McLeish’s strange trip

Friday, 17/02/2012

by Steven Green, Shoot's Aston Villa blogger

A lot has been said this week about the poor performance the team put in against Manchester City last weekend and the sad thing is that it’s all been true.

An ultra defensive Villa side struggled to get the ball out of their own half for 85 minutes and only came alive when all chances of winning the game were dead and buried.

City’s away form has been patchy and Villa would have felt that they could have got something from this as they look to recover their faltering home form.

You have to feel for any fans that’ve bought a season ticket this year; they’ve been treated to a seemingly never-ending supply of poor performances.

However, unrest from some elements of the supporters likely filtered through to the players as protests against the manager were held before the game.

The atmosphere inside the ground was tense, morose and completely void of optimism. Certainly no way to fire the team up for a big game.

But that’s beside the point. McLeish set the tactics all wrong, leaving out all naturally left footed players, benching the two most creative players in the side and placing the very un-winger like Emile Heskey on the right.

The defence worked well but you can only play like that against a side like City for so long before they break you down. It was inevitability.

Regardless of who the opposition is, you shouldn’t be playing like that at home.

The next four games are all winnable and even though Villa are seven points safe it’s never too late to be dragged down into the muck and seeing as there’ll be no European football next season then beating the sides around and below you is the way to ensure there’ll at least be Premier League games next year.

This week Alex McLeish has flown to the States to learn from members of the Cleveland Browns coaching staff. For those who don’t follow the NFL the Browns are often recognised as the worst side in the league.

What it is McLeish is banking on learning is unknown but hopefully he won’t pay too much attention, he ought to be spending time with Alex Ferguson or Pep Guardiola instead.

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