Damian 23 August 2025
The second half of last season was better than the first and if our form from the first half of last season continued, we'd have finished below mid-table. The same could almost be said for Manchester City and I could also make this sound good for other sides and bad for others.
That Aston Villa played a lot like a pub team today, with little purpose and no real direction is a concern, but it's two games in and I'm of the belief that we were not going to win the League this season and there is plenty of time for it to get better and we have other things to focus on.
That might sounds strange, but we aren't going to win the League but yes, we could win some silverware and if we are going to do that maybe we need to accept we're going to focus on that. Maybe the League is essentially pre-season for us and something we have to do to make sure we have European football next season.
Maybe we also have to hope it gets better, just in case we don't win silverware. But that is another post.
And you know what, if we were to win silverware this season, I'd be ver happy with that. I wouldn't care if we finished 8th or 12th or 16th if we win silverware. Football is about winning. It worries me that it looks like we don't care about winning at the moment, but I'm looking for excuses that I can buy into.
It worries me more that two games in I'm making these excuses and hoping that we are playing like this because we want to focus on the competitions. That isn't what it's supposed to be, but who am I to have an opinion.
I long for the days where we need to win every game. I wish that one day we were all angry that we didn't win away at Brentford, but the truth is because of the game, we are not that Club. We are a long way from that because the game isn't designed for Clubs like us to do well. The game is designed for the Clubs that generate the most money for the people that put the game on.
It's not right and one day it might be fixed, but I don't think that will happen any time soon, even if I hope it does.
For now, we have to accept that the League season is over after two games, if it was ever in play for us and our focus should be on something else. We should think about the League as pre-season and hope we can go far in something else.
Losing at Brentford today was bad, but we move on.