Spineless

What a difference a fortnight makes...

A three-nil triumph away at Anfield, a frighteningly good performance from Benteke in the process, all on the back of a quarter-final triumph in Mustardland and the prospect of a February trip to Wembley looming large, everything in the garden seemed lovely...

..except it didn't...not if you were looking at the performances as well as the results... and the battering we received before the scoring began at Anfield was as bad or worse then any of the horrors in the three Christmas debacles, while we gave Norwich enough chances to bury us but thankfully these fell to Grant Morison...

In those games though, we were able to regroup, get our own passing going and create enough chances to get a decent return. Just two weeks ago, it looked as thought the team had found some much need fluidity and our biggest problem this term – a lack of goals – had finally been addressed.

Of course the problem with scoring goals is that you need to keep possession long enough to do it and what the Wigan game ably demonstrated is that the main problem here isn't the quality of the opposition, more the fact that whoever we are playing, we can't wait to give them the bloody ball back. Dead simple rule in football, the opposition can't hurt you while you've got the pig's bladder so when under pressure, just keeping it for a bit and passing it around can not only give you some respite, it can restore confidence levels and wind up the enemy. You don't have to find the killer ball in the first five seconds.

At the moment Villa's men (forget this “boys” claptrap, if they're good enough, they're old enough and if they're not good enough they shouldn't be there) can't wait to get rid of the spherical thing. Does it smell of shit or something? Time and again, we lose the impetus with stupid, mistimed or speculative “passes”. Yes, the back three is leaking like a sieve, but that should make it all the more important to create stuff at the other end. Why aren't we? Because we're too terrified to keep the ball long enough to manage it. Spineless? You bet!

When the season began I'd imagined that our spine would be Given - Vlaar- El Ahmadi - Bent; not really a scenario that has worked out.

For Given, we now have Guzan who has, to be fair to him, taken his chance both hands and by and large not dropped it. There are those who believe that in the current turmoil, Given may be more guiding and supportive of the shell-shocked defence, but there were decidedly rocky moments from him at Norwich and whether it's ring-rust or not, I wouldn't be looking to pitch him back in now.

We've desperately missed  Ron Vlaar, not just as a defender but as a leader of men and with Dunne almost certainly never to wear the claret and blue again as his contract reaches expiry, surely we are crying out for an experienced centre half in the January window. Maybe we need to entice someone with one eye on a coaching future but certainly we need more mentors in the squad and a calmer old head would be more than welcome right now. What we certainly need is a spare defensive vertebrae in the spine for when Concrete isn't available

El Ahmadi is a bit of an enigma. I was filled with hope when we saw him playing creative expressive football in pre-season, though that was at lowly Burton. It seemed obvious at the time though that it would take some months for the Benelux imports to get used to the pace of the Prem (remember how long it took Bouma) but to do that you need to be playing. After a fairly disastrous debut, Ashley Westwood began to emerge as a decent talent and “El Dave” - having been anonymous in many games - lost his place, something that seems to have destroyed his confidence and his game at a point when we really need older heads like him to be the on-field leaders. The fact that this key signing hasn't really come off is one of Lambert's major headaches as he attempts to pull things round.

We are crying out for a strong central midfielder to pull things together. Westwood may well be that in the future, but he's not ready yet.

Whatever the truth is about the Darren Bent situation, I don't believe we're being told it, though if he isn't the type of striker Lambert wants to work with, it would be wise to cash in those particular chips now as long as those chips are spent on a proven replacement.  I believe that both Weimann and Benteke will only improve and if we can get the midfield sorted than goals will flow from the strike force.

So where are we? Money must be spent in January. Money will be spent in January and Lambert will have to veer from his build for the future policy in this window because given the massive size of the new TV deal, this is the worst possible season in which to be relegated.

Action must be taken now.

Get rid of Lambert? Definitely not. We simply can't keep switching jockeys but what he should be doing and his players should be doing is getting down on their knees and apologising for what has been a deeply depressing Christmas for anyone with claret and blue blood coursing through their veins. Saying sorry can't erase the memories but it could be start of the healing process.

Mister Lambert, your supporters are hurting at the moment.

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Inevitably, the trauma of the Worst Villa Christmas EVER has led to calls for Randy Lerner's head. A bit knee-jerk that, unless anyone can see a viable alternative on the horizon. If no-one wants to buy and if he doesn't want to sell then no amount of poorly painted bedsheets or venomous tweets will change the situation.

Happy New Year.

Don't have nightmares.