Jump Start

Seven points from a possible nine.

That’s about seven more than you might have thought we’d achieve, should your only sample of Villa fans come from Facebook and online forums.

But the points are just the tip of the iceberg, there’s so much more to why we should be happy.

Two clean sheets. Unbeaten at home. Money spent on high-reputation players in needed positions. The ‘infamous’ bomb squad have returned.

All of these were on the verge of unthinkable just a few months ago, and it’s so refreshing to have expectations proved wrong for the better for a change. Sure: Darren Bent has missed chances, and N’Zogbia has hardly set the world alight – but the fact that Bent’s getting on the end of said chances is promising, and N’Zogbia has just come back from a major injury, and is clearly nowhere near his top speed yet.

Better yet is the improvement in our playing style. The whole back four has looked very solid and well-organised, and the side proved today we can impose ourselves on teams and show real attacking intention. There has also been a clear improvement in the team’s chemistry and passing, with the midfield showing enriched confidence and ability to make the small triangle passes in the middle of the field that ultimately are the foundations of moves that win games.

But, as always, there have been significant shortcomings.

While the squad selection was the one I’d hoped for, with Bent, Sanchez, Grealish and Cole all making starts, an early cup exit at home to a league one side is appalling and only adds to our list of embarrassing cup moments in recent years, especially in ‘our’ cup.

The on-field play hasn’t been all great either, as I may have made out. There’s still a tendency to opt for the counter-attack at home, despite still having no fit target man, and the game today saw us once again a team of two halves, failing to properly get a good grip of the game despite being two goals ahead.

There also some worrying situations off the field.

Two of our three most pivotal players, Vlaar and Delph, have less than a year remaining on their contracts, and after an immense world cup showing and an England call-up respectively, it would be idiotic of the club to not press on with getting these two to sign on the dotted line immediately, or else they may well be talking to other clubs come January, and would show horrendous levels of ambition and progress for the club.

And though this is obviously not (completely) a fault of the club’s, the attendances have started very poorly, with today being our lowest premier league turnout since O’Leary’s tenure, showing a lack of inspiration and belief from our highly-praised fan base. Here’s hoping that steadily improves with results, as the team have so far certainly being doing their bit on the pitch.

It’s been a promising start from the team going into the international break, but there are still overlying problems and downsides that cannot be ignored, both on and off the pitch, making our starting success somewhat bittersweet.