Howard Hodgson Opinion on Aston Villa Relegation Run In

This article is by Howard Hodgson, he's currently sunning himself, so I've posted it for him  

Well the run-in has well and truly arrived. No doubt Villa are in the thick of a relegation battle and Tuesday night's result certainly didn't pull us away from the battle like Sherwood or all of us wanted it to. However there were many positives to take from the game as we had 64% possession, had 21 shots and scored 3 goals. Benteke was back to his very best and that's a huge positive for the battle ahead. He is quite a weapon in full flow and Sherwood deserves a lot of credit for reigniting him as his confidence was on the floor by the end of the Lambert reign.

Sherwood also deserves credit for turning a side that had scored 12 league goals in 25 matches into one that has scored 11 goals in the 7 league games he has managed. There is no doubt that the football is more positive, attack minded and pro active.

However it’s not all good news, as despite the big upturn in the goalscoring department, the team has still only managed a modest 7 points in these 7 games. Last minute conceded goals V Swansea and Stoke at Villa Park have cost us 2 valuable points although we did score in the last minute V Albion to turn a draw into three points and it was a fairly late goal that saved us a vital point on Tuesday night V QPR.. The main problem is, we only have one clean sheet in his seven games and we are consistently conceding, needless, avoidable, poor goals.You could argue that is the price you pay when you try and attack more, but the nature of the goals conceded is more often down to individual, basic errors rather than the team being caught out. I do believe he left us light in midfield V Swansea and Stoke but overall I like the way he sets his team up to play with an emphasis on front foot football.

We have had awful injuries. I don't think anyone can deny this. Especially in midfield and in the full back areas. I have no doubt we would have won fairly comfortably on Tuesday night with Hutton and Cissokho playing. We are missing Westwood also.

The omission of Gil has caused many a discussion and although I am a fan of the manager, I can't really defend him playing/putting on Weimann, Cole and N Zogbia ahead of him. We haven't seen much of Gil in truth but what we did see was impressive and even if you don't want to start him, he seems an ideal impact sub (Remember his debut V Liverpool). Anyway for now, the debate on him stops, as I believe he got injured last night playing for U21's.

I believe the draw on Tuesday, when faced with the distinct possibility of losing 2-3, despite dominating, so being dumped into the bottom 3 with QPR going above us, is actually a vital result. The difference between being 16th or 18th at this stage is huge. Going above Hull, despite playing a game more, is also a mental boost, none of which would have happened without that Benteke stunning free kick. However there is no denying some of our defending resembled more an Under Nine team than a Premiership side and ultimately that again is what cost us the two extra points our offensive performance merited.

So the 6 games to save our skin are listed below as are our relegation rivals fixtures.

I have been through the fixtures and yes it’s very hard to predict results at this stage of the season, but I do believe we will better at least 3 of the teams around us to keep our ever present Premiership status since its inception. I have us to beat West Ham and Burnley and get draws V Spurs and Everton leaving us on 37 points and safe. If we beat Everton and West Ham we won't need a result V Burnley but if we only win one, there could easily still be a case of needing something on the last day. For the record I have Leicester, Hull and Burnley going down with QPR, Sunderland and Villa staying up.

For sure it’s going to be nervy, sweaty times (Not good for my high blood pressure) and of course we have the FA Cup sandwiched in-between all of this and continued rumblings of takeover talk, so it’s going to be anything but boring!

Ultimately the players have to stand up to the challenge and ask themselves if they really want to keep this famous club in England's top flight and remain Premiership footballers or have relegation on their CV's and the heartbreak of thousands on their hands.

We need to play our part and help the team/club win this huge battle!

Finally, if you haven't seen it yet I have donated two top grade, FA Cup semi final tickets to The Aston Villa Supporters Trust which will be put in a Prize draw and handed out at Wembley. If you are an existing full member you will automatically be put in the draw. If you are not a member and would like to have the chance to enter, then details of full membership are below in the link.

Wouldn’t it be great to be sitting in a London Bar on the night of May 30th as FA Cup Winners and Premiership status secured. Let’s do it!

UTV VTID

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-two-wembley-tickets-9007089

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