Faith – complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
There are many forms of faith but there’s always one that tops it for the football fan; their beloved team. In my case, this has always been the claret and blue of Aston Villa.
At the early stage of this fledgling season, there’s a mix of emotions. My optimism is still going strong, I’m bit disappointed, worried, you name it. We haven’t got going just yet despite some promising signs on the attacking side, the midfield and defence are still finding their feet.
I’ve seen a lot of discussions about lack of improvements, the stats being dreadful and Roberto Di Matteo being tactically inept. I might have even got a little frustrated myself…
Twitter: Not good enough @Dr_TonyXia #avfc (@thatnickcarter)
Up until our last two games, I’m sure we were all in agreement that someone was going to be on the end of a spanking, I still believe that is coming.
Injuries to key players such as McCormack, Tshibola, Grealish and Gestede has interrupted selection for the moment.
Something I must stress is that despite the late goals conceded, the defence seems much improved compared to last season. It’s still a bit wobbly and with De Laet out for the season, Dr Tony might need to get his cheque book out in January.
I’ve erased the horror show of Ipswich from my memory, it could be a massive point come the end of the season after all… But on a serious note, that match was awful.
While I am by no means thrilled with how the season has started, the another positive is that we’re getting these mistakes out early on. If we do end up fighting at the top end for an automatic/play off place come the end of the season, we won’t be able to afford dropped points.
Something that has surprised me is how early fan opinion has split. We’ve got those who, like me, are keeping the faith while others have descended in to the doom of seasons past.
My message is this; ALL of us need to stick together. The fans, the team, management/owner, the lot. Yes it hasn’t gone fantastically well but we need to have that siege mentality. The media, friends, work colleagues can’t wait for the next opportunity to update us on how Aston Villa are currently doing.
If I was Roberto, I’d be saying this to my players:
Everyone wants us to fail. They can’t wait for our next slip up, the media can’t wait to run another ‘Villa are doomed’ article. Go prove them wrong, the fans are with us, you’ve got an owner who believes in you, go and make them all proud!
Keep the faith and UTV!!
