"It’s Going to be a Really Positive Season for us at This Club"

Sat anxiously up in the Doug Ellis Stand one day watching Aston Villa under the management of Alex McLeish, Randy Lerner came to a stark realisation that enough was enough. He needed to try to reverse, and hopefully erase the last two seasons of steep decline.

McLeish simply could not carry on as manager after the club flirted with relegation.

Villa survived yet luckily McLeish did not.

Paul Lambert's appointment breathed a new lease of life into the club, which just three months ago had escaped the daunting depths of the Championship. Aston Villa have been crying out for a new hero, a feel-good factor, and Lambert should surely produce that after his pretty seamless start to his Villa career.

After a nightmare eleven months, Villa fans would surely settle for mid-table this season now our nerves have reached a calmer level, heartbeat has regained a steady beat and fingernails have returned to normal length. However, could we believe in bigger, better things? All that Lambert is asked for at this moment in time is to simply build on the positivity surrounding his arrival and pre season.

Looking ahead to the new season which is just under twenty-one hours away we have a lot to look forward to. The only way can be up for us.

Darren Bent has two goals under his belt from pre season, and has appeared galvanised by Lambert's arrival and will be a man on a mission after being left out of the England squad for Euro 2012. "Everyone on the planet knows he can score and hopefully if he is playing, everything goes well for him." It was a frustrating season for the big man up top, yet he will face a lot of weight on his shoulders with many of the media labelling him Villa's key man. But as Paul Lambert rightly pointed out today in his pre match press conference, we cannot just rely on him. We are a team full of exciting prospects and good players.

Gabby Agbonlahor will also have a point to prove after his career hit the pause button under the last two managers, yet this season will also get off to a slow start for him after the Birmingham born striker suffered an injury setback. Also Charles N'Zogbia must justify why McLeish paid £9.5 million for him last summer. With a decent performance against Nottingham Forest from the winger I expect to see a few more dazzling displays.

The comparisons between Martin O'Neill and Lambert are endless, from the rolled up tracksuit sleeves to the glasses and the wariness of the press. Hopefully if he can achieve just a slight bit of what O'Neill did at Villa Park it will feel like the last two years never happened.

My Key Man;
Stephen Ireland is a talented player, plain and simple. He can pick a pass, read the game, score a goal, make a tackle. You can ask him to play all over the park and he'll still produce a dynamite display. The past two seasons have been tough for Ireland and ones to forget. Neither Houllier or McLeish could get the best out of a player who was named Manchester City's Player of the Year in 2009 for his blistering performances week in, week out.

Ireland should fulfil every ounce of his potential this season, yet this depends on whether or not he is used in his best position. By trade the Irishman is an attacking midfielder, however I feel he can be utilised in any position in midfield. In my opinion, you'll get the best out of Stephen Ireland when he's just playing off the striker as he did against Chelsea on New Year's Eve.

For me, Ireland needs a team to be built around him. Yet as I've already pointed out, Aston Villa are a team not a one man club.

Bye Bye Defence of 2011-12;
A noticeable weakness in the Villa side is our defence. James Collins has already departed to our claret and blue counterparts, yet still Stephen Warnock and Alan Hutton remain.

An overrated player for years, Warnock is poor defensively. It's baffling that a better left back hasn't been drafted in, or at least Warnock hasn't been shifted down the pecking order behind Ciaran Clark. Even Big 'Eck could have done this. Lambert's more than likely already looking for a new left back however there could be one waiting in the wings.

Eric Lichaj, even though a right back, spent most of last season playing at left back, impressing in that very position. Also, Enda Stevens has crept into contention after a string of pre season games. He's still possibly not up to Premier League standards just yet so perhaps a new left back with experience in the league could help Stevens with his progression into the first team squad.

Oh and then there's Alan Hutton. I'll drive him anywhere in the world myself, personally, with a forced smile just to see the back of him.

Nonetheless, Stephen Warnock and Hutton are pieces of deadwood that the squad do not need. As the Lambert era begins, they are the type of remnants of previous regimes that Villa just don’t need.

Players to Watch;
Brett Holman, despite being one of McLeish's signings the Australian has gotten of to a hot heeled start at Villa. Expect him to be celebrating a few more goals this season and his locks flying about as flawlessly as the Villa Park pitch.

Karim El Ahmadi, also another addition this summer, the Moroccan can pick out any pass perfectly. Give the ball to him in any position and he'll weave you out of trouble. A smart buy, Lambert has pulled off a decent signing for the claret and blue's who will hopefully impress the faithful over the coming season.

Realistic Ambitions;
After some horrible finishes in the last couple of seasons, it would be rather optimistic of fans to expect Lambert’s Lions to burst back into the top six so quickly, especially given the greater levels of competition at that end of the table. Mid table should be the big aspiration this season, along with a good cup run or two, with this season being more about laying foundations for a European attempt the following year and beyond.

Sunderland 2-2 Aston Villa

Alan Shearer summed it up last night perfectly on Match of the Day; the new of Connor Wickham and the experienced head, on his return of Darren Bent. Connor Wickham, the £8m signing from Ipswich, didn’t steal the show, but got a goal.

“The pantomime season is still a few months away.” Darren Bent’s return to the Wearside, greeted by a stadium of boos. was obviously going to make sure the spotlight was drawn away from what was a very good, end-to-end game.

With four goals scored, it was, in my eyes, a very open game, one of which Aston Villa looked comfortable in their own skin; so to speak. The team looked as if they wanted to play together. Only expect when the forwards and N’Zogbia couldn’t be bothered to move their legs from the half way line to help defend.

Stiliyan Petrov got the first goal, a belter from 20 yards out. Connor Wickham scored Sunderland’s equalizer after some scrappy James Collins defending. The second half was upon them at the Stadium of Light and Richard Dunne, or James Collins, depending on who you think got the last touch, rose highest to give Villa the lead with just 5 minutes to go. However,Villa being Villa, conceded in the last minutes to the smallest man on the pitch; from a set piece. Luckily from Steve Bruce, he muttered the words “Thank you” as he looked up in relief. 

It was an at times exciting, yet ultimately frustrating day from Aston Villa.  ”A draw was a fair result,” said Bruce. “Villa played very well. They’ve got good pace, so it was difficult.” At the end of the day, I’ve got to disagree with him, for me I think it’s 2 points lost. On the other hand, you have to hand it to Sunderland for getting back. Even though it was helped by James Collins’ not so heroic defending.

With a banner adorned with the message ‘B£NT’, Sunderland thought that perhaps that would put of the former Black Cat. To their horror Bent nearly opened the scoring when a clever ball from Emile Heskey invited Gabby to put in a flighted cross to where Bent arrived at the back post. Sunderland supporters probably had their heart in their mouth right up until the point of a vital interception from Wes Brown. Yet now, although no goal had come from it Villa had detected the home side’s vulnerability.

Gabby Agbonlahor, with 2 men on him, twisted and turned and switched play with a beautiful ball out to Alan Hutton. Throwing a little dummy, he found the skipper, who used his skill to put it onto his left foot. The Bulgarian curling a sublime left-foot shot beyond keeper Simon Mignolet.

Sunderland put a spanner in the works when Sessègnon and Wickham exchanged to set up the 18-year-old for his first Premier League goal, when he struck a shot past Shay Given. For me, as a footballer myself, I used to play as a centre-back and it was all down to a James Collins mistake. He got drawn into the ball, a no go when defending, leaving Connor Wickham all on his own.

If the under-achieving Charles N’Zogbia’s pace and trickery sporadically ruffled Sunderland, the visitors’ attempts at dominating possession before feeding Bent and company were frequently thwarted by David Vaughan.

Luckily, yet not so lucky for Villa, for Bruce, Kieron Westwood saved from close range as Darren Bent was through on goal. Heskey, placed on the left-wing showed his Messi skills, as he threw off defenders and found Petrov. The Villa goal scorer threaded a neat ball into the box, where it fell to Bent. Beautifully, he played a 1,2 with Gabby, picking up the return ball to be denied by Westwood’s big toe. “Westwood’s big toe saved the day for Sunderland,” said Alex McLeish, Villa’s manager. “Benty will agonise over that.” The frustration for me is that Bent moans about not getting the service and the opportunities anymore, however when he gets that he misses the chance.

Reprieved, Bent’s formerly adoring public indulged in a few choruses of “What a waste of money.” They were soon silenced when Dunne’s header from a Petrov free-kick evaded Westwood’s reach, but they quickly found their voice again when Sessègnon nodded home the equalizer from close range. Again, in my opinion, James Collins was once again at fault, leaving his man once again.

“It feels like two dropped points,” said McLeish, whose side have developed an unfortunate habit of surrendering winning positions. “It’s frustrating.”

Just a point that I'd like to add is the N'Zogbia looked relatively good. Obviously there's his defensive side to work on but he looks like he's half way there. Something was said yesterday about him, saying that might not be as good as we all thought because he was a big fish in a little pond at Wigan. The poorness of Wigan may have decieved him.

Number 9: Darren Bent

On Sunday night, twitter was full of Aston Villa debate. Darren Bent debate. When one person tweets that Bent scores goals but that's it, it leads to an explosion of 'friendly discussions.'

When Darren Bent signed for Villa, let's face it; we were in a state. "I believe Villa are in a false position, they have been sixth for the past three seasons." Due to him, he made sure we were in a 'false' position - which of course we weren't, the table never lies - due to his goals, nine in seventeen games.

"Aston Villa is a massive football club and as soon as I knew they were interested in signing me I wanted to join," Bent said. "The size of the football club and the history of the club are major reasons for me coming here. There are some top, top players here too, real quality, and I've been able to speak to the manager and the chairman about their ambitions for the club, so I'm very excited about being a part of what we hope to achieve."

The arguement was about his goals:workrate ratio.

When he's not scoring, what's he doing? Is he contruibuting to the team? Only four assists in three years.

Obviously my view is; he was brought to score goals. What has he been doing? Scoring goals.

So what does he need to do?

- More involved in team play.

-Track back and help out with defence play.

-Assist goals. (On Saturday against Blackburn he did assit Gabby's goal. Food for thought.)

-Hold the ball up.

What can he do? What is he?

-A proven goalscorer.

-Moves off defenders with ease.

-Can score from nothing (As proved on Saturday.)

-He's a poacher and a predator, always waiting to pounce.