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.
