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…
3. RETURNS
Villa’s boss has been making positive sounds about both Jores Okore and Adama Traore being close to returning for Villa. Those are two players that are potential Villa first teamers and would make the team stronger.
Traore’s disappearance has been a bit of a mystery, coupled with rumours about a ridiculous sounding contract arrangement. Considering the recruitment team at Villa, anything is seemingly possible, so it’s hard to know the truth about the contract situation – could his wages really go up to £75,000-a-week? He’s 19 and he’s done sweet FA in his career thus far.
Whatever the small print, Villa need Traore to start his Villa career in earnest to hopefully spark a revival. Okore meanwhile, could be the key to making the defence stronger. I would put him in at centre-back and switch Richards to right-back in a heartbeat. That then presents a short-term solution of Hutton switching to left-back until January. Not ideal, but surely better than Richardson being there?
