relegation occurs there will be plenty of blame to go around. What is less clear is a possible solution to the club’s plight. As much as the manager may deserve to be sacked, the revolving door at the manager position and the accompanying instability has been part of the problem. Finding any manager in their right mind who would take the job at this moment would also be problematic.

If Randy Lerner really believed that that, “….it would be a rollercoaster season in what is seen as a long rebuilding job for Lambert after the difficult times under Gerard Houllier and Alex McLeish.” perhaps he is prepared for the prospect of relegation. It would certainly be one way to get more of the high wage earners off the books. He is the one who would be subsidizing a promotion push in the Championship, maybe he decided that would be more palatable financially than spending now to help ensure safety.

The departure of Steve Stride has been pointed to as a turning point where it all started to go wrong. Even if the club doesn’t bring in a European/American style Director of Football who is in charge of transfers, minimally Lerner and Faulkner should bring in a senior football consultant to help implement some kind of vision. If that man could also act as a consultant and adviser to the manager in the dugout, even better. The board should realize that having one man in charge has not worked and is not working.

The authors of Baseball Prospectus, in their book It Ain’t Over ‘Till it’s Over, cited the 1934 National League pennant race as the moment when the model of the all-powerful manager was found wanting compared to a new model where the manager shared responsibility with executives who were in charge of acquiring and developing players. Author Christina Kahrl concludes Chapter 12 entitled “Learning to Trust the Men in Glasses stating:

….It wasn’t because intelligent men could not play and manage back then, or manage and handle the responsibilities that general managers handle today, but because other intelligent men were learning the power of specializing within management. The future would belong to the teams that learned to segregate responsibilities, from dugout management to handling the front office….The future of organizational management belonged to the suits, to the men in glasses, not the heroes.

I don’t know what the answers are, but I do know that a club the size and stature of Villa does not reach the depths it has without severe structural issues within the club. When Paul Lambert was appointed we thought that those issues were being addressed and maybe they are. If they are I just wish it would be a bit easier to see it at the moment.