IDEALLY, Villa will be rivalling Fulham for a European place this season – but Alex McLeish has warned fans that the claret and blues are still a “work in progress”.
McLeish gets his Villa career properly up and running against fellow new boss Martin Jol at Craven Cottage tomorrow afternoon.
Fulham finished eighth compared to Villa’s ninth last term and McLeish admits the Londoners are the scale of opponents his team are competing with for a European spot.
However, McLeish has pleaded for patience as he searches for a winning blend of youth and experience in his new look squad.
“I know in my mind I’d like to finish in the European slots, but again there’s so many teams have geared up and will be looking to try and compete for those slots,” said McLeish.
“We’ve got to try and remain as competitive as we can while reducing the wages so that is a challenge for us.
“I think we are a work in progress this season. We have to rely on patience and have to have a steady season. If it’s spectacular then brilliant, that’s what we aim for, but we’ve got to be steady.”
McLeish acknowledges his most important task is to keep Villa in the top half of the table all season after Gerard Houllier’s class of 2010-11 flirted with relegation.
But with the likes of Sunderland strengthening, he admits much depends on the impact his young guns make on the Premier League.
“Last year most of the first half of the season, in fact quite late into the season, was spent near the bottom of the table,” said McLeish.
“If we can be steady and do our very best to finish even higher than we did last season. That’s a big challenge.
“Teams like Sunderland and Everton will be looking to finish in these sorts of areas and above. I’d love to finish as high as I can but people have to be patient.
“We have lost some experienced players. We’re relying a bit on some good youngsters making a breakthrough and one or two players who never contributed last season.
“We finished ninth. Villa fans in recent history will be looking for higher than that. But there’s got to be a little patience in terms of the players we’ve lost.”
McLeish believes tomorrow’s trip to Fulham will be a good barometer of the level needed to challenge for the Europa League places.
But while Villa have a higher wage-bill, the Cottagers are further advanced in terms of team development, he argues.
“I would say they are a bit more experienced than us, that would be the main difference,” he added. “In terms of the wage bill then ours is way above theirs so the expectations are that we should be above Fulham.
“That sometimes doesn’t follow. Certainly they are a good side. If we come back with a good result then we’ll be really looking forward to the first home game.”
