da betsul： If ever there was a club in the mire then Aston Villa are it.
da gbg bet： The doom and gloom around the club has been exceptional for a while, especially given the fact that so many pundits and scribes – even I myself have scribbled this view on paper in the past – think that Villa should be less inclined to try their utmost to escape the drop and more ready to use the January transfer window to prepare for life in the Championship.
Their badge does already remind us that they are indeed prepared, but it’s probably in reference to something else altogether. But I mentioned the badge for one other feature included in it: probably the most understated star i can think of on the badge of a football club.
[ffc-gal cat=”aston-villa” no=”5″]
That star, permitted by the 1982 European Cup triumph over Bayern Munich, signifies that Villa are one of Europe’s elite – much more worthy of their star, indeed, than Manchester City, for example, whose current badge sports three of them, though thank God they’re getting rid of that.
So quite why Aston Villa are in this particular predicament – like a drunkard trying to find his way home, but being urged by onlookers to simply give up and try again some other time – is perplexing.
The club probably has the owners to thank for underinvestment and years of stagnation, but their team should surely still be better than the meagre points tally they’ve managed so far.
Still though, while the doom and gloom has been hovering over the drunken Villa like a bad hangover since the second matchday, there has clearly been enough of it already. Any that I could add would be piling it on, so clearly surplus to requirements.
So instead I’ll look to be more optimistic for the rest of this piece, though I can hardly be expected to be totally optimistic.
Villa have won a game! That’s the possibly the only positive that Villa can take for the moment, at least without going a little overboard. They are eight points from the loving bosom of 17th place and seven points adrift of Newcastle and Sunderland directly above them.
That means they not only do they have to make up eight points on a Swansea side who can’t seem to recover from the Garry Monk freefall, but they also have to make up probably the same number of points on both Newcastle and Sunderland. If they are to stay up, they’ll some help from other teams.
They’ll probably need some help from other players, too, and attracting them to Villa in this situation isn’t an easy job. After all, they’re almost certain to be a Championship side next season, at least from the point of view of a prospective new signing.
Except, surely the players they have are better than their dismal league position? Surely the likes of Micah Richards and Joleon Lescott – both of whom played reasonably big roles in Manchester City’s title winning campaign of 2012 – and Jordan Ayew have pedigree. Surely you’d expect at least the English players at the club to care a little bit about being relegated from the Premier League and put up a little bit more of a fight than we have seen so far.
There’s something to be said for floating along before Christmas. Something to say that maybe the end goals of the season don’t quite seem so clear until after the festive period and the January transfer window. Perhaps now, with the Championship staring them in the face, they can mount some sort of a fight.
And that’s as optimistic as I can be. All I can say is ‘things can only get better, they can’t get any worse’. All I can point to in terms of motivation is to say that the experienced players who, only a few years ago, were looking for starting berths at England’s campaigns at major tournaments. Or to point to the newer players, especially the young French guys, and think, ‘who’s going to want you after you’re relegated? Who’s going to buy you solely on the back of your decent season for Nantes two years ago?’
WANT MORE? >> Aston Villa transfer news | Latest transfer news
All of these young, and technically very good, players who make up the bulk of Villa’s squad, will surely be tarred with relegation and unable to find a better club to take them on. Surely they’ll have to come out fighting for the rest of the season, even if they only do it because they think they can secure moves to less sinking ships next season.
Optimism, for Villa, comes in the form of thinking that things can’t get worse. To start preparing for the Championship next season may be prudent, but let’s face it, no one wants to be there. Villa are a huge club – they have the star to prove it – and they have players who have ambitions to be playing in the top division at least.
Surely if winning games for the team, the club or the fans doesn’t inspire the players to try harder, then at least pointing out that they’ll be unattractive to most clubs because of their failure will do. Villa are in the gutter, but at least someone should be looking to the stars.
[ad_pod id=’europcar-blog’ align=’center’]
[ad_pod id=’writeforus’ align=’center’]