Performances have continued to be inconsistent, but what has remained is a cold-eyed determination to improve. Only three weeks ago, a nervy but admirably patient Villa Park witnessed a turgid encounter against Reading from which neither side deserved to take a full quota of points. That Villa did was down to a late and decisive header from their exciting and prodigiously gifted forward Christian Benteke.
With his ability to spend restricted, it is incumbent on Lambert to make sure that every penny he is granted is invested wisely. The Scot doesn’t have the luxury enjoyed by some of his Premier League counterparts whereby an occasional failure in the transfer market can be shrugged off as bad luck. The £7m signing of Benteke from Genk appears more inspired with every minute the 22 year-old spends in a claret and blue shirt.
Lambert’s keen eye for talent has been equalled by an obvious ability to improve the players at his disposal. Andreas Weimann was starting to earn notoriety as a goal-poacher prior to this term, but in the space of a few months is displaying the attributes of an intelligent attacker, capable of linking play and still contributing to the team’s tally.
Unheralded centre-backs Ciaran Clark and Nathan Baker are establishing themselves as a strong pairing in a side, which in their classy 3-1 win at Liverpool boasted an average age of 23 years, 308 days. Furthermore, Matthew Lowton and Ashley Westwood, bought from Sheffield United and Crewe Alexandra respectively, look completely accomplished on the grandest stage.
In that triumph at Anfield, and the vibrant 4-1 League Cup quarter-final victory at Norwich four days earlier, the Lambert stamp was firmly evident – as it was in preceding draws against QPR and Stoke City when the same cohesion wasn’t achieved but fresh resilience imbued in the Villa unit ensured neither game ended in defeat.
At the end of one of the best weeks in recent years for Aston Villa it would be easy to get carried away, but the more sensible and hardened denizens of the Holte End will know Lambert’s is very much a work in progress. There will be more matches to endure of the nature of that tense evening against Reading and the dull stalemate with Stoke, but there will also be days to enjoy when this team clicks and plays with a fluency and imagination not seen at Villa Park for some time.
With patience and a modicum of financial backing when required, Lambert could lead Villa to their most exciting times since the era of the flamboyant Ron Atkinson – who oversaw a second place finish in the Premier League’s maiden year – and the following spell under the more prosaic Brian Little, who took Villa to fourth in the League and their last trophy – the 1996 League Cup.
There is no reason for this Villa outfit to fear anything and there is a distinct possibility of that 17-year silverware drought being ended in the same competition this year. Aston Villa are inching their way back to the top table.
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