Played 13, won 1, drawn 2, lost 10. Aston Villa have made a shocking start to the season. After flapping around like a headless chicken, the club have suddenly wandered into a seemingly fatal looking fox trap.
Relegation has been clearly signposted for Aston Villa for the past few seasons, the club’s previous main asset on the pitch, Christian Benteke pretty much saved them single-handedly. The Lerner administration thought a thrifty policy could keep them a float while he looked to sell, when if they build a proper team around Benteke with shrewd purchases of better quality (for example, why not buy one decent left-back earlier, rather than four sub-standard ones ala Stevens, Bennett, Cissokho and Richardson).
MOMS has already stated that there was not enough net spend in the summer to make the squad better. Not only did Villa sell it’s best players, but also it stripped away the spine of the team and also lost the only on-pitch leaders it had. What did it replace them with?
Villa have been mismanaged on and off the field, it’s as simple as that. If Villa go down, it’s time to get very angry with those who serve the club.
In the meantime, here’s five reasons to be cheerful as Aston Villa fans…
1. IN RÉMI’S HANDS
The only person who is currently blameless at the football club for its demise is Rémi Garde. When you look at him taking a point from the Manchester City and Everton games, in hindsight, he’s already a point up on most supporter’s expectations from those two games. Now comes the real litmus test to whether he can save the club – the period until the New Year is vital.
Watford (h), Southampton (a), Arsenal (h), Newcastle (a), West Ham (h) & Norwich (a)
I would venture that at least three wins from these six games is essential to give Villa any chance of saving themselves in 2016. Obviously, the sooner the next win comes the better, as a confidence boost is essential.
Citing certain games as ‘must win’ is a foolish description now, as it builds even more pressure leading up to a game and Villa have already lost too many ‘must win’ games. Villa need points from every game, so let’s get on with it and stop pressurising games as ‘cup finals’, because we’re not very good at them, based on the last evidence we’ve had.
