Our system detected that your browser is blocking advertisements on our site. Please help support FoxesTalk by disabling any kind of ad blocker while browsing this site. Thank you.
Jump to content
Steven

Aston Villa Post Match Thread 2 - 1

By Steven, in Leicester City Forum

Recommended Posts

Corky

Corky

Posted
Posted

Imagine if we hadn't scraped a win vs Stoke, got a late equaliser vs Everton, got the penalty decision vs United...

 

Have we been worth any of our points? 

 

But then did we deserve to lose to WBA or QPR, where I think we played better this year than last?

 

Every side will have games where they probably are flattered with a lot of luck but in others could consider themselves unfortunate.

 

We deserved to draw with Arsenal certainly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Albert

Albert

Posted
Posted

How Drinkwater hasn't been involved at all in the past 3 games is totally beyond me.

Never once did we have any control in the game and can't remember us stringing more than 5 passes together.

Seem to be having the same conversations after every game but see no changes.

It pains me to say it but I think it's time for a change now

Link to comment
Share on other sites
inckley fox

inckley fox

Posted
Posted

I think everybody is in agreement that we're much better than the way we're playing at the moment.

 

I don't know about that. I'd argue the performances are better than the results suggest they are. We could easily have got 3, 4 or 5 points out of the past four games, instead of 1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
harpendenfox

harpendenfox

Posted
Posted

How Drinkwater hasn't been involved at all in the past 3 games is totally beyond me.

Never once did we have any control in the game and can't remember us stringing more than 5 passes together.

Seem to be having the same conversations after every game but see no changes.

It pains me to say it but I think it's time for a change now

Albert you are someone who in the past has shared informed inside information.

Is there a feeling inside the club that Nige may be running out of time, or is this simply your opinion ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Thracian

Thracian

Posted
Posted

This wasn't the worst we've played by a long way but it still showed quite emphatically that the manager is snookered and the team is looking as if it's not capable of surviving because we simply don't have either the manpower or the clever philosophies to make the best of what we've got at this level.

 

Factor One: Did anyone believe we'd hang on to or capitalise on our lead because I didn't. It was clear from the off that we were going to concede because, in boxing terms we were fighting an opponent at least two categories higher in terms of weight and strength.

 

Factor Two: Even someone who'd never watched Leicester would have taken less than five minutes to realise we had to keep the ball on the ground and play our way either through or round the Villa defence but we didn't do that.

 

Factor Three (connected to factor two). I stated at the beginning of the season that the last thing you can do in The Premiership is possession away cheaply but we looked like a charity outfit.

 

Factor Four: (Corners and free kicks): You can't give em away needlessly and you have to make something of the ones you get. We failed on both counts. 

 

Factor Five: When opponents have on or more known dangermen it's not usually easiest to subdue them man-to-man but by preventing them getting the ball in the first place. We didn't do that. Villa were allowed to get far too many crosses into the box without much pressure and there was no chance of any of our defenders coping with Benteke in the air and the attention he required meant it was easier for other Villa attackers. 

 

Now most of the above refers to basics - they are things you'd work on with a junior side and that's what most concerns me about Pearson. He talks about attention to detail but too often he doesn't even get the basics right.

 

If that sounds a bit defeatist let me say I think we could have beaten Villa. Our wide players posed a threat in that both had the beating or the chance of beating their full-backs. But, we didn't get the ball to them sufficiently, we didn't get enough players into supporting situations and we never had a chance of converting aimless crosses. The right approach was to attack down the flanks, both outside and inside the full-backs and to probe the Villa defence with low passes and driven crosses and shots.

 

Pearson should have recognised one of the dangers from the off when Villa got an unchallenged cross in from the left and Benteke was only a few feet away from connecting in front of an almost open goal. The cross could and should have been cut out. But no and the second goal showed how little we learned. Again, there'd been an easlier example when their right sided attacker had received a pass from left midfield in acres of space and fired narrowly over the near post. Did we learn? No. The same happened with the goal. The left-winger was allowed far too much space. The defenders expected an interception but allowed themselves to all be drawn goalwards and the crossfield pass left Hutton with so much time and space he could almost have had a coffee before rifling the ball home. 

 

It was so naive.

 

As was the first goal. Some might blame Moore but he had no chance of beating Clark to the header. Villa had worked on that free kick and it was perfctly delivered. Even if Moore had almost miraculously tracked his man who'd shaped to go square, he'd have had no chance of intercepting a low ball aimed on the inside of the attacker. The blame was Wasilowski's for giving away a totally needless free-kick in just the place where it could cause most damage.

 

Next was our charitability. I understand one or two high crosses both from corners and open play as a means of attack but only when they're specific - that is aimed at a particular runner and into a specific place. But, again, even early on, it became apparent we weren't likely to have much impact in that department. Villa as a side were big, strong and mean. And yet we fired endless high balls to no-one in particular and simply donated possession to the opposition while our wide players were begging to be fed more and more opportunities.

 

No, neither Schlupp nor Mayrez had great games but they posed a permanent threat with their pace, trickery and willingness to shoot. Why didn't we exploit that?

 

Well one reason was because we just hoofed the ball from the back and the other was because our central midfield was so inept. Yes, they tried - I thought everyone tried - but James is not a pass-and-move player and nor is he a marksman because, although willing, he simply doesn't have the discipline or accuracy either with his shooting or his final passes.

 

Cambiasso was his usual bufferfly self, flitting in and our with a bit part in our goal but never in any way as dominant or influencial as he needs to be given what we lack in playing him - the added aerial capability of King and passing consistency of King which would have been a godsend today. 

 

Free-kicks can be mentioned every week but, put simply, Villa demonstrated how hard they'd worked on theirs and scored one of their two goals as a result and posed a threat from every one because they had people and purposeful runners to aim at. We posed no threat at all with James lofting one cross nearer the corner flag than the six yard box. It really was pathetic all round. 

 

We are up against, we can't help some of our shortcomings - particularly in height - but all the more reason we should be tactically right and disciplined enough to play those tactics to the nth degree.

 

What we don't need now is more wholesale changes although I thought Wood looked a threat in his cameo. We need to learn from what we did wrong and put it right...whether with Pearson as boss or with someone else who does have the humility to understand and get the best from what he's got. Because we didn't do that today. Yes, we made a few chances but they might have scored four or five.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ScouseFox

ScouseFox

Posted
Posted

Same, I'd imagine there are at least 12 mentions of Andy King in there somewhere though.

 

there's 1080 words in that last post lol i reckon there's been less than 1080 words in my previous 100 posts 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jonaldinho

Jonaldinho

Posted
Posted

I blamed Schlupp at the time for the second goal as you'd assume that the overlapping right back is his man, but it's clear from the replays that he's marking the guy in the centre of the pitch and we quite simply didn't have the numbers back to cover both. If he'd stayed on Hutton and left the player on the edge of the box free then it could have ended up in our net anyway, so I think to be honest he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Just shocking team defending to let ourselves get into that position.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...