Aston Villa are unlikely to see immediate results despite a dramatic squad overhaul.
It has been quite the January for Aston Villa. Off the pitch, they signed big and signed well. No fewer than seven players arrived at Villa Park last month, from goal machine Scott Hogan to midfield metronome Conor Hourihane via Iceland’s Euro 2016 star Birkir Bjarnason.
On the field of play, however, it has been a rather different story. Villa are now six games without a win and Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat at Brentford was by far the poorest performance of the Steve Bruce era.
However, as owner Tony Xia has reminded fans on Twitter, change goes hand in hand with patience.
So I’d ask some Villans change the ‘habitat’ of complaining individuals when things not going well. Together we can make the change!#UTV 2/2
— Dr. Tony Xia (@Dr_TonyXia) February 1, 2017
From Ashley Westwood to Mile Jedinak to Ross McCormack, there have been a fair share of scapegoats at Villa Park in recent months as each individual step forward appears to precede a substantial leap in the other direction.
Tony Xia and Villa fans react to McCormack’s bizarre reason for missing training
Debutants Conor Hourihane (below) and Birkir Bjarnason were also subjected to scathing social media criticism in the aftermath of the Griffin Park collapse, but if Rome was not built in a day then it will take a lot longer than a few months for Bruce and Xia to transform Villa into a genuine promotion challenger.
As the likes of Derby County and the Leicester City of Sven Goren Eriksson proved, money cannot buy success in this most unforgiving of leagues.
Derby County could regret missing out on target to Championship rival
Villa are still very much a team in transition, an almost entirely new squad barely given a chance to gel.
Patience is not just a virtue, it is a requirement.
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