It's hard to write about what is really happening at Aston Villa when the club seem to be so out of the loop. But then you've got the CEO that says one thing and then actions that suggest something else, it's not surprising that there are less people attending matches and more giving up every week.
But the thing is as long as the supporters do keep going and as long as the club win a game every four matches, the club don't care because they still have some money coming in and they're doing more than breaking even. And I read something on Twitter last night; this would never have happened under Ellis. It made me chuckle because it now appears to be common knowledge.
And things are serious. If you look at the table for 2014, Aston Villa were third from bottom and that would mean we would have been down. And while I do think there are three worse sides than us right now, earlier this season there wasn't and it's quite possible that we fall back into that group and it could be horrible this season. Things can change quite quickly.
Blind optimism
But and this is a big but, the last few games we've seen more possession and you all know my views on keeping the ball. If you have the ball the other side can't score and for me, possession is one of the cornerstones for building a successful football team. Now, I could just be falling into the one win in four trap, in so much I want to see more possession and I should know better, because we did this last season and the season before, but as I see it, I have to believe it.
And we'll win today because Blackpool are bottom of the Championship and even though the manager is going to mix it up a little too much, so we're going to make it more difficult that we should, we'd win with ten men today.
And that isn't meant to be disrespectful, it's just they're bottom of the Championship and we are so much better than that, even on a bad day. So, even though it's the best match for the manager, I'm not so sure this victory is going to bring anyone back, because this victory is expected for so many reasons.
Updates and all that below, but going against the manager
Right, going to end this post soon but this is the match post, but before I go, I just want to publicly go against the manager. He's recently said that Vlaar and Delph are going nowhere this January and I think, if both players are not going to sign new contracts, but should be put up for sale. We should get some money for them now and if we know for sure that Vlaar isn't signing a new contract, he should also be stripped of his captaincy.
I'm sorry to be so blunt, but if neither player wants to sign a contract and we've got sides willing to pay money for them, we should take it. Scrap that, if we've got two players that want to leave in the summer and no sides coming in offering money, we put them in the reserves. If they don't want to play for Aston Villa, they're not good enough for Aston Villa today. That's just my opinion and I'm not trying to keep people happy.
Team news and all that coming, but we've got to win today and we will. This will be the easiest three points we'll get all season.