Villa’s crunch time

Friday, 04/11/2011

by Steven Green, Shoot's Aston Villa blogger

The game against Norwich this weekend is no doubt the club’s first must-win game of the season. It’s time for Alex McLeish’s men to start turning those draws into victories as the season begins to enter a crucial period.

With some very tricky ties over the build up to Christmas it’s absolutely imperative for Villa to rediscover that killer instinct in front of goal and tighten up the backline at set pieces.

Norwich have been in good form recently so this is by no means an easy tie but it is, however, one that Villa should still win.

Last week's performance against Sunderland was slightly improved on what we’ve seen from Villa in recent weeks. Charles N’Zogbia showed flashes of what he’s capable of and the side created more chances. Even Emile Heskey gave a good account of himself in his unusual new role in midfield.

But it wasn’t good enough.

Darren Bent missed another great opportunity and his apparent lack of confidence is becoming a slight concern. Perhaps he is finally starting to struggle under the weight of all the expectation but it is probably more likely that he is missing the service of Young and Downing.

On paper Villa have an incredibly talented squad, but changes do need to be made. Jermaine Jenas is expected to be fit to make his long awaited debut and Barry Bannan is available again after his internal ban by the club was suspended. This will give Villa more creative options in the middle, which is in truth where they’ve struggled the most.

There are only three games in the next ten where we’ll be expected to take maximum points so hopefully McLeish will realise that the system he’s been using isn’t working and make some adjustments, otherwise we could be in for another sticky season.

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