This meant something to me. Oh Vienna!

The portents weren’t great.  After all the success we’d had down the flanks against West Ham, we now appeared to have no width at all.  Downing was rested.  Poor lamb must be worn out after all of three games.  Albrighton on the bench may have been a sensible decision given his obvious fatigue in Geordieland, but with Ashley continuing to act as a second class striker rather than a first class wing man, it soon became obvious that going past the full backs was not gonna happen.

Even when Albrighton replaced Gabby after half an hour – our best chance of winning disappearing at a stroke – we seemed to be playing a bizarre 4-3-3 which none of the players seemed that comfortable with.

I kept a special eye on Ireland, hoping to see a glimpse of something for the future.  He played like a Petrov clone and that’s Petrov on a bad day.  Patently, he’s badly in need of games and the midfield as a unit needs to some sort of game plan.  It seems that flair and creativity went out of the window with Milner to be replaced be industriousness and sporadic industriousness at that.

That said, Rapid shouldn’t have been fearsome opposition and largely weren’t for much of the game. Happy enough to bide their time and wait for their chances.  It’s a tactic that should have failed because for all the lacklustre play, we did somehow create enough chances to win several matches.  It shone a bright light on our lack of goalscorers.

All that wouldn’t have mattered had we not been so woeful in defence.  I Love Carlos Cuellar but with the best will in the world, he is never going to make a right back.  Had he been played a centre half it might have been a different story,  but we got Curtis Davies – the most vocal about not being given a chance.  The game was barely minutes old when his form led many of us to recall his “pub player” debut in the League Cup.  There are poor performances and there are completely unacceptable ones.  I’d place Mister Davies’ showing in the latter category.  I hope it’s a long time before he’s “given a chance” again.

Where do we go from here?  Backwards seemed to be general feeling as we slumped out of VP last night, many saying that were actually dreading the Everton game.  That becomes a massive game now in every sense.  If Villa’s players  find some form, battle as they’ve shown they can and provide a convincing home win, then we can take it as a real statement of intent.  Any sort of poor performance – a failure to take the three points – will see the good times laid to rest and a season of struggle will lie ahead.

We need leadership.  Now. A permanent coach should be appointed without any further delay.  MacDonald?  Not if he doesn’t truly have the desire.  Don’t think he does. We need leadership on the pitch.  Petrov is not proving to be inspirational leader.  Despite his showing against Newcastle, I’d give the armband to Dunne.  We need leadership at the very top too.  Sure Randy has a chief exec in place and uses the General to liaise with the fans but why not appoint a Director of Football?

We're now rudderless, don't have either a coach or European competition to draw in better players and the perceived lack of action from the board since MON's departure had been staggering.

Last night meant something to us. Defeat was entirely avoidable. Mister Lerner needs to  get his act together or sell to someone who can.    Kenny Huang anyone?

Six of the Worst - it really hurts

I don’t suppose the phrase “what a wounder” covers it. The language I was using on Sunday was certainly terser.

As wake up calls go, it was a big one and no mistake. Six- nil is hard to take at the best of the times but right now it is yet another twist and turn on the Villa rollercoaster that is desperately hard to take.

Perhaps it was the West Ham game that had lulled us all into a false sense of security. All attack, attack, attack, the Irons constantly on the back foot as Albrighton relentlessly tormented them down the flanks. There were warnings even during that wonderful afternoon. Mister Albrighton’s forays were rather predictable, if welcome as I'd pointed out midway through the first half – only to be shouted down by those merely enjoying the spectacle and as for Mister Carew – well, he was woeful that day. I flippantly blamed the banana coloured excuses for boots he had on, but then his slip-ups didn’t really cost us on the day.

Despite those very minor gripes, it was difficult to leave Villa Park without a huge ear-to-ear grin with the general consensus being that it was the most entertaining VP display in years. What do we want though – entertainment or points? If your answer is both I fear you will always be destined for disappointment. Me – well I used to say you can read the result on the back of the Argus (ask your dad, kids), if you’re in the ground, you deserve something decent to watch.

So, it was with lifted hearts that we turned our attention to Vienna – only to find that man freshly dubbed “SuperMac” didn’t appear to be taking it seriously. I’m not totally against squad rotation, one was my criticisms of MON was that he didn’t do enough of it – but EIGHT changes! Three or four at most is my view because you can’t afford to lose momentum and momentum we certainly lost. Surely the experience of two seasons ago, when we threw Europe away only to have poor league results can’t have been forgotten.

Ok, so the younger players acquitted themselves well enough over in Austria but as well as if we’d had a few older heads in the side? Surely not? The away goal is all very well and good but how much better would an actual lead have been. The real heartbreaker here was the injury to Weimann – making the briefest of cameos before being stretchered off in tears. I’d been looking forward to having him as a different striking option. Suddenly the need to sign another striker seems more acute and less likely to actually happen.

I’m sure they’ll be plenty of opportunities to give the youngsters a run out if we qualify for the group stages but let’s do that first. This is the start of the season. Surely none of the senior pros were that knackered after one competitive game

The fact that – the departed Milner excepted – the team that played West Ham was picked to Newcastle would indicate to those coming in for a cup game that no matter how well they play, they’ll be out when the League games come around. Hardly encouraging. If multi-million pound signing Curtis Davies is good enough for the Europa, surely he’s worth a stab in the Prem? (I wouldn’t pick him mind)

So, to the Newcastle debacle itself. I wasn’t there. I’m glad I wasn’t there. The players look like ants from the lofty perch that is the away section anyway. I was in the pub downing (I was politely trying not mention Downing) pint after pint of Carlsberg Export. It failed to numb the pain.

We started fairly brightly but it quickly became apparent that the suddenly talismanic Albrighton had had his batteries taken out – and with his failure to live up to the promise of the season’s opener went Plan A. Plan B? What Plan B? After an early rush of energy, we gained a penalty and who knows what would have happened had Carew not plunged it into Row Z – but just two minutes later Joey Barton struck and from that moment on, all the fight seemed to have been sucked out of us.

Petrov and new boy Ireland did a disappearing act that David Copperfield would have been proud of and we were muscled out of the game. Not in a bad way either. No complaints about Newcastle, they were firm but fair and our midfield was nowhere – neither in taking pressure of the defence or creating anything of note in attack. We had scoffed at how poor West Ham had been at VP and now here we were – live on the telly – and playing worse, to the joy of the odd bluenose scattered around the pub.

Our defence was pulled to bits – and it’s OK to say that we’ve got Collins & Cuellar out injured but I’m sorry – other than young Ciaran Clark – that’s most people’s first choice isn’t it? Sure Collins would have had more physical presence had he been facing the bustling Andy Carroll. Indeed Carroll dominance in attack made Carew’s bumbling at the other end all the less forgivable.

Mac was quick to take the blame – and he certainly could have got Reo-Coker on a bit quicker – at least when he appeared we had someone to put a foot in. The sheer joy of the opener had turned into an absolute nightmare just eight days later. A team we should have easily beaten on paper had deservedly thrashed us on grass. No excuses, no complaints and - most worryingly – no obvious answers.

Was this a blip? Or was West Ham one? Where was the leadership on the pitch when the going got tough? Or even off it?

If Mac can’t make up his mind whether he wants the job then clearly he shouldn’t get it. So who do we get? USA Bob? Sven? Whoever it is, it’s already far too late for them to assess the squad, get rid of the chaff and bring in any fresh faces. We’re stuck with what we’ve got and till January at least – but we do need someone to come in and get these guys playing and playing consistently.

It was still hurting on Monday night when – just to rub salt into the wound – Milner made his Man City debut and was – to all intents & purposes - magnificent. Well maybe not, but he was certainly very good. Would we be bemoaning a six-nil defeat if he were still in Claret & Blue?

Doubt it.

Been an interesting ride but it's time for a change at Villa

Oh dear.

 

Managerless after four years of O’Neill’s wonderfulness.  Has it been that wonderful?  It’s easy to focus on the bad times, because despite some wonderful results, forays into Europe and two, count them, two trips to Wembley, there have been dodgy signings, incomprehensible team selections and just how many times did you come back from a home game, even when we’d won, saying that we weren’t that good.

 

Despite the sort of transfer budget that Ellis era managers could only have dreamt of, Martin’s win percentage was 40%. To put that into context, this was one percent lower than that of the much maligned John Gregory.

 

Odd signings abounded from the start.  I never really understood why anyone would think for example that Zat Knight was anything other than a ricket in the penalty area waiting to happen.  Curtis Davies may have had potential but we paid way over the odds for him and injuries and lack of opportunity have undoubtedly forced him backwards.  Did anyone understand the signing of Marlon Harewood – bizarre to say the least?  I’m not going to have a pop at Heskey, I believe he has many good qualities and was one of England’s better players at the World Cup but he was and remains an awkward fit into our set up.

 

Criticising the signing of Sidwell is all too easy with the benefit of hindsight – none of us were too upset about it when he joined. The question is – was he or Reo-Coker for that matter – ever given enough game time to realise their potential? I’d venture not. This brings to matters of team selection and squad rotation.  O’Neill was playing virtually the same team every game last year.  They were out on their feet on times and squad players must have been busting a gut to get on that pitch.  If he didn’t trust them, why did he blow millions on them?  Carlos Cuellar never really found his feet at right back – constantly getting caught out of position while specialist right back and for me one of the best players in the squad Luke Young couldn’t get a look in. 

 

The crunch of this came for me in key home games against Sunderland & Wolves when I remain convinced that squad rotation would not only enabled us to win those games but leave the “first picks” fresher for other games.  I genuinely still think we would have won the Carling Cup had this happened.

 

I think criticism of Randy Lerner is unfounded and unfair.  I believe he is a businessman who sees Aston Villa as a business opportunity and not a hole to throw vast sums of cash into.  I believe he is the sort of man to wish to see a return on his investments.  By selling Milner and possibly Young he will not doubt realise this but will also be aware of costly failures such Curtis Davies and Steve Sidwell.  I don’t think the days of big investment by Mister Lerner are over by any stretch of the imagination but it is completely understandable that he may want to proceed with caution.

 

Compare the situation of the last four years with those of the previous four under O’Dreary and Graham Taylor’s saddening second coming and there has of course been a vast improvement.  Compare them to the tenures of Brian Little and even Gregory and I’d say they were pretty similar.   

 

O’Neill’s low point was undoubtedly when throwing away Villa’s exciting UEFA Cup run on a fateful night when he decided not only to drop senior players but not even take them to play on the bench.  He split the fans down the middle on that one, as he did when signing Heskey.  Many he never won back and once you lose a section of support, there’s really only ever going to be one outcome.  It was at this point that the writing was on the wall.

 

So 2009/10 proved to be the final season of Martin’s reign and with our most realistic tilt in years at the top four and two excellent cup runs, it was a final season to be proud of.

 

We may never know what the final straw that broke the camel’s back was - but I for one think that the spiralling wage bill - much of it going to player's he wasn't prepared to pay was at the heart of things.  With Villa’s wage bill already running at 85% of turnover and contributing to a massive operating loss, one can’t blame Lerner or the Chief Exec if they baulked at that sort of pay claim.  Spurs have team full of big names and their wage bill is millions cheaper than ours.

It should have been time to kick on but now we’re back to square one.  Tough times may lie ahead but then it’s the tough times that make you really appreciate the good ones when they come.  Martin may have gone but the Villa go marching on.  That’s what we do.  We’re Claret & Blue.