The Villa Rant: Time To Take the Axe To The Squad After Garde Guillotine

Ugh. Sack them all. It started with the board and management, now it’s time for the players. That’s the only real conclusion to be taken from another Villa no show.

You’re Not Fit To Wear The Shirt

The sense of entitlement from the Villa squad at the moment is disgusting and to so many of them the very concept of professionalism seems completely alien. Once again social media and shocking performances on the pitch have combined to expose the rotten attitude of many players.

Micah Richards, our captain in title only, snapped at a fan and claimed that he is entitled to a holiday after a long hard season. What he fails to realise is that the season is not actually over. In addition to that anyone who watches Villa regularly are rightfully under the impression that Richards has been on holidays for most of the season already. The fans are the ones who deserve a holiday from the dross being served up every week.

Bacuna reaped the hostile reception that he deserved for his recent poorly timed and delusional quotes. He wants to play in the Champions League? This lad isn’t even good enough to play in the Championship. His attitude highlights the complete disconnect between the players and the fans. Give Bacuna a copy of FIFA on his way out the door because that’s his only chance of ever playing Champions League football.

 

The only people who are entitled to anything here are the fans who pay good money every week, and are essentially robbed by the squad without any end product. Fans are not entitled to a win for their entrance fee, but they are entitled to basic effort and professionalism. Imagine going to a restaurant, or to the cinema and then being sat in an empty room, not served up any food or entertainment, silenced when you complain, and then asked to leave.

It’s Not Me, It’s You

It’s time Villa break up the toxic entitlement in the squad. I don’t want to see Bacuna at the club. I don’t want to see Lescott here. I don’t want see see Richards whinging about how hard it is for him. Even Gabby is doing his best burning his bridges here and undoing any good will his previous exploits earned. The cull of this squad at the end of the season must be comprehensive and ruthless.

Regardless of calls for Randy Lerner/Aston Villa divorce, once again the fans showed that they still love this club, in sickness or in health, until death do us part. It was great to see the amount of fans voicing their opinion on the club inside the stadium, and it was great to see the media picking up on our support and our plight, all of which should heap more pressure on our phantom owner.

The Bright Side?

As the game began today I decided to keep an eye out for anything to be positive about, for the most part I failed miserably. Even when players Sanchez, Cissokho, or Hutton occasionally appeared to make some small effort or put in a decent tackle, any enthusiasm was quickly followed by passionless, talentless, or brainless mistakes. Perhaps it’s unfair of me to expect Hutton and Co. to even have a brain, let alone use it. This squad isn’t just lacking the right attitude, it’s lacking any basic top level skill or decision making.

The only positive in recent weeks has been some appearances from the youngsters. Green got a run out in recent weeks, Lyden made a cameo today, and Grealish’s introduction led to the closest thing to any excitement or creativity on the pitch. Several surges down the left and clever passes were thwarted by Aly Cissokho’s drunken attempts at crossing.

 

Grealish is young, he has and will make mistakes, but if managed properly can still be a huge player for this club. But alas, he will need a better standard of player around him. He made a conscious effort to applaud the fans at the end of the game, and while this squad should clearly be banned from social media, a mountain was made of a molehill by the media once again this week after the youngster’s most recent ‘like’ and Tweet on Twitter.

New Boss?

To date there has been swift action from Steve Hollis in clearing out failing management. Like him or not, it’s hard to argue against a manager who lost the dressing room and managed two wins being shown the door. While the Frenchman deserves sympathy for being sold out by chairman and petulant players alike, the stats don’t lie, and no real improvements in fortunes were made at the club under Garde’s guidance.

Despite this it seems that firing him with so many weeks before the end of the season would be a pointless endeavour unless someone else is lined up to come in and evaluate the squad ahead of the summer, are we about to see an appointment?

 

My (optimistic) hope is that the boardroom changes are the seeds of a summer takeover once we go down. Regardless, Lerner should be facing the music for his numerous sins. Deadly Doug owned his club, and the choices he made in running it. As one banner so rightfully demanded today, ‘Lerner You Coward, Show Your Face’.

UTV

Don’t forget to follow Finn on Twitter – @FinnMongey

And make sure you’re following MOMS on Twitter – @oldmansaid

 

8 COMMENTS

  1. So when will we know who the next manager is going to be I hope it will be Pearson but you and I will have no say who ever takes charge Moyes not for me I still want to watch an attacking side another question will learner get any players in its going to be interesting to say the least utv

  2. I don’t want him but I think the board will choose Garry Monk because he’s cheapest. I would prefer Perason. Someone who will kick the lazy players asses and not mother them when they’re failing to perform or even try to make an effort.
    When Chelsea scored their first goal the player who’s head went down first and the most was our “captain “. A team captain should give the impression of being bullet proof. After conceding an slightly lucky goal like that he should be lifting the team not looking suicidal. Lescott although didn’t play well but he was trying to get the team to be ‘switched on ‘.

  3. What about Brian Little as manager , he has the experience. All the players today were pathetic apart from Alan Hutton, who despite his shortfalls, never fails to put in 100%. If the more gifted players followed his example,we might be in a better place…….

  4. Everytime I look at the comments or the write up I nod with nearly all in agreement and share the frustrations and disappointments with every fan whether they are unlucky enough to attend or those who rely on the internet Match of the Day or the newspapers for their feedback. What we have here is a large ship thats hit the rocks with most of its cargo still onboard that desperately needs a hand in ditching into the sea so that others can claim a little salvage, and then perhaps we can after heavy listing pull ourselves off the rocks from totally sinking altogether into the lower leagues. With the boardroom changes at the top so far, this starts the process, I see Riley hasn’t left yet ??? why ?????. Once he has handed over to Mr Little then hopefully the rot stops there. As with the lower decks all the ships crew lack discipline and have been molly coddled into believing they have great potential and are good players. You are as good as your last performance. ALL of the players are not fit enough or skilful enough to be in the Premier. individually if with other teams that are performing well, then they might be able to carry it off, In the case of the Villa its not the case and they are heavy cargo high wages silly contracts and no ability to fight. They will sink the ship. This is a golden opportunity to give the under 21’s as much opportunity for experience as possible and let them show the seniors how its done. Those that should have stepped up have failed. A bunch of overpaid narcissists that have been glaringly caught out. Give the kids a chance considering the white flag was raised in January beggars belief. Then they need a captain of grit discipline and get them all into shape- If he can get his usual training team together then Nigel Pearson may have the attributes to bring us up. But he would need all the boards support in getting in players that are proud to sweat blood for Villa and have the ability and skill to turn their attitudes around. If it means selling 12 players (if they can get anything for them at all) or letting them go on a free, anything to get them off the books. Then we could potentially have a great summer buying in players who could be fearful to play against in the Championship after all, ALL those teams will want to pitch against the Villa they will smell Big Club fear unless we change the lot of them. Pearson is a strong personality and takes no prisoners. He has a track record that tells it like it is. If he had a two year contract then see what has transformed in that time. I believe that would be enough to take the Villa from Rough seas and rocks and head us for a new course to calmer waters and perhaps the excitement will return and ticket sales boost – it can’t be any worse than it is now. We are not sunk out of sight yet …even if the water is seeping in still.

  5. Been a fan for 58 years. Last time we went down we appointed Graham Taylor and came straight back up. I don’t think any of the names mentioned would be as good as Taylor was then. I would go for Moyes (if he was left to run the team) who has something to prove, and built a club at Everton who are in many ways (fans, history, stadium) Villa’s mirror image. As for the so-called players, I would not care if any of them never played for Villa again. If normal people acted like this at work they would be sacked. Appoint a new manager quickly so he can evaluate this dross and decide whether to (a)keep (b)sell (hardly likely) (c)dump in the third team until the end of their contract. Richards, Lescott, Gabby, Guzan and Bacuna should absolutely never play for Villa again starting today.

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