In a brutal 18 second passage on Saturday, Jeff Stelling gave his views on how Aston Villa’s season has left them languid and helpless at the foot of the table, pointing out key sales, ineffective signings, and poor off-field duty, amongst others. Such a combination of detrimental factors seems to suggest relegation an inevitability of the claret-and-blues, from Stelling and the general public.
To begin, Villa were in a sorry state during the reign of Paul Lambert. Although the Scot was responsible for buying Christian Benteke, Brad Guzan and Ron Vlaar, results were meagre and his ambition was just as pragmatic as at Norwich – survival was key, and that was all.
When Tim Sherwood took over and rejuvenated Benteke, Villa survived relegation thanks in part to his goals, but it wasn’t enough to convince the Belgian that things were on the up at Villa Park and he departed for Liverpool. Furthermore, club captain Ron Vlaar could not be convinced to stay and he left as a free agent. Others such as Andreas Weimann and Tom Cleverley were to exit in that time.
Replacing them adequately, however, was the key factor that the Villa hierarchy completely missed. Names were brought in, and failed to live up to their predecessors. Rudy Gestede provided a modicum of success from Blackburn Rovers, but he lacked Benteke’s natural speed and agility. Idrissa Gueye, a £6.75m import from Lille, has been overrun in the centre of midfield attempting to stabilise a midfield in which the wingers are primarily attack minded, exposing the space out wide. While at the back, the figure of Joleon Lescott is simply not as intimidating as he was three or four years ago. Jack Grealish, for all the talk of his talent, as been cast out as his youthful liability becomes apparent.
The hiring of Remi Garde was a strange one. Although he presided over Lyon for three years, he brought them steady table placing, only once failing to finish in the top four. Working under Paul le Guen and Gerard Houllier brought him an intimate knowledge of the club that he simply could not create at Villa. His non-existent experience in Premier League football ruthlessly exposed after a reasonably promising draw at home against Manchester City. Tactically he has struggled, failing to capitalise on Gestede’s abilities in the air, severely lacking speed out wide, and no commanding presence in the middle of the park.
Although improvements were made during the defeat at Swansea on Saturday, it looks very late to think of another great escape. The squad looks inferior, the manager continually scrabbling for excuses and Plan B’s, and a capacity crowd on the verge of a multi-thousand man tantrum. Bleak days are the present and future for this ultimately doomed side – and they can turn to no one else for blame.
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