Stephen_Evans Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 The frustrating aspect for me in many games is the lack of urgency. Control is great but control can mean fast as well as slow. We’re sometime “chasing” games in injury time and knock it around at the back like we’re 3-0 up. And there are some players who play to the “system” at the cost of some imagination, like Cash with the constant check inside and resetting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 I have never been a fan of the 4 CM's that we play with and I don't think I ever will be. I think the centre of the pitch gets too congested and its eye of a needle stuff to try to play a though ball. I would like to try 4-3-3 with two out and out wingers to see if that helps us be more creative. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callum Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 4 minutes ago, Stephen_Evans said: The frustrating aspect for me in many games is the lack of urgency. Control is great but control can mean fast as well as slow. We’re sometime “chasing” games in injury time and knock it around at the back like we’re 3-0 up. And there are some players who play to the “system” at the cost of some imagination, like Cash with the constant check inside and resetting. Bang on this. Last night, as soon we started playing the same style but with tempo and conviction, we were dangerous. We looked a different side. Surely that has to be the emphasis moving forwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcarpet Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Earlier in the season we used to play slow, slow, slow then bang hit them with some pace when attacking which was effective. Currently we seem to be lacking the explosive end bit and our moves just carry on being slow even in the last 3rd which is resulting in us not being able to create many chances 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anything11 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Out of form my lorddddd out of form. Players aren't doing their individual jobs very well right now outside of a few of them. So much sloppy passing, hesitancy and just straight naivety is what is costing us. They are playing too tentative or too relaxed and nothing in between. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazmonkey Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Intensity and purpose is killing us at the moment and a few of form. This could go in the Emery thread, but he deserves credit for what he has done so far, but the past couple of games I'm surprised he hasnt changed a few things. The high line - never been a fan from day one...people will say its been working....something like this doesnt work...we get away with it as we giving the opposition an opportunity...something that works denies that opportunity throughout the game. Im not saying we should go low block for example but a low block denies opportunities massively and teams have to figure out the hard was to break it down. A high line will always give you a sniff....and with Martinez some of those wins could have been losses. The boro game without VAR we looked better in defence...why...we sat back just a bit more and denied the space behind. Some have said we need to get wingers on the ball....absolutely...but we are so slow at moving the ball there is neither no pass on...or the winger is forced backwards or inside. Others keep saying we need x....we need y....these players...yes are good players but having say Torres in last night would that have changed much....the high line gamble...no.....the movement....no...the intensity...no...maybe a better distribution but other than that not much. For me...Emery needs to just go back to basics a bit.....drop the high line a bit...get confidence in back line....and importantly make us less risky to the over the top and counter attacks...then when confidence is back...introduce it again. But the massive one....lets get some energy...some purpose and intensity....we are so passive its like watching kids defend....defence starts from attacking....pressing...forcing mistakes...not holding a line and hoping they go offisde. we need PURPOSE and need it quick before we start running out of games. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 1 hour ago, bcarpet said: Earlier in the season we used to play slow, slow, slow then bang hit them with some pace when attacking which was effective. Currently we seem to be lacking the explosive end bit and our moves just carry on being slow even in the last 3rd which is resulting in us not being able to create many chances We would play round the back slow to draw the opposition press, then pass the ball to our midfielders who now have space and hit them with pace, strange this seems to have stopped. Maybe teams have caught on and are not leaving space in midfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 3 hours ago, Delphinho123 said: I do miss a good 4-2-3-1 system where the wingers square their full backs up and one of the 2/3 central midfielders plays more as a 10. Relying on our fullbacks for all our width and having Diaby and Watkins play so centrally is not working. We’re also incredibly dull to watch and our playing out from the back is so poor at times. Emery needs to change things. Tielemans as a narrow midfielder doesn’t consistently work, Diaby is out of form, Cash can’t beat a man or cross the ball etc. etc. The high line is also getting beaten time and time again now. We need to change it. First time Emery needs to properly change things in my book. I don’t like our style of play at all and I’ve been white vocal on that. The high line slander continues, it's the reason we are in 4th. We didn't concede two goals last night from corners because of the high line. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen_Evans Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 3 minutes ago, duke313 said: The high line slander continues, it's the reason we are in 4th. We didn't concede two goals last night from corners because of the high line. And the third goal came from poor decision making when we had the ball. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AV82 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 (edited) Before I get too anxious my eyes are firmly on the bench. We had no-one other than Bailey who's fit, confident or settled enough to come on and change the game. Both in terms of quality or player profile. Credit to Newcastle, they did a brilliant job nullifying our play last night and I don't think we had any real way to change it. No adequate replacements for Moreno, Cash or Lenglet. No attacking, dynamic players (other than Bailey) to change our shape or our approach to the game. Could we have played better? Sure, I guess, but I do not trust Lenglet at all, Moreno and Cash look shaky, I'm not sold on Tielemans in that position (at specific times against specific opponents), Diaby did more damage than good and other than Bailey we had no-one to confidently bring on to change our approach. At HT he could've changed things around and got Bailey on the pitch a bit sooner but would that really have changed the course of game? Even when Leon did come on Howe reacted and put Livramento on him and that was essentially all of the aces up our sleeve spent. Of course I'd like to see a response after time on the training field but we've all been saying that for weeks now and unless our injured players come back soon (Pau, Buendia), others sharpen up (Ramsey, Moreno) and the guys like Zaniolo and Diaby suddenly settle in I can see our disjointed performances continuing. We have a game plan. A risky one. One that requires the right pool of players and our already exhausted group is now as depleted as it gets. Edited January 31 by AV82 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwi1890 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Juggling Europe has caught up with the players we were the only ones not affected and overachieving to date out of us , Brighton, Newcastle and West Ham but now it’s caught up with us players look tired and concentration levels have dropped. Some of the frailties we showed against the likes of Legia Warsaw & Zrinjski are starting to show as of late. This season was always going to be a slog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 2 hours ago, villa89 said: I have never been a fan of the 4 CM's that we play with and I don't think I ever will be. I think the centre of the pitch gets too congested and its eye of a needle stuff to try to play a though ball. I would like to try 4-3-3 with two out and out wingers to see if that helps us be more creative. 1 hour ago, bcarpet said: Earlier in the season we used to play slow, slow, slow then bang hit them with some pace when attacking which was effective. Currently we seem to be lacking the explosive end bit and our moves just carry on being slow even in the last 3rd which is resulting in us not being able to create many chances These two are tied together. When we play with the 4 CM’s, there’s no one to support Watkins and Diaby getting in behind. Tielemans is never going to make ground, McGinn is often the one making the pass and Moreno and Cash, the two other pace outlets, have too deep of a starting position to catch up. So what ends up happening is slow, slow, ball goes to Watkins and Diaby and sticks but it’s just them two. On occasion we can put together a move where Moreno or Cash support and have runners but neither are elite. Cash is at his best as a late arrival, not the fulcrum of our attack and Moreno is woefully out of form. I do not like the 4 CM configuration either. It’s too predictable and not dynamic enough. Part of the reason we heavily targeted Rogers is to rectify some of this predictability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AV82 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 7 minutes ago, DJBOB said: These two are tied together. When we play with the 4 CM’s, there’s no one to support Watkins and Diaby getting in behind. Tielemans is never going to make ground, McGinn is often the one making the pass and Moreno and Cash, the two other pace outlets, have too deep of a starting position to catch up. So what ends up happening is slow, slow, ball goes to Watkins and Diaby and sticks but it’s just them two. On occasion we can put together a move where Moreno or Cash support and have runners but neither are elite. Cash is at his best as a late arrival, not the fulcrum of our attack and Moreno is woefully out of form. I do not like the 4 CM configuration either. It’s too predictable and not dynamic enough. Part of the reason we heavily targeted Rogers is to rectify some of this predictability. 4 CM is fantastic at times and has worked beautifully in the past. Like you say, our issue at the moment is our inability to change it up since our dynamic players are either injured or low on confidence. Hopefully Rogers and a few boys returning/sharpening up will shake things up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 3 minutes ago, AV82 said: 4 CM is fantastic at times and has worked beautifully in the past. Like you say, our issue at the moment is our inability to change it up since our dynamic players are either injured or low on confidence. Hopefully Rogers and a few boys returning/sharpening up will shake things up. Yeah 4 CM’s is okay when our the CM’s were JJ, McGinn, or Buendia. They were dynamic and could fly around the pitch. Our destruction of Newcastle had much to do with JJ turning Trippier into a turnstile. With Tielemans, we get so limited, Moreno is isolated and too much onus on getting the first out ball to stick with McGinn since Diaby can’t link up play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 A good summation of problems last night (and one of the few Twitter tacticos worth a follow). Tielemans and Diaby highlighted for several problems. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan95 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/aston-villa Quote In early December, two 1-0 wins in a week against last season's one and two Manchester City and Arsenal left Aston Villa two points off the top of the Premier League. 'Are Villa in the title race?' chat filled column inches and dominated radio phone-ins in the days following, only increased after their dramatic win at Brentford in their next game. Since then, Unai Emery's side have just one win in five Premier League matches - a controversial late win over relegation threatened Burnley, and in the FA Cup had a 1-0 win at Championship side Middlesbrough and a 0-0 draw at Chelsea. Villa's last home defeat came almost a year ago back in February 2023, but a performance lacking intensity and energy allowed a Newcastle side without a win on the road for four months to dismantle them with ease. Looking at their expected goals (xG) and not including penalties, Villa's stats dipped against Burnley, Everton and Newcastle, suggesting they ought to have scored two more in total than they managed in those. In fact in the fixtures since the Brentford win, only against Manchester United did they overperform their xG and that was a game where they threw away a two-goal lead. This underperformance has happened before (in seven of 17 games pre-Brentford) but is more apparent since that game, particularly when the two FA Cup ties are also thrown into the mix. It hints at new issues with chance creation and, more crucially, chance conversion. Coinciding with a slight drop in form from sole striker Ollie Watkins, whose goal last night was his first since 17 December, it is an unwanted problem for Unai Emery to solve. If his side are to maintain their push for a top-four place, let alone the rapidly fading title chat, Villa desperately need to regain their cutting edge. And quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 This is a somewhat adjacent problems to us. Brighton were torn apart by a similar man to man high press. A few key players being out (Mitoma, Enciso, March, Veltman, Fati) meant that Brighton were lacking escape routes in a man vs man press. Welbeck is not that guy and Pedro likes to play with the ball at his feet rather than running onto it. In the whole side last night, only Watkins is really able to to play that kind of match up and we all saw how it immediately changed once Bailey was introduced. Being able to find players and systems that can beat this man vs man press that is overwhelming us right now will be the key to turning around our form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted February 1 VT Supporter Share Posted February 1 I really want to see this at some point. But it almost seems too obvious. Not expecting Unai to change from his 4-4-2 any time soon, but I feel this would be fun to watch. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Townsend Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 I agree. We have got aboit 12 months out of the box midfield. Something fresh may reignite things for us but I trust the manager and coaches Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyVillans Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 so now january window is finished. How many more players do we need to get rid of? Players we need to try get rid of in the summer Olsen, Chambers, Sanson, Coutinho, Hause, Dendoncker (if option to buy doesnt happen), zaniolo (probably not worth the option to buy), Lenglet (wage will be too much) Then there are players who have a role in squad but for FFP could make sense to sell them. Ramsey, Digne, Cash, Duran? Another big summer ahead but if we get it right I feel we will be in a very solid position moving into next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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