Villa’s need for ambition

Thursday, 28/07/2011

by Steven Green, Shoot's Aston Villa blogger

It has now been eleven months since Martin O’Neill walked out of Villa Park and hopefully last year was our transition season out of the way.

To say that watching the team play was frustrating is an overwhelming understatement and we dangled far too close to the drop than anyone cared to see.

So now with a new manager installed with ample time to stamp his authority on his inherited squad things should be all set up for next season surely?

A bright start in pre-season is a good jumping off point. Although ten friends and me could probably scrape a draw against Walsall the result was far more important.

Villa defeated Blackburn 1-0 in the Asia Trophy to reach the final. Sure, it’s a meaningless tournament but it gave the squad a chance to test themselves against fellow Premier League opposition and allows for a greater challenge against Chelsea in the final.

The players are making positive noises about training and the new manager. Certainly Big Eck will sort out Villa’s defence and he won’t allow for any of the off field hijinx that destroyed morale at key moments last year.

He has promised players like Stephen Warnock and Stephen Ireland a fresh start much to the delight of the fans. Two of the key players lost during the summer have been replaced and the younger members of the squad can now look forward to more game time.

But there is something still not quite right…

Perhaps it’s that Eck has said that the incoming deal for Charles N’Zogbia will be the last of the summer. There are two full internationals on the free agent list at the moment (Upson and Hitzlsperger) who would probably quite gladly take a pay cut to join the club, missing out on Hitz would be a tragic shame too!

McLeish has inherited an ageing squad bore of the two managers before him. Granted they are better players than those of his last side but he is under immense pressure already and seemingly has a chairman unwilling to fully back him at the moment with the cash to add a little more steel.

It’s probably fair to say that there will be no silverware again this season barring a little luck of the draw in the League Cup, if we can accept that now then it’ll be easier to take come May but why settle for that?

Surely it’s human nature to show a little ambition, hopefully we have it and hopefully this is all part of the big plan.

• 

• Have your say