It's becoming a truly predictable pattern isn't it? Six defeats on the trot, hardly any goals and
shots on goal all season and lack of confidence sets in; the hoof ball starts and the absent
Christian Benteke is looked upon as the saviour to get Villa out of the mire.
But wait, against Burnley Joe Cole made a magical debut for Villa in the Prem and looked as though he might put some icing on the cake. We looked forward to the CP match, drooling at the thought of Cole and Benteke as a twin force and able to stop the goal drought. Well pipe dreams are what they are; they disappear with a puff, and last night Cole revealed that, after all, he does have an on-going injury that probably does explain why he hadn't made a league start before this season.
So we're back to the same situation as in the previous three seasons: no quality creativity in midfield (Delph's absence as well doesn't help) and a desperate lack of entertainment expectation unless 'the Beast' gets into full stride. With Weimann's enforced absence from the upcoming Leicester match we cannot expect his replacement to be Cole (injury) nor any sight of Villa's wunderkid, Jack Grealish, in the starting line-up. Paul Lambert's focus (and ours too, I suspect) will be on getting maximum points out of the Leicester match by any means at the team's disposal. A win here and also against Albion might see the incongruousness of Villa being in the top-8 with 9 goals scored in 16 matches. It's mind-boggling!
But we could go on about the negatives ad nauseum. In fact there is a plus-side to Villa's squad that has not been apparent for the last three seasons: it seems that we have a defence that has mostly shown up well when Hutton has been available and another incongruous revelation that we appear to have about four decent permutations of CBs. The worry is that there's no backup of quality for the full-backs, unless Clark or Baker (when fit) is played there. Unfortunately, any positives yet again become depleted with the thought that come January we might have lost Vlaar, Delph and Benteke, probably Villa's best three outfielders. If not in January, we may well lose them at the end of the season.
A new owner and a new manager is becoming a desperate requirement to stop any further rot. To put it in a nutshell, a new owner (or a revitalised current owner) is needed by this May in my view. But it so happens that this May will also see another General Election and it is a possibility that any potential new overseas owner may want to see the result of that before committing his finances in the UK. And Villa also need to be ship-shape by then.
Anyway, there is the thought that we could finish 8th in the league this season having scored 25 goals and showing a goal deficit of 20. That would be another Lambert-like record!
UTV
Christmas is upon us and every good Villan needs to find a stocking filler as a warmer for his Villa chums. These days, we Villans need something to remind us of warmer days!
Why not enjoy a low-cost primer of Villa's history added to all the main stats from 140 years of football? What is more, buy more than one and you start getting a good discount! Please click here for more info.
But wait, against Burnley Joe Cole made a magical debut for Villa in the Prem and looked as though he might put some icing on the cake. We looked forward to the CP match, drooling at the thought of Cole and Benteke as a twin force and able to stop the goal drought. Well pipe dreams are what they are; they disappear with a puff, and last night Cole revealed that, after all, he does have an on-going injury that probably does explain why he hadn't made a league start before this season.
So we're back to the same situation as in the previous three seasons: no quality creativity in midfield (Delph's absence as well doesn't help) and a desperate lack of entertainment expectation unless 'the Beast' gets into full stride. With Weimann's enforced absence from the upcoming Leicester match we cannot expect his replacement to be Cole (injury) nor any sight of Villa's wunderkid, Jack Grealish, in the starting line-up. Paul Lambert's focus (and ours too, I suspect) will be on getting maximum points out of the Leicester match by any means at the team's disposal. A win here and also against Albion might see the incongruousness of Villa being in the top-8 with 9 goals scored in 16 matches. It's mind-boggling!
But we could go on about the negatives ad nauseum. In fact there is a plus-side to Villa's squad that has not been apparent for the last three seasons: it seems that we have a defence that has mostly shown up well when Hutton has been available and another incongruous revelation that we appear to have about four decent permutations of CBs. The worry is that there's no backup of quality for the full-backs, unless Clark or Baker (when fit) is played there. Unfortunately, any positives yet again become depleted with the thought that come January we might have lost Vlaar, Delph and Benteke, probably Villa's best three outfielders. If not in January, we may well lose them at the end of the season.
A new owner and a new manager is becoming a desperate requirement to stop any further rot. To put it in a nutshell, a new owner (or a revitalised current owner) is needed by this May in my view. But it so happens that this May will also see another General Election and it is a possibility that any potential new overseas owner may want to see the result of that before committing his finances in the UK. And Villa also need to be ship-shape by then.
Anyway, there is the thought that we could finish 8th in the league this season having scored 25 goals and showing a goal deficit of 20. That would be another Lambert-like record!
UTV
Christmas is upon us and every good Villan needs to find a stocking filler as a warmer for his Villa chums. These days, we Villans need something to remind us of warmer days!
Why not enjoy a low-cost primer of Villa's history added to all the main stats from 140 years of football? What is more, buy more than one and you start getting a good discount! Please click here for more info.
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