Well, those words - "We now have a Premiership team" - (or similar) were an utterance from Dean Smith himself. They do not reflect my view. And I use it as the subject line as I - sadly - feel that this kind of statement (if he really believes it) could indicate that we continue as a club to live in a fool's paradise.
Though the Villa definitely put something together and did play better as a team over the last few games, there were plenty of frailties to be seen - the main one being the lack of belief in shooting on target, and particularly in not making the opposing keeper earn his bread and butter.
Let's face it, by the time we came to the 35th match of this staggered season, we came to be facing teams that did not have a lot to fight for. Their existence or success did not depend on beating the Villa, and if they had that kind of motivation, perhaps the results of these last four matches might have been different. As it was, it was a close run thing - if we had lost yesterday we would have gone down, and as Bournemouth had been twice successful against us this season, and taking into account our frequent slack play, perhaps they deserved to stay up.
But - hey - I'm a Villa fan. I shouldn't say those things, should I?
The fact, however, that there might be a false self-belief at Villa Park is somewhat worrying, and perhaps more so as Dean Smith is a well-known Villa fan himself and (we would like to think) knows what's in the mind of a good many Villa fans.
In looking at causes for the tragic state of affairs we nearly succumbed to, we must surely look at the modern view that seems to pervade Villa Park. And whenever I hear Boris Johnson say "We should go with the science" I am inclined to take him to mean what's also going on at Villa Park. What kind of science is it that abjures common sense that surely would tell us that we need Premier League experience to help guide us through the first season back in the top flight? What makes everyone think that 'science' is always right?
In each season since 2015, I have not detected much difference in the overall strategy in the thinking at Villa Park. That is, apart from Steve Bruce's time at VP, when he tried to apply a sense of experience that comes from many years of team management. Not that Bruce was perfect! He was most definitely not, but it was he that brought McGinn and Abraham to Villa Park and did other things that made good strategic sense. Before and after Bruce, however, the Villa have seemed to go for 'science' as the solution to Villa's needs, and hence we saw the intake of many players from around Europe (and Africa) who had no idea about Premier League football. Just what kind of 'science' was this? Although this season did not end nearly so badly when compared to 2015-16, the overall plan did not inspire confidence. In me at least.
As a Villa fan has commented recently on a blog:
Though the Villa definitely put something together and did play better as a team over the last few games, there were plenty of frailties to be seen - the main one being the lack of belief in shooting on target, and particularly in not making the opposing keeper earn his bread and butter.
Let's face it, by the time we came to the 35th match of this staggered season, we came to be facing teams that did not have a lot to fight for. Their existence or success did not depend on beating the Villa, and if they had that kind of motivation, perhaps the results of these last four matches might have been different. As it was, it was a close run thing - if we had lost yesterday we would have gone down, and as Bournemouth had been twice successful against us this season, and taking into account our frequent slack play, perhaps they deserved to stay up.
But - hey - I'm a Villa fan. I shouldn't say those things, should I?
The fact, however, that there might be a false self-belief at Villa Park is somewhat worrying, and perhaps more so as Dean Smith is a well-known Villa fan himself and (we would like to think) knows what's in the mind of a good many Villa fans.
In looking at causes for the tragic state of affairs we nearly succumbed to, we must surely look at the modern view that seems to pervade Villa Park. And whenever I hear Boris Johnson say "We should go with the science" I am inclined to take him to mean what's also going on at Villa Park. What kind of science is it that abjures common sense that surely would tell us that we need Premier League experience to help guide us through the first season back in the top flight? What makes everyone think that 'science' is always right?
In each season since 2015, I have not detected much difference in the overall strategy in the thinking at Villa Park. That is, apart from Steve Bruce's time at VP, when he tried to apply a sense of experience that comes from many years of team management. Not that Bruce was perfect! He was most definitely not, but it was he that brought McGinn and Abraham to Villa Park and did other things that made good strategic sense. Before and after Bruce, however, the Villa have seemed to go for 'science' as the solution to Villa's needs, and hence we saw the intake of many players from around Europe (and Africa) who had no idea about Premier League football. Just what kind of 'science' was this? Although this season did not end nearly so badly when compared to 2015-16, the overall plan did not inspire confidence. In me at least.
As a Villa fan has commented recently on a blog:
Burnley, a ... club with zero fans... and a brand of football that would put a sloth to sleep, a club with pretty much no financial backing and have Villa rejects like Westwood, Bardsley and Lowton who were deemed not good enough over 5 years ago, and ... a club [that] gets [into the] Top 10 most seasons in arguably the hardest league in World Football. We should be ashamed of ourselves as a club.
Burnley, Palace, Brighton, Southampton, Sheff Utd, Bournemouth and Watford who imo are small clubs who are nowhere near the status of Villa in regards of squad [and] financial backing cruise the Premiership this season, it angers me in how badly this mismanagement has cost us this season.
Perhaps that fan was happier after yesterday's result, but I doubt that he would have changed his overall view too much.
A further worry has been the reliance of Jack Grealish to make the big difference. For me, a greater maturity only seemed to flower in the last four games, but against teams that allowed him to play - much more than the likes of Chelsea and Man U. For much of the season he seems to have spent more time on the deck rather than playing.
Well, perhaps the 3-months delay in re-activating the season worked for Villa. A fine article in the Daily Mail on Saturday talked of how much effort went into "late-night debriefs, video coaching by Zoom and barbecues". And by this process creating a bond and trust amongst the players to ensure they were all focused on one method and one attitude over the remaining 10 games. But it almost all came to nought, simply because strikers got nervous in front of goal.
Yes, Villa have had some considerable setbacks during the season - injuries and peculiar VAR decisions have played their part, including that Man U penalty decision - but to have that Sheffield United 'goal' go by without further scrutiny was a tremendous piece of luck for Villa. As, indeed, was Antonio's squirmed shot early in the match yesterday.
Well. We go again - they say - within a few weeks. Jack may well be with us still when that happens, but we need a lot more than we can see in the squad right now if the next season is to be better. If a reported £135m was spent last year to purchase what we saw, how much more do the owners have to pay out for the coming season?
There's little time for Smith to mould them into a better unit.
"Villa always make it difficult". Andy Townsend, July 26, 2020.
UTV!
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