We signed Matty Cash from Nottingham Forest the other day and I had to ask a Nottingham Forest fan for their opinion. He was gutted and thinks he's a solid player that is going to get better. I'm just hoping the manager knows what he is doing because I don't recall us having a nightmare at right back last season.
This isn't me having a knock, but if the manager has learned anything from his time in football management, it's not the players alone, it's their specific role and how you the team plays the game.
And as I wrote in the my last post, it's just about getting better and the truth is, because it looks like we're not making too many changes and that is good, that it would be very hard to not get better organically, without doing anything. It's what happens when players settle and get to know each other.
And I don't think any Aston Villa supporters is under the illusion that we will be challenging for anything this season. Some will get angry and in fairness, if we don't see better football I'm not going to be happy and if we revert back to playing and it looking like we don't want to lose, I'll be the first to shout that the manager needs to go.
But I don't think that is going to happen. I think something dropped for the manager last season even if on the last game he bottled it. I think he knows he can't approach any game like that next season. I think he knows he has to approach the game with a real winning mentality.
His players are his dogs. There is no point talking strategy with them or tactics, that will only confuse them. The vast majority of football players wont truly understand what he is telling them. They'll nod along, wing it, but then on the pitch they'll not deliver and it will go wrong. The best players just have a natural talent and they deliver, the players that can hold a conversation do exactly what they need to do in any given situation and the vast majority of players need to be treated like dogs and given simple instructions.
You send the players out with simple instructions. Look left, look right. See anyone moving into space, pass it in front of them. Don't see anyone, hold on to the ball and don't hit long. Don't have the ball, drop back two yards, if the player marking you follows, pivot, if not, expect the ball. Go back to the beginning. Get the ball in the opposing teams net and do everything you can to not let them score. At 90 minutes, if you don't feel exhausted you've not done your job.
And you wont be surprised to learn, but I think that was what happened in the last few games of the season.
New players don't need to come from the Premier League. They just need to have demonstrated, in the formation that the manger wants to play and in their position, they can do this, that they can control the ball and they have a good foot.
I'm looking forward to the new season, I think it's going to be fun and we will be better than last season.
We had two right backs, did we need a third?