“I will not be posting to the site for another fortnight, by which time Villa could be on 25 points, booked a place into the last-16 of the FA Cup and have a trip to Wembley to look forward to.”

This was my closing scribbles in my last note for Aston Villa Life a couple of weeks back, and boy don’t I now feel like an absolute pillock! Instead Villa slumped out of both cup competitions to lower-league opposition in the space of just 72 hours, and after throwing away a two-goal lead to draw at The Hawthorns we won’t be hitting the 25 points mark I spoke of no matter what the result against Newcastle last night. Note that this article was written prior to yesterday evenings kick-off.

On Monday Villa chairman Randy Lerner gave boss Paul Lambert the often-dreaded vote of confidence, but I for one don’t fear for Lambert’s position and I thoroughly believe that he will still be the man in the hot seat come August regardless of which division we are in. Whatever happens this season Lerner has left himself in a very precarious position, because as much I understand as to why he’s forcing the issue and pulling the purse strings firmly together, you do have to ask yourself – at what cost exactly? Baring in mind that this article was pieced together on Monday evening – and at that time Villa had made no movements in the transfer market – at least Lerner’s statement gave me hope that we may be looking to do business by the time the window closes tomorrow evening, as in the statement he speak of targets that Lambert and he had discussed and rounded things off by saying, ‘Finally, and on a very personal note, I would reiterate that Paul [Lambert] has achieved success at many levels of professional football and I believe, given support, he will continue to do so for us.’

I just hope that that support equates to money, and in turn that money returns sensible signatures, and by sensible I mean no more kids or players yet to play football at the top level. Lambert has to start taking some responsibility and hold his hands up, his transfer philosophy of creating this kindergarten crop of players has backfired, and experienced heads is now what the Villa dressing room is in desperate need of.

It’s difficult for me to speak of last night’s performance and result, especially seeing as I am no psychic, and so in this article I would like to proceed with some reflection, and then discuss where we may be able to find these six wins that the gaffer insists that we require to retain our top flight status.

Rewind six months and I remember most Villa fans being optimistic for the season ahead. In pre-season we looked very capable and were passing and moving the ball around with ease albeit against much weaker opposition that we face week-in-week-out. In reality the club’s steady decline had been on-going for two years prior to last season, but many of us were so embroiled in our distaste of Alex ‘anti-football’ McLeish that we may have been guilty at overlooking the bigger picture. Like McLeish, Lambert is just another ‘yes man’ for Lerner to nurture, a yes man that is undeniably forced to try and peg back the financial deficit the club made for itself from 2006 to 2010 and in doing so run the football club at a sustainable level. Rival supporters like to point out the fact that Lambert spent in excess of £20 million last summer however these people fail to consider the astronomical wages of those that have been and gone, and getting those players off of the wage bill will have saved the club a huge amount of money.

This season was always going to be a struggle, and it sure doesn’t help if the players fail to see out matches that they should have been in great positions to win.

In November we were 2-0 up on Manchester United with just over half-an-hour to play, and yet still left the Villa Park turf with no points in our pocket. Most recently we conceded a late, late goal at Swansea when all three points looked in the bag. And then away to West Brom we do the unthinkable and undo all our hard work to let yet another two-goal lead slip. Thinking about it, should we have won these three games we would now be 13th in the league and a rather healthy eight points clear of the drop zone. Whatever goes on in that dressing room at half-time it needs to stop now and we mustn’t keep dropping far too deep, it’s an awful habit that’s very much embedded itself into our DNA.

Unfortunately my mood is very fragile, especially whenever I look at the fixtures that we face between now and the 19th May, a day where it may come down to the wire on the final day of the season at Wigan Athletic. I am really struggling to see where we are going to pick up the points that we are desperate for in order for us to stay up. Having said that the final chapter is far from written, it isn’t available in draft copy yet, but we must try and put ourselves in the best position possible for when we finally embark on the great run in.

This weekend our lions go to a club that I hold in high regard, the blue half of Liverpool: Everton. They played us off the park in August in a match that really brought to light what we have now come to expect this season and we’re going to have to improve paramount on that performance to get anything from the game. Personally I can’t see it but as we know, football’s a funny old game.

Enjoy the rest of your week, and Up the Villa!

Leave a Reply