Since there doesnt appear to be anyone in the Villa forum I will pose this question to the group. When do you sack Taylor? It has been long held that Taylors tactics have not evolved with the present state of football and after watching one of the more boring games of the year I tend to agree. His 3-5-2 died with the dinosaur and that attacking style he promised has not come to fruition. Villa has a group of good players and some goal scorers but 6 goals in 10 matches isnt going to cut it. Also take that he cant fill Villa Park on a Monday night fixture and I dont see Taylor managing long.
My opinion on Taylor is that the chances are there. Tactically, the team is not terribly unsound. Their problem is that they aren't finishing. Villa could have scored as many as 4 last night but couldn't get that last touch to put it in the net. I think they could have managed a 0-0 draw if Alpay hadn't been an idiot, but that's pretty much his way. And then they sent Enckleman off for it. I hope the FA reverses that decision.
Taylor is damned if he does and damned if he does not. He earnt his (unfair) label as a tactically naive manager when manager of England, with a rigid 4-4-2 and is now being slated for being a tactically naive, outdated manager with variations ranging from 3-5-2 through 4-3-3 to the usual 4-4-2. As to filling Villa Park, that's impossible in any case. Their "support" is notoriously light-weight. Anyone who thinks a change in manager would see full houses at the Villa again is delusional.
I can't see them making a change anytime soon. They looked a decent side last night, Niemi had a great game to earn 3 points for the Saints. Results haven't been going their way of late, so they'll need to pick up some points in the coming weeks. After ManU saturday it's Blackburn, Fulham, West Brom and Southampton again. Based on what I saw last night, that shouldn't be a problem provided one of their 14 strikers gets back in form. If they can't... Southampton's in the exact same position as Villa, yet no one's calling for Strachan's head. They started yesterday even on points not because the team was awful, but because their strikers were. Taylor flubbed up by investing excess cash into a couple of added strikers Allback and Crouch when they really need a playmaker in the center midfield, though Allback was a good buy at 2M. De La Cruz is a good little player on a team that has lots of good little players. Villa need a player or two to rise above mediocrity and I have no idea why Angel, they guy most likely to do so, is riding the bench. They'll probably finish the year 9th or 10th and maybe get an Intertoto bid again depending on who decides to apply. Villa have been missing that extra element for years now and there's no reason to expect that to change now. If anything gets Taylor kicked out it will be the unrealistic expectations of the Villa supporters. The club took a big step back running Gregory out of town last year and anything more than an upper half finish would be a remarkable accomplishment.