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Aston Villa have no case for defence, as they head to the Championship

Aston Villa have no case for defence, as they head to the Championship

Four of the starting back five that played against Watford on Saturday, were also part of the woeful Aston Villa team of last season. Add in Micah Richards, who is a right back, and not a centre back, its easy to see why Aston Villa will be playing in the Championship next season. A series of comical defending errors at the weekend means the gap between Villa and safety is 7 points, with fixtures against Southampton and Arsenal next. Villa are doomed.

Pundits and commentators will point to the players and a manager who have no Premier League experience, but that’s not stopping Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich all having at least double the amount of points as Villa. It’s a pitiful excuse that hides behind the real issues at Villa, and we can put Randy Lerner to one side for the moment.

The players are not playing as a team, for each other, or for the club. If Villa had just done the basics for the past 14 games, they would have at least 10 points now. Be hard to breakdown, organise yourselves, play safe and simple, and offer 100% commitment for the full 90mins. Thats what I have seen from the likes of Watford this season, and you can apply that to Leicester as well. Is Leicester’s squad really 25 points better than Villa’s? No, but the team has a plan that they stick to every game. Villa’s back five also has hundreds of Premier League appearances between them, but not only do they not play as a unit, the Villa backline play like its their first venture into the big league.

The players really have nowhere to hide, even if you take into account some questionable summer signings who haven’t settled, there is still enough in the Villa squad to grind out some victories and be competitive. Remi Garde’s plan must have been to knick some results ahead of the January transfer window, so he can strengthen the squad, but there is no way Villa will be anywhere near getting out of this mess in a month’s time, and therefore will be unable to attract any kind of quality.

Villa have been asking for this for five years now. If you keep circling the drain, at some point, you will drop…..