Start of the season not all Doom & Gloom

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 14: Roberto Di Matteo, manager of Aston Villa looks on before the Sky Bet Championship match between Aston Villa and Brentford at Villa Park on September 13, 2016 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 14: Roberto Di Matteo, manager of Aston Villa looks on before the Sky Bet Championship match between Aston Villa and Brentford at Villa Park on September 13, 2016 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images) /
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It seems that over the last few weeks, all I’ve seen on Twitter from Villa fans is frustration and disgruntlement at the start the club have made this season.

It is only 1 win from 8 with only 8 goals scored and we are already playing catch-up with the league leaders. These are all facts and must not be ignored.

What I would like to point out in this piece is there remains genuine reason for optimism for the future of this club and why I haven’t had too much cause for concern in these opening weeks of the campaign. I have been alarmed and agitated alright at the lack of goals scored from the amount of chances we create and also the surrendering of leads late on in games but I’d like to provide some perspective.

This is a new squad of players with a new manager and new owner all trying to come together and bed themselves in while attempting to get results also. This is never easy in any line of business and especially so in a notoriously difficult division like the Championship.

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Villa have drawn 5 of 8 games so far, but have only suffered 2 defeats and that is going a long way to ridding us of that losing mentality while at the same time demonstrating the team are resilient and tough to beat.

Players that were subjected to a torrent of abuse last year are knuckling down and fighting for the cause like Leandro Bacuna and Rudy Gestede. Ross McCormack and Jonathan Kodjia are two big-money signings and have already settled in well along with Tommy Elphick and James Chester who look a solid centre back pairing.

Lastly, we are playing some attacking football especially at home with chances being created aplenty although we need to be more clinical in the final third; that is obvious but Villa are playing on the front foot and as long as they continue to play this way, the fans will stick by the team even in difficult circumstances. As an added bonus, we haven’t lost at home so far which is a rarity to say for Villa in mid-September!