McLeish wants confidence

[Rip Van We Go Again]

birminghammail.net

Alex McLeish insists Villa should approach a tricky triple-header with confidence as they strive to stretch their unbeaten run and target a top-half finish.
 
McLeish’s men kick off fixtures against three of the Premier League’s elite clubs with a trip to Arsenal on Saturday before hosting Chelsea and visiting Liverpool.
 
And the boss believes his 15th-placed side should be in good spirits as they bid to build on draws at Wigan and Blackburn and a much-needed victory over Fulham.
 
Speaking ahead of the weekend trip to the Emirates, McLeish said: “When you least expect it teams can take points, so why can’t we? I don’t think there is any reason why we should believe that we can’t and we will certainly be trying to do anything we can to get as many points as possible in those challenging games.”
 
Villa are ten points clear of the relegation zone and nine behind the top seven and McLeish insists they are looking up rather than down the Premier League table.
 
“There is not a lot of difference and we have got to look upwards,” he said.

Certainly we feel looking back on the season there were some wasted opportunities.
 
“But we are where we are and we must challenge ourselves to climb the table. That has got to be the challenge to the players – let’s try and stay unbeaten for as long as we can.”
 
McLeish hopes his players will thrive on the positivity created by Andi Weimann’s tension-busting late winner against Fulham at Villa Park 12 days ago.
 
“I think the confidence is pretty good in the camp,” he said.
 
“Over the last three games or so we were disappointed we didn’t take more points on our away travels at Wigan and Blackburn.
 
“But they were good performances and I think that performance levels enhance players’ confidence.
 
“They took that into the Fulham game, we gave a great performance. I know we left it a little bit late. It was great to see young Andi getting a goal. It is a great reward for him after all the work he has put in this season.”
 
Meanwhile, McLeish is confident Richard Dunne will reap the benefits of his rehabilitation trip to Cleveland Browns next week.
 
Dunne is jetting over to the States for specialist treatment on his broken collarbone at Randy Lerner’s American football franchise.
 
The experienced defender is embarking on the trip on the recommendation of Villa’s chief medical officer, Dr Ian McGuinness.
 
“Richard is going to take a visit to Cleveland,” said McLeish.
 
“Not that he is not in expert hands here in the UK, but we have got the facility over there and they work very much on shoulder injuries because it is a big part of their business over there.
 
“Richard has a broken collarbone, which we can deal with here, but we think it is great that he can go over to Cleveland and work with some of the guys and I’m sure we will pick something up that we can learn to take forward.
 
“It is great and, likewise, if one of the Cleveland guys gets an ankle injury or something he can come over here. It is a reciprocation.”

[ktvillan]

Positive noises, but I think he is in a minority, possibly of one, when he says Wigan away was a good performance.  These are the clubs he often says are on different agendas to us, so all I hope is that he avoids the temptation to set us up like he did against Spurs with that woeful midfield of Heskey, Hutton, Petrov and Herd, or play as negatively as he did against both the Mancs at home.  Let's at least have a go at them.   

[Mazrim]

"let’s try and stay unbeaten for as long as we can"

Churchillian...   

[pauliewalnuts]

He reckons Blackburn was a good performance?

Alex, it was half a good performance.

[PaulWinch again]

It's interesting the 'lets stay unbeaten' bit, it's not 'let's win for as long as we can'. I appreciate we have tough fixtures coming up, but it gives you an insight into his mindset. Also Wigan was not a good performance by any stretch, Blackburn the second half was horrendous.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Confidence should come from the manager, if you come across like your not confident then that's going to rub off on the players...What we need is a "come on then let's fucking have it" in a Stuart Pearce / Whacker kind of way

[Billy Walker]

I've read a similar article on the official site; when our own website refers to other clubs as "elite clubs" and "big guns" it doesn't half get my goat.  The mentality strikes me as inexcusably small-time.   Didn't seventh place Liverpool lose to QPR last night? If Aston Villa consider a midfield of Adam, Downing, Henderson and co an "elite" team then we might as well give up right now. There's no excuses, we have the players to give anyone a game and anyone a beating - it's not just the manager, it's the actual official voice of the club that needs sorting.

[ktvillan]

Agree Billy, if the club/manager are putting these self-imposed psycholocgical barriers in their own way we'll never be confident and we'll never get anywhere.  Winning starts in the mind.

[pauliewalnuts]

I've read a similar article on the official site; when our own website refers to other clubs as "elite clubs" and "big guns" it doesn't half get my goat.  The mentality strikes me as inexcusably small-time.   Didn't seventh place Liverpool lose to QPR last night? If Aston Villa consider a midfield of Adam, Downing, Henderson and co an "elite" team then we might as well give up right now. There's no excuses, we have the players to give anyone a game and anyone a beating - it's not just the manager, it's the actual official voice of the club that needs sorting.

I know it's a trifling point, and there are other more pressing things to worry about, but yet, it gets right on my tits, too.

It's basically accepting our status as being mid table and unimportant. "Big guns" my arse.

[PaulWinch again]

Yeah someone needs to inform the club that referring to those clubs as 'elite' is infuriating. Especially Liverpool who are 7th in the bloody table. How about we treat all of the opposition in the league, as opponents to beat. Obviously we won't win every game, but it doesn't help placing our opposition on a pedestal before we play them.

[Boz]

"let’s try and stay unbeaten for as long as we can"

Churchillian...   

Clearly demonstrates McLeish's outlook and attitude, it's all about not losing, winning is just a lucky bonus in his eyes. Suggesting beating Fulham was a good performance was more that we had some luck in stoppage time for once.

[caster troy]

His attitude is disgraceful. One of the reasons I refuse to renew my season ticket is this relentless defeatism which will no doubt lead to more 'park the bus' performances next year against these so called 'big guns.'

[Monty]

What sort of confidence building approach starts with that killer phrase "teams take points when you least expect it, so why can't we"? Bloody hell. Yeah, that'll bring confidence, stating that us taking points there would be the least expected time for anyone to do so. Sometimes I wonder if we live in the Truman show, and Eck's just been thrown in with the maddest script they could think of, just to see how we'd react.

[Damo70]

So AM thinks the Blackburn and Wigan performances were good and the Fulham performance was great. His idea of great is certainly different to mine. I was starting to look at the teams above us more than the ones below but after some of the midweek results and looking at our next three games I think we need to be looking over our shoulders again to be honest.

[Steve67]

The bloke is a complete cock.  He asks for confidence yet fails to inspire it himself. Useless Manager.  We are expected to beat the likes of Wigan and Blackburn yet picked up two points against them with half performances.  The guy speaks absolute shite.  Completely deluded.