Blog: Can a derby win galvanize a Villa revolution?
Will a win against local rivals be the spur the pushes Aston Villa on? Or will frustration and upset be the theme of the day in a game against another team who aren't playing to an expected standard. Blogger Matt Turvey offers his thoughts.
A win against Birmingham City put a smile on Aston Villa fans' faces, but the Premier League is a whole different animal.
So far this season, Villa haven't done particularly well, evoking memories of previous seasons where survival was about as high as expectations have got.
Under Tim Sherwood the plan was supposed to be different and, in a sense, it has been. Villa have scored more goals, but four points from the opening six games is a meagre return for a team that was heralded to be wholly different to the one put out last season.
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In a sense, this is a different team - in personnel and style terms - but there are many ways to fail in the game, and change alone does not necessarily mean progress. In fact, as other teams have found out, sometimes too much change can be destabilising, creating the opposite effect.
Villa have done well at Anfield in recent seasons, and Brendan Rodgers is under the cosh himself with some Liverpool fans questioning whether he is the man to move the team forward after a disappointing season last time around, and a less than fantastic start to this one.
For Villa, there can be no concern whether Rodgers is second favourite for the sack - behind Dick Advocaat at Sunderland - as Sherwood will be similarly under scrutiny if the next six games means a similar haul to the first six.
Such a situation may sound insane, especially given that Sherwood has only been at the club a short while. However football, whether top flight or otherwise, is a fickle sport, and one where managers have paid the price for failing to deliver success - whether that success has been survival or cup glory.
Last season, Villa were close on both fronts - losing in the final against Arsenal, whilst managing to stay in the Premier League by three points. If such a situation repeats again this time around, frustration is inevitable as survival - as lucrative as it is - leaves little for the fans who have to repeatedly pay for a majority of losses rather than going down and seeing some wins.
In fact, it is that drudgery that threatens to kill off any passion for Villa at present. No, relegation isn't exactly a solution as going down and winning some games ultimately means the struggle to come back up - ask a Nottingham Forest or Derby County fan if they would rather be in the Championship or the Premier League and the answer will be fairly universal.
Perhaps that's part of a "the grass is always greener on the other side" view we are all guilty of when we look at the success of other teams - we validate things in a way that implies that other clubs aren't suffering the same heartaches, as though there isn't always something to complain about whether it is failing to do more than survive, or failing to win every trophy possible.
So with a Liverpool game where much is on the line for the immediate future of one manager and the long term future of the other, frustrated is the best way to describe both sets of fans. Is that frustration fair? Probably, but the reality is that there are far worse places to be than where either club finds themselves as of today.
You can follow Matt Turvey's regular opinions at his own site, Aston Villa Life at http://www.astonvillalife.com, via the site's Twitter account @astonvillalife, or via his own Twitter account @mturvey_star.
