The Time of Year For Grey Clouds - But Surely Not At Villa Park!

Jeremy Corbyn speaks of his desire for a kinder world, but he’s clearly not been to Villa Park very recently. Frustration is afoot and the knives are beginning to be drawn against Tim Sherwood, whose re-hashed squad have still to hit the high spots.

I’d like to think that if it was Tim that had been brought in during the summer of 2011, and that we’d never experienced the two Scots, we’d be a lot kinder towards him (Tim). But the experience of those five years of drudgery will take a lot of erasing from the fans’ collective memory.

So, can we see glimmers of hope percolating through the autumnal clouds?

I’d say yes. When Villa were 2-down at Anfield on Saturday, Villa’s game suddenly became alive. There was Hutton forcing his way to the byline and pushing across a deadly and inviting pass. No-one seemed to be awake to the possibility except our Rudy, who manfully shrugged off his marker’s attentions and strove to get there and force the ball home. “Wow!”, I muttered to myself. I doubt that Rudy’s predecessor, our formerly beloved Christian Benteke, would have been alive to that. He’d have been standing on the penalty spot and demanding to know why the ball had not been placed on his toe!

Villa then reverted to type and let Pool acquire a third goal before the other Villa full-back, Amavi, swung across a teasingly delicious centre for our Rudy again to seize on the possibility, again making himself the man to throw himself forward to power the ball home – this time with his head. “Wow!”, I (again) muttered to myself.

With 20 minutes to go, all it needed now was Traore to nip down the wing, beat three players and slip the ball past their keeper. But it was not to be, though you could see that the feller had that in mind. Yet having scored two goals like that, I felt that Villa should have found something in reserve to come back and level the match.

So, of the squad, who can claim to have done enough to secure virtually automatic selection? Who are the players we can say could be the core of a revival?

Guzan – yes. We know he has one or two foibles, but he still stops a few.
Richards – yes. Not quite as strong as when he started the season, but he’s hardly one you’d leave out.
Amavi – yes. Again, defensively he has some foibles, but he’s learning, and can’t he centre a good ball?
Sanchez – yes. Though appearing to be slow (and, yes, a foible or two), for me he oozes class.
Gueye – yes. His come back against Pool was not at all great, but he showed enough to suggest that he’s been missed.
Gil – yes. I can’t quite understand how he was left out against Pool. Has Tim got a personal dislike of him?
Traore – yes. He’s not seen much time on the pitch yet, but what he has shown is potentially explosive.
Gestede – yes. At Anfield, he proved to me he’s got what it takes as our new striker. And the fans love him.
I will also add Veretout, who is quietly getting his game together in my view. Potentially very good.

Of those nine players, six were signed by Tim. And they’re not bad, are they?

If we were to add to that list:

A more disciplined Grealish;
Okore or Clark instead of Lescott;
Gabby (I still think he adds more to the team than Sinclair in the way Sinclair is being used),

– then that’s 11 positions pretty well covered, with players like Ayew, Westwood (and Gardner?) usefully in reserve. Except it’s not, as the right-back slot is still weak. Sinclair? Unless you play him at the centre of the attack, I don’t see him as a first-choice.

The somewhat frail Grealish has been found out in my opinion. Pool were determined not to give him the chance to shine as they did at Wembley and other teams that are better than Small Heath will also manage him well. It’s up to Jack.

All-in-all, though, there are signs of a team that is developing and one that should give us optimism. We have already lost 5 matches, but they’ve all been lost by just one goal, and those defeats are mostly down to defensive failures. And, yes, a substitution error or two.

October is upon us. Now is the time, Tim, for your team to prove what they’re made of. As forcefully demonstrated by Rudy last Saturday.