For the past few years, it's been pretty clear
that Villa were in for a long hard season. Last season certainly, there was
little cause for optimism. A shift in transfer policy had bought in a few more
experienced players rather than the investment in youth which hadn't worked for
the previous 3 seasons. But in truth, no one was excited at the prospect of the
likes of Kieran Richardson and Philippe Senderos. Joe Cole was bought in also,
and I tried my hardest to convince myself that he would finally be over his
injuries and he could be the man to unlock defences. Carlos Sanchez was a
player that did invoke some excitement, having just completed a successful
World Cup with an exciting looking Colombia. But his quality as an enforcer in
the Premier League failed to materialise.
On top of this, the fans had already been
turning on Paul Lambert since the back end of the previous campaign. After
being given a generous couple of seasons in which we hoped he would start
playing some of that attractive attacking football that he did at Norwich, we
were treated instead to the most inept and insipid display of football that the
club had ever seen (a bold statement,
but one which the stats back up as we managed to break goal drought records,
least home points records and winless streak records left right and centre).
We knew it was a season of struggle ahead. And,
as I've just alluded to, the biggest struggle was to carry on watching the
withered, horrible football on show. I had supported Lambert, and even halfway through
the season when he was under immense pressure, I still tried hard to keep faith
with him and defended him, much to the derision of others. Purely because of
the fact that I couldn't see anyone else who could do better with the players
contained in the squad. There was no one really available, so in my eyes it
could be a risk. We had chanted for this guy to come to Villa when he was still
manager of Norwich, so we had obviously seen something in him. These streaks of
4, 5, 6 games without scoring, they would pass.
And then it became clear. Villa travelled to
Hull City, on a cold Tuesday night in February. One of our main relegation
rivals. A game we couldn't afford to lose.
Of course, we lost 2-0. And it was an absolute embarrassment
of a performance. In such a vital game, there was no fight whatsoever. No
passion. Not even the basics were there. It was a measure of how awful Hull
were that they only scored twice.
Villa dropped into the bottom three, leapfrogged
by Hull, who were so bad that they eventually did get relegated.
That's when it became apparent. Lambert HAD to
go. My reasoning that no one else was available was irrelevant. Sacking him was
completely risk free because it
literally couldn't get any worse. We weren't scoring goals, let alone winning
games. We'd have been just as well off not turning up for games and conceding
a 3-0 defeat as penalty for doing so.
The very next day, the Villa board took the
same decision and he was gone. Tim Sherwood came in, got us scoring some goals
and winning some games and there was a real buzz around the place again. As we
know we survived.
Which leads us back to the present day, and the
fact that no one knows what sort of Aston Villa we are going to get this
season.
It isn't like previous seasons. There are so
many possibilities. So many unknown variables.
The players are a big contribution to this
uncertainty. The loss of Christian Benteke cannot be underestimated. If fit for
the whole season, it was a guaranteed 15 goals at least. Priceless to a team
battling relegation. Fabian Delph, for all the vitriol surrounding the manner
of his departure is also a loss to us, although nowhere near as much as Benteke
and his goals, and is certainly replaceable. Media outlets will continue this dissection
by claiming the 'spine has been removed' from Villa, as Ron Vlaar has also
departed. I would call this extremely lazy journalism personally, and any Villa
fan will tell you that Vlaar, although our best centre back previously, will
not be missed. His injuries, unreliability and poor form is certainly not
considered a loss at this present time.
However, let's go along with this and say that
yes, on the face of it, the spine has been taken away from the team. As several
people have pointed out to me, it was a spine which may as well have had rickets
for all the good it's done us. We haven't exactly been tearing things up with
those players as our backbone.
The argument is of course, if we are that bad
with those players, imagine how atrocious we're going to be without them.
And this is where the excitement and uncertainty
starts to build. Because, of the players we have signed, it's really only with
Scott Sinclair that we know (or think we know) what we're going to get. He
looked pretty good in his loan spell last year and has followed it up with a
great pre-season. In my opinion an excellent signing for the £2.5 million we've
paid.
Micah Richards, for all his history with
Manchester City, is as much an unknown as anyone else we've signed. Is this
fresh start going to work for him? Is he hungry enough to play consistently at
the level at which he used to? We don't know. All we know is that, potentially,
we have another exciting signing. The talent is there, and if he replicates
even 80% of what he showed as a youngster, he'll be a great signing on a free.
He's certainly got enough of an incentive to play for, with England crying out
for a commanding centre-half.
And then come the French invasion. Jordan Amavi
has looked excellent in pre-season. As has Idrissa Gueye. I haven't heard
anything other than the highest of praise regarding Jordan Veretout and that
comes from well respected critics which bodes well. Jordan Ayew doesn't have
the best of reputations, and is perhaps the one player who has been considered
as perhaps being overpriced, but at that same undoubtedly has talent if he
applies himself. But one thing applies to them all - we just don't know how they
are going to perform and adapt. We know they look good, and have quality. But
until they play in the Premier League, we won't know for sure.
For me, the most interesting signing is Rudy
Gestede. I have spoken to a couple of Blackburn fans and I was amazed at how passionate
they were when speaking about him and unnervingly convinced he will step up and
do well. To them, Jordan Rhodes was second fiddle to Gestede. Likewise, people
associated with Blackburn are convinced that he will be a bargain buy at £6million.
It certainly fills with confidence having those endorsements, however, one outstanding
issue remains - he is, again, unknown at this level!
Undoubtedly though, these are all exciting
signings.
For me, the biggest unknown is Tim Sherwood himself. This is a guy who will either be brilliant, or will be found out by Christmas. However, until, and if, that happens, this guy deserves massive credit for managing to get positivity back into Villa Park after Lambert stunk the place out with negative tactics for so long. No one knows if Tim is a wizard or a wally. I, along with the vast majority of Villa fans, are learning towards wizard. The media are firmly in the wally camp. And to be honest, I find this incredibly frustrating. This is a guy who has come in to management recently and has a pretty enviable record so far. We know he likes to put forward his win percentage. But really, why the hell shouldn't he?! 50% at Spurs and currently 43.75% at Villa. I'm happy to blow this trumpet for him, because that works out to 47.73% overall. That is in a total of 44 games. If in a season you win, say 45% of your games (less than Tim's ratio) then that is 51.3 points. An achievement not to be sniffed at, and an achievement Villa fans will bite your hands off for right now. The argument is that he hasn't done it over a full season, he hasn't brought in his own players and has only come into jobs when players are receptive to a kick up the backside after being thoroughly de-motivated by his predecessors. But for some reason, this is a reason to belittle Tim. If this was any other English manager just starting out on their career, there would be an absolute embarrassment of articles about him being the new saviour of English football and the next England manager. Quite frankly, he is getting most things right on and off the pitch.
Tactics Tim is a moniker thrown at him and is
meant as derogatory. But I will argue he knows what he's doing most of the
time. For sure, he showed up Brendan Rodgers in the F.A Cup semi final. He might
make mistakes, but he is fresh to management so he'll work things out as he
goes, like everyone else in every other single walk of life. He likes attacking
football and maybe isn't as concerned with keeping clean sheets. To be honest, I
imagine that suits most Villa fans down to the ground after the dross that has
been served up for the last 5 years.
Tim is over the top. He's eccentric. And I'm
sure he plays a game with himself to see how many clichés he can fit into each
press conference. But my God, is he a breath of fresh air, not just for Aston
Villa, but for those post match interviews with all the other robot managers
and players trying to recite the words that they've been taught to spew forth
each and every single week.
In my opinion, Tim has done an excellent job of
re-investing the money from the sales of Benteke and Delph. He has also done an
excellent job of bringing in yet more funds by cutting loose players such as
Andi Weimann, Matt Lowton and incredibly, Yacouba Sylla. Massive wages have
been shifted with Darren Bent and Shay Given now gone. When you look at a team
like Spurs who completely blew their Gareth Bale money, Tim has seemingly
rebuilt the squad at Villa. And for what he should be given absolute credit
for, is that, currently at least, our net spend has not exceeded what we have
recouped. Time will tell whether Villa have blown their pot of money. I find it
difficult to see anything other than wise re-investment and a ultimate overall
strengthening of the squad.
I, for one, have an optimism going into this
season. And I hope by the end of it, Tim will finally get the respect he
deserves.
I don't know where Villa will finish. But at
least there is an optimism and excitement and a fresh feel around Villa Park
for once. And right now, that is more than we've had for a very long time.
