Nervous End To Season For Villa?

Martin O’Neill has admitted Villa are struggling for points and would like to have some of the draws we were getting earlier in the season.

The Villa boss said:

‘We need the ability to change the occasional draw into a win and the occasional defeat into a draw. At the beginning of the season people were saying we’d drawn too many games – I wouldn’t mind the occasional draw now.’

Adding: ‘But I still believe we’ve got a bit more confidence about the side now than we had when we were perhaps getting a few results. I actually think we’re a better side now or a more potent side than we were in October when we were actually seeking out a few results. Two wins out of 18 is not something I’m pleased about, but I would hope to get it right.’

Difficult to put the finger on what has gone wrong this season, certainly many of us expected more out of it and many are questioning why Villa aren’t in the top half of the league. Not as if there are any easy games coming up either, with a visit of Liverpool this weekend, Villa will have it all to do to get anything out of the game.

We then have a resurgent Everton to face at Villa Park. That leaves a run of seven games up to the end of the season, although some are looking behind them and mentioning the R word, hopefully we’ve just about enough to fend off teams who are (hopefully) infinitely worse than us.

Blackburn (A), Wigan (H), Boro (A), Pompey (H), Man City (A), Sheff Utd (H), Bolton (A). Not easy, but we’ve got to get a few points out of those and hope for a far better showing next season!

The ‘genius’ (sic) that is Andy Gray has suggested this is already Martin O’Neills team and suggests we need a few victories. Sherlock Holmes, eat your heart out, Villa need a win. Blimey, I wish I’d thought of that.

The Sky pundit and former striker said:

‘The pressure on the other teams at the bottom of the Premiership has probably saved Martin O’Neill and Aston Villa from a greater amount of scrutiny. Their record this season doesn’t make for good reading, especially after they started the campaign with so much promise, the year is in danger of ending in disaster. Just seven wins from 29 games isn’t good enough and Martin will know – if he didn’t before – the size of the task facing him at Villa Park. If Villa lose to Liverpool on Sunday that will be two home defeats on the spin following their loss to Arsenal in midweek, and although they are tough games, the fans expect them to be more competitive in these fixtures.’

Adding: ‘Martin is only in his first season back in the Premiership, and it’s right that he should be given time to get his feet under the table and bring new players in. But he has brought in plenty already and this Villa side is HIS team, littered with players that he has brought in since taking the reins at the start of the season.’

And on the fans, ‘Credit to the Villa fans they are being very patient with the players and the manager and they need to because truth be told it hasn’t been a very good season for them. Villa have had just two wins since the turn of the year, home games against Watford and West Ham, a statistic that doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence as a Villa supporter.’