This time last season Aston Villa were sitting just three points above the relegation zone. This season, having played 11 games, they sit just seven points from Tottenham in fifth; but more importantly they are six points above the drop zone. On the surface, it looks all good but dig a little deeper and you’ll see that there are underlying problems at Villa.

Over the summer, when the news was announced that the new manager of Aston Villa was their local rival’s former boss, you can imagine what was about to happen amongst the fans at Villa Park. Banners were made – ‘McLeish out’ and ‘No McLeish at Villa Park’ – songs were concocted before Alex McLeish had sat in the dug-out. There was also graffiti that had to be removed from outside the club’s training ground.

McLeish didn’t help himself when he sold Ashley Young to Manchester United and Stuart Downing to Liverpool. He did manage to do some reasonable business in the transfer window, bringing in Shay Given from Manchester City and then recruited French winger Charles N’Zogbia from Wigan.

In his first game in charge away to Fulham, the game ended in a goalless draw. Following the match Mcleish said how he had enjoyed the reception he received from the travelling away fans. Since then, Villa have played ten matches in the league winning three, losing just two but drawing the other five. It’s maybe the most important thing for this team at the moment – they are not able to turn draws into three points. In the two matches before this weekend, they drew away to Sunderland and Queen’s Park Rangers despite leading in both right up until the 90th minute. That’s four points lost in just six injury time minutes.

As said previously, if they’d managed to hang on in those games they’d be right now sitting a lot closer to European places and people would be ranting and raving about their star. As it is, they’re still in a pretty good position. So then what seems to be the problem? Does it come down to a bit of luck, a bit of the rub of the green, or is it just the fact that they can’t hold on for the full game? Have they been a bit lucky in some of the draws they’ve got this season?

It’s a mixture of all those things.

A disappointing factor for the Villa fans will have been defeat to the hands of Bolton in the Carling Cup, a competition they could have done very well in.

Two people McLeish will have been happy to praise so far this will be his strikers; Darren Bent and Gabriel Agbonlahor. The two Englishmen who have recently just been called up to the national team have been on fine form this season. No wonder Fabio Capello has called on both of them – together this season they’ve already managed ten goals and five assists between them. The two link up very well and Bent seems to have finally found a partner that compliments him – Agbonlahor has set up no less than three of Bent’s five goals.

For Villa to go forward, McLeish will know exactly what is needed to improve.

Their very poor away form needs to improve. They are yet to win a game away from home this season – losing one and drawing four – and that needs to changed as early as the next away match, when they travel to White Hart Lane to face high flying Tottenham Hostspurs after the international break.

Another thing they must do is keep clean sheets. They managed to keep five in the first nine matches of the season but haven’t kept one in their last four games. And last but by no means least, they have to make sure the strike partnership of Bent and Agbonlahor remain fit, happy and in tune.

Arguably, the next eight games will be their most important time of the season, as they play away to Spurs and Chelsea as well as hosting Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. If they can take anything from those games, they will fancy their chances this season for at least a strong top half finish.

If they don’t, it could quickly become a very troubling time at Villa Park and the words – “relegation fight” – may be whispered amongst those who didn’t want Alex McLeish at the helm in the first place. Those draws that should have been wins may come back to haunt Villa.

Photo courtesy of Amar_Rai.