Are We In A Winter Fog?

It doesn't look good, does it? The absence of Jack and Axel - and the injury to Chester - has caused some ramifications.

My whole argument about Axel being missed pretty well as much as Jack was tied with the aftermath of their absence from the team. At that stage we didn’t really see anything else dramatically wrong except the defence, which was an issue not to be sneezed at. And then it became clear that Chester was carrying an injury which has proved to be somewhat more serious than it seemed.

OK, so we’ve had something of a defensive overhaul, and I haven’t got too many complaints about last night’s defence other than Hause being ‘rusty’ and Hutton being strangely indecisive on a couple of occasions.

But the midfield in general seems to me to have become virtually useless, and I don’t choose that word lightly. Even McGiven – probably because he tries to do more than his share – seems to have become less effective, though it’s generally from him anything good occurs. Conor mystifies me – he could be such a good player I feel but undersells himself i.m.o. At least he made one good tackle last night.

And Whelan is there because there’s no-one else who is willing to stand up and be counted in that department. He is getting old and shows it in his lack of movement, but he’s got a good footballer’s brain.

As for the wingers. Well, dear Albert looks low in confidence. And that’s a pity. I do like him, and he showed last season that when he had the chance to pick up responsibility, he did, by scoring so many goals. Now he can barely shoot, or even create. El Ghazi has improved but still short of the needed quality i.m.o. Green must start versus Albion, surely – but he will need to be given several games to get going properly.

Yes, Jack’s return should improve matters, but his absence has revealed that without him (and a forward moving c-b like Axel) we are devoid of imagination in midfield.

Yes, a clear-out has to take place. And some will automatically be going anyway once their contracts are up.

It looks as though we’re still hurting after those years of club mismanagement that started 9 (nine!) years ago. That's a long time for Villa's fans to be suffering, and it really goes back much further - to the time when John Gregory left in 2002.

Still, while there's life, there's hope! It's just that we must beat Albion on Saturday!

UTV