Blogs should get rid of clichés, however, it has been quite the rollercoaster week for Aston Villa.
It began with a 2-1 defeat at home to Chelsea last Saturday. Villa managed to score a Premier League goal after 10 hours 59 minutes of football, Jores Okore’s first for the club, getting his head on the end of a Carles Gil cross at the back post to level the game. For the most part, Villa played decent football, there were signs that the attacking edge that the likes of Sinclair and Gil provide were beginning to bear fruit.
However perhaps the biggest takeaway from the game, were Jose Mourinho’s post-match comments:
“I think they have very very good players…The Stadium is difficult… The [home] crowd is always behind them [Villa]”.
Although the first part is somewhat of an exaggeration (in comparison to Chelsea at least), what he didn’t say was just as telling, there was no mention or indeed praise of Paul Lambert, or the manager’s tactics. The absence of referring to the manager whilst acknowledging Villa’s stature, seemed to intimate that the club are in the position they are in because of the manager.
The claret and blue boys had no time to rest on their laurels, with a Tuesday night clash away at Hull deemed by many a supporter, as a must win for Aston Villa. In comparison to the game against Chelsea, Villa did not look like sharing the spoils, let alone grabbing all 3 points. A lack of initiative going forward combined with sloppiness at the back meant that after 22 minutes we were a goal behind.
The “Lambert Out” banner was unfurled, but despite this and the ever-growing pressure on the 45 year old Scot, things did not improve; Villa were 2-0 down before the finish. At Full-Time most of the Villa Faithful had their heads in their hands, and were downright mystified how the manager was still at the helm after such a consistently abysmal string of results and play.
The following evening, at around 8pm, the change the fans had been hoping for came to pass. An official statement from the club confirmed the manager’s departure. From the outside, Paul Lambert’s exit was inevitable, the records broken, and the football being played spelled relegation. (What this means for Aston Villa Football Club will be discussed in other posts on The Villans’ Voice).
Despite the appointment of Tim Sherwood this weekend, Villa’s preparation for Sunday’s clash at home to Leicester has fallen into the hands of First-Team Coach Scott Marshall and Goal-Keeping Coach Andy Marshall. It’s hard to believe that they will instil the team with an abundance of confidence ahead of Sunday, but they should be able to invoke the discipline necessary to get a result. It is also unlikely that they will rock the boat with untried formations/tactics/players.
Similarly, Villa require some of the players in the dressing room to step up and provide motivation and rigour to enable Aston Villa to proceed to the next round. The likes of Guzan, Clark, Hutton and Delph need to stand up and be counted; they need to be vocal and ensure the whole team keep their heads and play sensible football.
Leicester City’s preparation for the upcoming game has been nearly as tumultuous as Villa’s. Nigel Pearson was ‘sacked’ by all accounts on Sunday evening, only for denial reports to the contrary to surface soon after. This phantom sacking of Pearson came off the back of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in which Pearson was involved in an on-field confrontation with Palace midfielder James McArthur. The defeat against Palace was Leicester’s fourth in a row, with their last Premier League victory being a 1-0 home win against Villa.
Both sides are low on confidence and in miserable form going into Sunday’s clash. To both teams, Sunday’s FA Cup game can either be labelled as a distraction, or something to get the supporters and players fired up for the oncoming Premier League relegation battle. Leicester, despite the results, have not been playing terrible football, and do have some good attacking talent to call on for Sunday. Villa will be desperate to start scoring again, and a home cup game against the Premier League’s bottom side is an excellent chance to do just that.
The game kicks-off at 12.30pm on Sunday the 15th of February. Coverage from Villa Park is live on BBC One.
