Mind-boggling, or what?!

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

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Encore, Okore!

Well, there you go ... no soon as I mention the strangeness of Okore's non-appearance then he appears! The question is, after seeing the quality of his play last night, just why was he left out for so long? he looked totally at ease and gave Pelle no room at all. Added to that his distribution was fine.

Villa therefore proved that they can actually successfully play about four different and decent CB permutations! Well, it's PL's third season and the only thing that's been got reasonably right is the defence - mind you, there's not much cover for the full-backs.

But packing your own half with players means that you're dependent on breakaways, and you don't get many of those that provide big chances.

We had two such breakaways last night - we scored from one (their defence was asleep) and the other we should also have scored from. But in fact we ended the night with only one shot on goal - the one we scored from. Granted there were one or two other promising scrimmages.

At least we again have the prospect of a Benteke return very soon. But will he make that much of a difference without a creative midfield? PL seems to think we don't need to play 'em! We may not even see Delph in Villa colours again.

Three matches against three of the lowest in the league coming up. These will be very tough games ... if we get more than 3 points from them we'll be doing well.

Then there's Albyun.
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Mystery Happenings at VP

For the last couple of years some strange things have been taking place at Villa Park. And one of the major 'things' has been the strange treatment of certain players.

We might have raised an eyebrow at the creation of the 'Bomb Squad' - the reason for which backfired enormously and eventually Hutton, N'Zogbia and Bent had to be re-assimilated into the first-team squad. Not playing them before must have been at some cost to Villa, although they were out on loan for periods. 

Since last season, however, the matter of Helenius has struck me as being particularly odd, and the fellow seems now to be anti-Villa. He just wasn't persevered with, but my guess is he would have been a good option in the absence of Benteke.

And now there is the matter of Okore, who many thought looked to be extremely promising before his untimely and lengthy injury last season. He appears even to have figured well in this season's pre-season matches, and yet Lambert said (in October) that he's not ready for the Premiership. Okore (I now read) appears to be getting anxious about his position and may be considering his options for the January transfer window. That Clark (as third/fourth choice) has been used adds some mystification to the situation as surely Okore would be a better option?

And there's the Jack Grealish scenario that also threatens to be categorised as another 'strange one' after he signed a new contract. And there are other players that have come and gone or been hidden away in the storage cupboard that we could ask many questions about.

All this (plus a few other things like some appalling records created under Lambert's watch) makes me feel that the chairman does not really have a clue. That the Browns are now doing so well in the States since Lerner vacated his seat seems to highlight that fact. Is he now being out-Fox-ed at Villa Park by someone who is taking advantage of Lerner's naiivity?

Aston Villa : RIP