Aston Villa are, undoubtedly, deeply ensconced in the Premier League relegation battle this season as new manager Paul Lambert attempts to totally reshape the team on a declining budget.

Overview

When Mark Hughes walked out on Fulham citing a lack of ambition and his desire to compete for trophies, one of the jobs he seemed to be courting was the vacant position at Aston Villa. When you walk from the train station to Villa Park, particularly before a night match when the club house and Holte End light up and set a spectacular backdrop for the evening’s entertainment, it’s not hard to see why.

Villa Park, once a regular venue for FA Cup semi finals, is a magnificent arena that could yet be extended still further, and the club’s home support holds up above 30,000 regardless of circumstances. Away from home the club regularly takes one of the largest and noisiest travelling supports in the league. It’s a club where everything is in place – the stadium, the training ground, the support base, the productive academy set up – and yet Hughes’ apparent idea that he’d have more chance of achieving things there than at Fulham looks about as sound as his transfer policy at Queens Park Rangers.

For while Fulham have been to a European final and continue to prosper in the top flight, Aston Villa are now in danger of slipping out of the Premier League altogether. Villa Park may be a splendid venue, and the locals may continue to back their team wholeheartedly, but there are plenty of similar stories in the Championship and beyond. People still talk about Sheffield Wednesday as some sort of sleeping giant fully 13 years after they last graced the Premier League, while Leeds have been away for ten and Nottingham Forest for even longer. When you look at those clubs, and compare them to some of the current mainstays in the top flight like Fulham, Wigan, seemingly Swansea and Norwich as well, it seems ludicrous. But the worst thing you can do in football is get too big for your boots – we’re too big to go down, there’s too much quality in the team to struggle for long and so on.

Villa are suffering at the hands of a chairman, Randy Lerner, who was once held up as an example of the sort of foreign owner every club could wish for. He quietly stayed in the background and bankrolled a team that included Ashley Young, James Milner, John Carew, Brad Friedel and others to consecutive sixth placed finishes under manager Martin O’Neill. Fans grew restless that O’Neill was seemingly unable to give the team that final shove over the line into the Champions League places, but a top four challenge of any sort looks a million miles away now.

In Lerner’s defence, O’Neill did walk out on the club on the very eve of the 2010/11 season meaning they actually started the campaign under the caretaker guidance of Kevin MacDonald who definitely didn’t want the job, then sort of did, and then didn’t get it anyway. That was far from ideal, but it needn’t have been the disaster it turned into by appointing Gerard Houllier who feasts from the same table of yesterday’s men as the likes of Peter Reid. True to form the Frenchman alienated half his playing staff, oversaw a rapid decline in performances, and then had a heart attack.

Further uncertainty reigned while they waited to see whether Houllier was ever going to be fit and well enough to come back and upset some more players. When it turned out he wasn’t, Lerner seemed to like the look of Steve McLaren, but with his fine achievements at Twente still not enough to erase the memory of his monstrously bad spell as England manager, and his ‘wally with the brolly’ reputation further enhanced by a series of interviews conducted in English with a Dutch accent, the Villa fans revolted and said they didn’t want him. The faithful in this part of the world have never been shy of voicing their opinion on a manager – they famously unveiled a banner in front of David O’Leary that read ‘we’re not fickle, we just don’t like you’ - and it seemed that Lerner and the board listened to their concerns and overlooked McLaren; wisely, as it turns out, because he subsequently oversaw a shuttle disaster at Nottingham Forest.

There was talk of prising Roberto Martinez out of Dave Whelen’s steely grip at Wigan that never came to anything, and the way Hughes marched out on Fulham and then laid seductively across his four-poster in a small negligee making come-to-bed eyes at Lerner and Chelsea seemed to put Villa off. All fair enough so far – and then they appointed Alex McLeish.

I will never, ever be able to understand the thinking behind that decision. The media trotted out some rhetoric about Villa fans objecting to the appointment because he’d come from their bitter rivals Birmingham, but that was wholly unfair on the supporters who, quite rightly, were wondering what on earth their club would want with a man who took a perfectly good Birmingham side and relegated it, promoted it back again, and then took an even better Birmingham side and relegated it for a second time. Their opinion had counted on McLaren, and suddenly they were being ignored over a much worse candidate. It was a staggering moment.

McLeish’s dire football soon took root. Meanwhile there was a change of tact occurring on the financial side of the club as well. No more hefty transfer fees for the likes of Young and Darren Bent any more. Quite the opposite, in fact, it was time for a fire sale. Since the summer of 2009 Villa have sold Gareth Barry, James Milner, Stewart Downing and Ashley Young for big money. They’ve also shifted on the likes of James Collins, Brad Friedel, Luke Young, Carlos Cuellar, John Carew and Curtis Davies for more meagre fees. Some of this was good business, and players have come in the other way as well. But even had Villa had a competent manager in charge, they’d have struggled to continue competing with a talent drain like that occurring.

In many ways they were lucky to survive last season, and rightly ditched McLeish at the first possible opportunity in the summer. The size of the club and its potential was enough to tempt Paul Lambert away from the fine job he was doing at Norwich but, like Houllier before him, the first task he seems to have set himself is alienating and upsetting people. While Villa struggle in the bottom three, a man who averages just shy of a goal every other game for them – Darren Bent – doesn’t even make the bench and is apparently being driven out of the club.

There is a focus on youth these days, and the keen eye for a lower league bargain that Lambert used to good effect at Carrow Road has seen some shrewd business done for Sheffield United’s Matthew Lowton and Middlesbrough’s Joe Bennett.

But this is a lousy Villa team; poor to watch and struggling for results. When QPR played there last season I described Villa as a ‘waste of a football club’ and it still is. Lambert clearly did a good job at Norwich, and his focus on younger, hungrier, well scouted players is admirable, but the drain of talent has been considerable and if anybody in that particular corner of Birmingham believes they’re too big or good to go down they could be about to get a very nasty shock.

Interview

As he did last season, Damian at The Villa Blog took time out from his week to talk about Aston Villa’s present state.

A poor start to the season, but Villa fans don't seem to be in uproar as previously - is there a feeling that things are heading in the right direction?

There is a feeling of hope that it could be the right direction. Realistically, the chances that it is the right direction are slim, but we will believe anything or hold on to anything if there is a slim chance.

What have you made of Paul Lambert so far and the job he's done?

Little so far. We are one place above the relegation zone with the worst start to a season in a very long time and he's leaving the likes of Darren Bent in the stands, while telling us there is no problem or issue with the player. It's early but not everything adds up at the moment.

What is the general opinion of owner Randy Lerner - once seen as the league's ideal owner but perhaps not so any more?

Lerner doesn't care about Aston Villa and never has. He cares about money and a return on his investment and he is getting that. We've got no time for Lerner and as the only site to stand independent from the 'love in' that Lerner created in 2006 when he took over, we're still quite proud, although since then there has been an explosion in the number of blogs and forums and they'll all tell you a great story.

What's going on with Darren Bent? Can a club in Villa's position really afford to ignore him? Is he off in January?

All things point to him leaving in January and I suspect there is another reason for it than just the manager wanting to show who is boss.

Is there any genuine concern that Villa might go down this year?

Yes there is. The simple truth is that the last couple of seasons we have been able to look at the table at any time and see three worse sides than us but when you look now, there sometimes isn't. We played well against Manchester United and Arsenal but that is because of the way they play football. Against Reading the other night, we were very fortunate to come away with all three points and the football, for the majority, was poor.

Who are the star men and weak links in the current team?

Brad Guzan is our star man at the moment and our weak link isn't an individual, it's them all, including the manager. We don't look like we have much fight. Sure we've got energy, but real determination seems to be lacking. It will be interesting to see what happens on Saturday.

Scout Report

The television company’s propensity to screen Villa in a Saturday evening slot when I’m usually to be found somewhat the worse for wear on a mode of public transport back from a QPR defeat somewhere mean I haven’t seen a lot of them this season – getting my excuses in early.

I did sit down to their Midlands derby with West Brom in September which they somehow managed to draw despite being outplayed for most of it. The key issue for Villa that day, as I saw it, was a very narrow midfield set up that allowed the Baggies to push Popov and Jones very far forward from the full back positions and consistently overwhelm their opposite numbers on the Villa side. That seemed like a strange tactic for a Paul Lambert team to adopt because at Norwich he would almost always use a midfield diamond system with a couple of wide players providing crosses – the likes of Grant Holt and Steve Morrison were able to profit on numerous occasions with headed goals as QPR know to their cost.

Villa did look to cross the ball, but only after they’d basically pumped it up direct and early and attempted to work a crossing position whenever the ball dropped in their favour. It didn’t do that often because Christian Benteke, a £7m summer signing from Genk, was really poor on the day with virtually everything played up towards him bouncing straight back into West Brom hands because of a poor piece of control. Later they called for Darren Bent from the bench and he scored the equaliser. I’m told that Benteke has played significantly better than that since, and even when he’s not on his game he’s a huge physical presence, but Nelsen and Hill should be able to cope.

The work rate Lambert’s Norwich side was famed for was present, led by Brett Holman in midfield, but they took numerous chances in defence with tight offside calls. In effect they were taking a lazy option of gambling on an offside, rather than mucking in and defending properly. West Brom had one goal disallowed, and then one that did count, and on both occasions Villa could have comfortably kept the ball out had they defended properly rather than banking on a linesman’s flag. Later in the game, when Holman was moved to a wide right role where he wasn’t nearly as effective, the work rate dropped markedly and it seemed that Villa simply weren’t fit enough to play Lambert’s high-tempo pressing game for a full 90 minutes – perhaps a reason he’s ignoring the likes of Bent and only, bar Shay Given, using players under the age of 28 so far. I subsequently saw them play very well for the first hour against Man Utd and lead 2-0 at the point when we went to catch the train home from Stoke – within 20 minutes texts came through to say they’d lost 3-2 which suggests the same thing.

On the attack they often looked to release Gabby Agbonlahor into the left channel, while on the right Matthew Lowton is a threat on the overlap. Their corner routines were based around queuing three or four players who are strong in the air up at the back post and sending in a deep, outswinging delivery.

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Pictures – Action Images

Photo: Action Images

dixiedean added 18:10 - Nov 30 Clive, I feel sick. The thought of Hughes in a negligee is not a pleasant thought. About as nice as the thought of him in our dugout.
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Kaos_Agent added 19:52 - Nov 30 "the way Hughes marched out on Fulham and then laid seductively across his four-poster in a small negligee making come-to-bed eyes at Lerner and Chelsea seemed to put Villa off." Very good Clive. Naked ambition? Aston Villa GF 11, GA 22. QPR GF 10, GA 26. Suggesting that this may be neither an explosive offensive display nor a titanic defensive struggle. It will likely come down to set pieces and who displays the most grit. Hope to see Derry back in.

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TacticalR added 22:53 - Nov 30 We have discussed Villa a few times in the forums. The spending power of the big 4 (Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal), coupled with the focus on Europe, seems to have taken the ground from under established top-flight teams like Villa and Liverpool. Even the cup triumphs of yesteryear have been taken from them, as the big clubs win those as well. These clubs seem caught in limbo (of course that is better than being caught below limbo like us). Villa under McLeish were entirely lacking in ambition. It was terrible seeing them play for a 0-0 draw early last season at Loftus Road. It will be interesting to see what the 'Lambert factor' amounts to at a large club. I suspect Bent is not being played because Lerner has told Lambert that he has to sell if he wants to buy, and Lambert wants to play the cheaper long-term options (that might also explain why Hughes wasn't employed at Villa). Whatever their troubles are, I find it hard to imagine that they will go down with Lambert at the helm. I can see Lambert achieving something there in the future, but that might take some time. If Hughes was still at the helm I would have predicted certain defeat tomorrow. Now he's gone let's hope the team can keep their nerve and grind out a win.

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