If the rumours are to be believed, it’s been another farcical week at AVFC. Matthew Lowton exchanged some unsavoury views with the fans (or perhaps his wife) after Monday’s defeat to QPR, whilst Paul Lambert exchanged some unsavoury views with the players. Things got so heated that he had to be held back by Roy Keane, who will apparently try to get as far away from the mess at Villa by heading to the Jungle alongside his fellow ‘celebrities’. Allegedly of course.
The public message since Monday’s defeat has been uniform in all statements made by players and management alike. In his post-match press conference, Lambert stated that “we had to be more clinical in the final third of the pitch.” Captain Ron Vlaar reiterated this, saying “Results give confidence and that’s what we have to do”, whilst Tom Cleverley’s interview included the sound bite “we’re paid to turn that around to make sure the goals and wins come again.” Finally, Lambert started his pre-match build up to this weekend’s game against Spurs by reflecting on Monday’s performance: ” it’s up to us to go and pick it up again on Sunday.”
The message seems to have been clearly delivered and taken on board: we must be better!
Easier said than done.
After a strong start to the season, Villa unfortunately have gone back to their ‘leaky-as-a-sieve’ persona that they have developed so successfully over the last two seasons. Suprisingly, the injuries to Baker and (more significantly) Senderos have destabilised the ‘rock solid’ image that started to form after four games and three clean sheets. Now Villa look like conceding anytime an opposing attack threatens itself, and the return of Roncrete to that defence doesn’t seem to have done the trick. Vlaar’s reaction after Charlie Austin’s second goal on Monday said it all: head in hands, frustrated yet upset, the fear of conceding realised again.
Yet understandably, the biggest concern for Villa fans at the moment is their attack. No goals in five games, and another unwanted record on the agenda if they fail for a sixth-consecutive time. Some people will point to the fact that Christian Benteke, easily Villa’s biggest goal-scoring threat over the past two seasons, is far from peak fitness and that the goals will come soon. Yet at the moment, Benteke is hindering the team. It’s a Catch 22 for Villa: if he doesn’t play, it’ll take him longer to get fit; yet his current performances are part of the reason why Villa failed to score in their last two games. His touch is poor, his distribution wayward, and his desire to come deeper to collect the ball is not matched by his fitness to then get forward and attack.
This isn’t Villa’s biggest problem in attack though. Ultimately, they don’t look like they’ve been told how to attack.
Take Monday’s game against QPR. Ignore for a moment the fact that Tom Cleverley, a central midfielder by trade and Villa’s only bright spark the week before against Everton, was forced out to the unfamiliar left wing to accommodate a 4-4-2 formation. The key problem was in the approach of the front two: Benteke and Agbonlahor. On paper, this looked like a smart move from Paul Lambert. After QPR’s calamitous 3-2 defeat against Liverpool, Villa’s front two were up against a shaky defence in own-goal specialist Richard Dunne and his new understudy for the role Steven Caulker. Benteke had the potential to outmuscle either, whilst Agbonlahor’s speed behind the defence would undoubtedly cause problems.
Yet neither player really tested. Benteke repeatedly came short instead of teasing flick-ons, and Agbonlahor not once got in behind QPR’s back line. Perhaps you might call this astute tactics from Harry Redknapp, playing a deep defensive line to ensure everything was in front of QPR. Yet Villa rarely played a long ball to Benteke on the opposing 18-yard line, such as the one that allowed Austin to open the scoring.
Lambert’s tactics were one-dimensional, a simple Plan A that failed to work: (1)pass the ball sideways across midfield and defence; (2) full backs try to run forward; (3) give to Benteke and Agbonlahor 30 yards from goal, who lose it; and finally (4) give to Ciaran Clark to hoof it to opposing goalkeeper Rob Green.
Lambert doesn’t seem to have told his players how they are going to go about scoring a goal. Under Martin O’Neill, it was clear; launch it to Heskey or Carew, out wide to the winger, whip balls into the box. Simple, maybe not always attractive, but mostly effective. Lambert however is putting players onto the pitch, expecting them to keep the ball and hoping that things happen. Even his rhetoric suggests this is the case: after the QPR game, he said “When Christian Benteke gets up to speed and with Gabby Agbonlahor and Andi Weimann and Charles N’Zogbia and Darren Bent, there are guys there with goals in them. I think that will happen.”
I THINK THAT WILL HAPPEN!
So maybe the message is that we must be better – but the question still remains: how will it happen?
A View From The Holte End 