Villa’s time to kick-on

Friday, 16/12/2011

by Steven Green, Shoot's Aston Villa blogger

After recording their first away win of the season last weekend you’d be forgiven for having hope that the club might actually make it through the festive period with minimal damage.

Marc Albrighton seems to be finding his form, scoring his first goal of the season in the process. Stiliyan Petrov seems to have finally found his shooting boots and Brad Guzan looks as though he is ready to be thrust into the spotlight and grab the number one jersey between his teeth and not let go.

A good Villa performance last weekend will hopefully give the side confidence as they face Liverpool and Arsenal in quick succession. Both teams have had their difficulties this season and are there for the taking. It is time now to believe and really get the season started, the current crop must push on if they want to realistically challenge for a place in Europe.

One or two new arrivals will likely come in during the January window so those unsure of their positions must show that they really can take the club on to the next level.

But of course, a lot of this is down to how McLeish sets his players up. Agbonlahor is suspended for the trip to Liverpool but that doesn’t mean Villa need to be defensive.

There is still enough attacking talent to be threatening and it’s about time that Nathan Delfouneso really stated to establish himself. Sitting back against these teams is suicide; they have too much craft and cunning to not break through a stubborn defence.

All the fans really want to see is a spirited performance, to lose and not roll over is acceptable but all they truly want is to see the exciting attacking football that we’ve become so used to over a generation. Darren Bent must be wondering what is going on by not utilising him, just as we are.

You wouldn’t be surprised to see him hand in a transfer request if things continue this way and that would be a disaster.

So this festive period is important for more than the simple reason of collecting points. It could make or break the squad and either sell or keep hold of certain players.

Villa mustn’t choke!

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