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How do you solve a problem like the Villa?

Versus Watford

Our once great club is in freefall and there is no denying it a win against Watford on Saturday is a MUST, I don’t care how good/bad we play, I don’t care how we score a goal (even a beach ball would be welcome) and I don’t care what we have to do to keep the ball out of our goal (even a Suarez style handball on the goal line).

We can all discuss the best players to pick, the best formation to choose and the best style to play but I am pretty sure every conceivable combination has been used this season between Tim, Remi and KMac. It’s time that we place the focus on whatever XI players take to the field - these are the people that can turn our season around - they are the only ones. As a minimum players should be running back to their own goal to defend with the same determination they run forward to attack. They should all leave the pitch needing inhalers because they have taken their bodies to the limit. If anyone (even Grealish) show early signs of not doing this then we need a brave manager to drag them off early, even if this is 5 minutes into the match because we cannot afford to wait until we are losing to make the changes. IF we are going to go down then we must go down fighting!

How did we get in this mess?

The problems for Villa began when O'Neill bailed on us on the 9th of August 2010; we were in the build up for a new season and the news came out of the blue. But our problems were not caused by MON, yes he overspent (show me a manager that doesn’t waste money on signings that simply don’t work out) and yes he walked out leaving us in a state of shock at the beginning of a new season but ask yourself why did he leave? We have had a series of managers since that all have brought in new players, different styles of football but there has been a common theme with them all and that has been cutting costs and buying cheap young players in the hope of selling for a profit. Randy Lerner is the man to blame; the years of under spending and cost cutting have lead us to where we are today.

I was impressed with the business done over the summer however it is proving to be "too much, too late" (is that even a saying?). What I mean by this is that if we had been adding the type of players we signed in the summer as a gradual progression - a few each summer added to an already stable squad with experienced Premier League players then we may be progressing up the table. To sign so many players with no Premier League experience is such a massive gamble, I recall when we first signed Petrov he was absolute garbage for the first 18 months then something clicked and he was a rock in the centre of our midfield. We could carry a Petrov with his hit and (mainly) miss performances because we had the likes of Gareth Barry marshalling the midfield back in the early MON years. I have seen glimpses from all of our new signings to suggest they have quality and could be good Premier League players but they need time, time that we don’t have.

Back to Randy, although he is to blame for our current predicament due a consistent lack of investment in hisdefencehe is open(ish) about his reasons for spending cuts - he doesn’t want to invest anymore of his own money and he wants to sell the club. He hasrealisedthat he is out of his depth because it is difficult to make money with a Premier League club andlet’snot kid ourselves that is why he bought the club. Also he bought the club at the time when the Premier League was changing from being a multi-millionairesplayground to a multi-billionaires playground. With the Mansours and Abramovichs of the world happy to wipe out a billion of their personal wealth to win a few trophies what hope does Randy have? If I was in Randys position I wouldn’t invest in Villa (and I genuinely love the club) because you need to accept that you are highly unlikely to see the money you invest ever again.

Boring myself now!

That’s enough of dwelling on the current state of play and it’s time to start picking up points one way or another starting with the Watford match! Get to January still in with a fighting chance of staying up then let’s hope the new lads all click and Randy backs a few panic buys and we roar like lions to the end of the season and survive at a canter.

UTV!

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Enough is enough!! Football is supposed to be entertaining, it is supposed to help you forget about the problems in your life for that 90 minutes when anything can happen. Unfortunately (and I do mean unfortunately) Paul Lambert is not working out #UnderstatementOfTheCentury. He can't be a useless manager I told myself, look at what he did at Colchester and Norwich I kept telling myself. Well I finally admit it I was wrong or perhaps he just doesn’t fit Villa, he may go on to greatness elsewhere but for my beloved Aston Villa his time is up.

I have spent months defending Lambert, he has tried to change the style, he has tried lots of different players in lots of different positions and I believe that he has managed to build a decent looking squad on a tight budget but for whatever reason he can’t get them to play entertaining or successful football.

I won’t bother with a match report, all I will say is pick any match report from the last few months and read that because none of the issues that existed then have been fixed now.

Message to Randy: I suspect you will be having a change of heart about Villa sometime soon now that the new TV deal has been announced but if you want to see any of that money I suggest thinking about a change of manager.

Who next for the managerial hot seat at VP?

I don’t flipping care, the only way is up! Where is Brian Little these days?

Rant over, over and for the love of Villa OUT!!

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Austin Powers - The Spy who shafted Villa!

My patience has run out, I cant stand 4 more years of this rubbish. If things aren't working then how about trying to change something?!!?! I don't mean wait until there isn't enough time left to make a difference. I am more than happy for Weimann and Westwood to be replaced by Cole and Bent, but how about we make this change before the match starts not when 2-0 down with 20 minutes to go. I think that we will sign Cleverly in January because we like to reward people that have done very little, all he needs is 4 good games and he will get a 3/4 year deal a la Lambert and Hutton. He is the perfect fit to the current Villa team, he doesnt attack very well, and he doesnt defend very well - what does he do? what do we do? I don't want to make Cleverly our scapegoat, he isn't the worst player by any means, I am really struggling to find any positives, it isn't that the players dont try... I really think they do try but either the tactics or the players simply arent good enough.

Lambert has a tough job because I sit back watch the Villa and I think "Where do you start?" - What is worse the defence, the midfield or the attack?? I honestly dont know how you fix the Villa. Under MON I went into every game thinking we had a chance, maybe I am becoming negative in my old age but I go into every game expecting to lose. Under MON I knew we would give ourselves a chance by actually creating some chances - yes we may concede but we could score. Now I am not confident that we are going to create chances to win any game.

I want to see change - it doesn't have to be the manager (and this isn't going to happen anyway thanks to his 4 good games), it doesn't have to be the players, it doesn't have to be the tactics but IT HAS TO BE SOMETHING! If you make no changes then don't be surprised if the results stay the same.

Quick player ratings for Villa vs QPR

6 - Guzan       -   Nothing spectacular, could do little about either goal.
5 - Lowton       -    My scapegoat, sorry but I just dont like wimpy defenders that don't tackle.
6 - Vlaar       -   A big pansy for the first goal, but otherwise did ok'ish.
6 - Clarke       -   Gave the ball away when tried the hollywood balls, otherwise OK for him.
7 - Cissokho   -    Best of a bad bunch, got forward well.
5 - Sanchez       -   Started bad, then looked to settle before F'ing up for second goal.
6 - Westwood   -   Very Westwood like performance.
6 - Cleverly   -   Poor crossing but kept the ball ticking over.
5 - Gabby       -    Tries hard but ultimately toothless.
4 - Weimann       -    Again tries hard but another toothless attacker.
5 - Benteke       -    I am going to blame fitness but not for long!

Subs
3 - Cole       - Excellent defending for Benteke chance IF HE PLAYED FOR QPR!
3 - Bent       - Was he really on the pitch?

Is it obvious I am annoyed?!

UTV bring on the Spuds!

Reminder of better days...

Aston Villa 1957 FA Cup Final hand signed by 4 players (PP410): Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors

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Mellberg to the Moon

So this week we see the career of a Villa legend Olaf Mellberg come to an end. The legendary beard has hung up his boots for one last time.

During his time at Villa that beard had magical powers – when the beard went the performances dipped, when the beard grew the Viking spirit took over and the performances were solid. Mellberg was signed by John Gregory in 2001, he soon became club captain and marshalled a solid defence which pushed us back up the league.

Mellberg sealed his status as a hero amongst the Villa faithful due to his outspoken views of Small Heath, he was once quoted as saying

"I could never think about playing for Birmingham City. That's not an option, I don’t like Birmingham City at all” – Legend! To mark the end of Mellberg’s time at Villa there was a Mellberg appreciation day on his final home match, and Mellberg showed his pure class by giving all of the travelling fans a shirt saying “Thanks 4 Your Support” in his final game away at West Ham – a rare gesture amongst footballers these days.

Enjoy your retirement! Hope to see you at VP soon!

News also doing the rounds this week is the impending departure of Tony Moon, if ever a player peaked too soon it was Antonio Luna. After scoring in the opening game against Arsenal last season he went on to put in some questionable defensive performances. Luna was often caught napping and he always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. With the signing of Kieran Richardson Luna’s opportunities are likely to be limited so a move to Serie A is on the cards. You would not think he is well suited to the defensive game associated with Serie A but Hellas Verona must see something that I don’t. For that one moment against Arsenal in which I still don’t understand why you were so far up the pitch – Good luck Tony Moon!

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