Features
Grey Days ahead for Aston Villa
With Aston Villa’s struggles continuing following their 5-0 thrashing from Arsenal on Sunday, we look at how their appears to be grey days ahead for the club
Maybe, just maybe, Aston Villa should stage an open top bus parade for when they next score a Premier League goal. After all, with over 10 hours of competitive football played without a single goal to their name they need all the encouragement and support imaginable.
And it’s not for the want of trying either with Villa recently enjoying the lion’s share of possession during their 5-0 capitulation at the Emirates. They did have shots at goal too but only 2 of them actually registered anywhere near the target, unlike Arsenal, who managed 8 on target with 5 finding the back of the net.
Former Villa legend Andy Gray recently told Talksport when asked about Aston Villa:
“I am seeing the worst attacking side in the eight or nine divisions of the English pyramid system. They can’t get a goal, their confidence is rock bottom.”
Tough reading if you’re a Villa fan, but hardly surprising when you think that the recent quality of service to both Benteke and Weimann in front of goal resembles something that might get served up at your local Greggs, slightly half-cooked and tepid at best.
In paying homage to Villa’s woeful goal-scoring record one site has created some very funny, if not slightly tongue-in-cheek memes of the claret and blues struggles in front of goal.
Yet the question then has to be asked as to where Villa will get their goals from. To put it in perspective, Alexis Sanchez has scored more league goals (12) than the whole of the Villa team combined this season.
To make matters worse and to answer the above question, Villa have hardly pulled-up any trees in the January transfer window signing Manchester City fringe player Scott Sinclair and Carles Gil from Valencia meaning that ultimately the goals are hardly going to start flowing in.
“I never thought for minute until the last two or three weeks that Villa would go down but I now have serious doubts about it. If you can’t get a goal, you are seriously struggling.”
With Villa facing the toughest footballing challenge against Chelsea this weekend, the overall forecast doesn’t look good. Regardless as to whether they’re playing at home, Paul Lambert and his team need to put a performance in and get something positive from the game or face another humiliation not just on the pitch, but from fans, the media and former legends.
