This was supposed to be the soft part of the schedule. After a gauntlet run of fixtures against a who’s who of Premier League powerhouses, Villa fans viewed the games against Southampton, Norwich and Watford as must win games.
During this crucial week, Dean Smith’s Aston Villa were found wanting; sleepwalking through two of their biggest games of the season and crawling to an unconvincing win over the league’s bottom side in the other.
All this team has proven over the festive period is that they are the team that are soft and that other clubs should look forward to playing against.
The Lions have Lost their Bite
Villa’s first win of the season, against Everton in August, was achieved primarily through effort and endeavour; they wore Everton down and simply wanted to win more than their opponent.
That team is now just a memory, replaced with a side that doesn’t win second balls, is afraid to tackle, doesn’t force their opponents into mistakes, is sloppy, lazy, pedestrian and is maddeningly frustrating – and at times embarrassing – to watch.
Jack Grealish is Villa’s best player, but he also exemplifies the undisciplined nature of this team; his attempts to play the hard man – pushing opposition players while his team is 3-0 down – comes off more as petulance. Being the captain is more than wearing an armband; Jack needs to truly lead this team.
Injuries to key players such as Tyrone Mings and John McGinn haven’t helped, but right now, this team doesn’t have the fight in them for a relegation battle and they will go down if things don’t change.
Dean Smith on the Hot Seat
There was a BBC report recently which revealed that Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris are planning to strengthen the squad in January, rather than give up on Dean Smith, who signed a contract extension just last month. However, Smith will have given the hierarchy some cause for concern in recent weeks, as the cracks in his team begin to widen as Dean Smith’s team have lost their identity, their confidence and their ability to do the basics.
In attack, Villa appear incapable of carrying out Smith’s possession based style as they struggle mightily to move the ball through their opposition; there are scarily few options for the ball carrier and this is leading to Villa repeatedly giving the ball away in their own half.
Even when the midfielders do show some movement and find space, their teammates often make the wrong decision, pinging the ball hopefully towards an isolated Wesley.
Frankly, this team has started to look like they don’t know what they’re doing when they have the ball, and that’s a reflection on coaching.
Smith’s decision making must also be questioned, as his persistence with playing Jack Grealish out wide is rendering his star player one-dimensional and restricting his ability to influence games. You don’t need to be Pep Guardiola to know that Grealish needs to be deployed as a true number ten to get the best out of him.
There has also been a disappointing lack of success from corners and free kicks this season, with Villa’s set pieces more often leading to dangerous counter-attacks for their opponent than goal scoring opportunities for the men in claret and blue. This is particularly surprising given Smith’s attention to detail in this area at Brentford, where he employed a set piece design specialist.
Defensively, Villa has become far too passive as the season has gone on, ditching the high press in favour of getting bodies behind the ball and allowing their opponent to dictate proceedings. In paradox to their inability to move the ball into dangerous areas, Villa’s opponents glide through midfield to the edge of the penalty area with minimal resistance.
Villa seems to have trouble cutting off attacks at the source and have shown a disturbing penchant for conceding soft goals. In general, there is a reactive and lightweight nature to this team without the ball.
Bringing John Terry on as an assistant coach was a nice idea, but I wonder whether in hindsight, Dean Smith would have looked for someone with more experience of coaching in the Premier League to partner him and Richard O’Kelly.
Gut Check Time
Aston Villa is currently at a crossroads. An adjustment period was to be expected with how many new players joined in the summer, but this team is certainly underperforming and is currently declining, not improving.
All Villa fans want Dean Smith to succeed, but there have been too many games with no positives to take in recent weeks and it’s inexplicable that a team managed and captained by boyhood fans of the club has shown so little heart in such a pivotal period of the season.
With a trip to a rugged Burnley team coming up on New Year’s Day, it’s time for Dean Smith and this group of players to realise the situation they’re in and fight like a team in the bottom three should.
Mark Oldacres
The Villa Ramble 
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