The Aston Villa high line thread

[tinker]

If Spurs hadn't sat back and defended then we wouldn't have had a high back line. One things for sure Liverpool will not sit back and defend and we will not have a highline unless their 1 up on 90 minutes. 

[Adam2003]

6 hours ago, The_Rev said:

 A loose analogy today would be how someone like Ivan Toney isn't going to displace Harry Kane even if he signs for Chelsea in the summer and scores 25 goals next season

Chelsea don’t score goals these days anyway

[jimmygreaves]

This "high line" cobblers wouldn't even be a conversation if the lino had done his job at the weekend.

The tactic was only noticed due to the number of times play was allowed to continue way after the attacker was caught offside.

 

[duke313]

10 minutes ago, jimmygreaves said:

This "high line" cobblers wouldn't even be a conversation if the lino had done his job at the weekend.

The tactic was only noticed due to the number of times play was allowed to continue way after the attacker was caught offside.

 

Don’t they do that in case they score and it is actually onside? 

[Dante_Lockhart]

It makes me nervous too, but the players look disciplined and are executing it well.

Edited May 17, 2023 by Dante_Lockhart

[BOF]

I'm hoping this thread isn't busy Saturday evening.

[meregreen]

The way Liverpool play at pace, on the shoulder of defenders, this tactic might need adjusting at Anfield. Unai is nobody’s fool though.

[duke313]

12 minutes ago, meregreen said:

The way Liverpool play at pace, on the shoulder of defenders, this tactic might need adjusting at Anfield. Unai is nobody’s fool though.

Do we always play with a high line under Emery? I'm certain I remember some of his earlier games with us playing with a revolutionary back 6, I don't recall a high line in those games.

Edit: After looking it was the 2-0 win versus Conte's Tottenham, sat deep with the two wide players forming a 6 across the back.  We might see something similar against Liverpool.

Edited May 17, 2023 by duke313

[meregreen]

1 minute ago, duke313 said:

Do we always play with a high line under Emery? I'm certain I remember some of his earlier games with us playing with a revolutionary back 6, I don't recall a high line in those games.

I like a manager who assesses the opposition, and adjusts his team accordingly. It’s early days yet, but my impression,is that Unai is probably the most tactically astute Villa manager I’ve seen.

 

 

[jimmygreaves]

4 hours ago, duke313 said:

Don’t they do that in case they score and it is actually onside? 

Well, yes if it's a close call but they were all miles offside and obvious in real time.

[sheepyvillian]

52 minutes ago, meregreen said:

I like a manager who assesses the opposition, and adjusts his team accordingly. It’s early days yet, but my impression,is that Unai is probably the most tactically astute Villa manager I’ve seen.

 

 

Who exactly is he up against?  The only other manager who I can think of who actually thought about a game plan was arguably Deano, I mean that 7 - 2 against Liverpool was tactically spot- on. 

[Philosopher]

Rashford exploited the high line well for Man U in the game a old Trafford and the league Cup game. However they targeted our right hand side, which is where our slowest defenders are. If we can get a really speedy right back or right centre back it will help a lot. Konsa is no slouch, but Mings and Moreno are 2 of the fastest defenders in the league, but they are both on our left side. 

[Follyfoot]

Dropped again on Talk Shite when speaking to Collymore, in all fairness he put them straight

[MikeMcKenna]

Without doubt the ‘high line’ tactic worked for us last season. However, due to the N’Castle result,, loss of Mings, poor showing by Konsa and newness of Torres, imho Emery has to go back to the drawing board.  While it wasn’t the sole cause of our hammering today, it is very worrying that N’castle worked us out and we looked very dodgy at the back. 

I sincerely fear that if he persists with the high line we are going to get tonked again as it will take some time for the newbies to settle

Edited August 12, 2023 by MikeMcKenna

[villan95]

9 minutes ago, MikeMcKenna said:

Without doubt the ‘high line’ tactic worked for us last season. However, due to the N’Castle result,, loss of Mings, poor showing by Konsa and newness of Torres, imho Emery has to go back to the drawing board.  While it wasn’t the sole cause of our hammering today, it is very worrying that N’castle worked us out and we looked very dodgy at the back. 

I sincerely fear that if he persists with the high line we are going to get tonked again as it will take some time for the newbies to settle

I think the high line only really started getting exploited today in the 2nd half once it was Carlos and Pau playing together? There's bound to be teething problems with a new partnership. Whether that ends up being Pau and Carlos or Pau and Konsa, I'm sure they'll get it right after a bit of time.

[HanoiVillan]

Think it makes sense to try and focus on tightening up at the back over the next two league games; we need all three CBs to build confidence because they looked a mess individually and collectively today. For me that means taking fewer chances, and no high line at this stage. I doubt Emery will see it that way though. 

[danceoftheshamen]

18 minutes ago, villan95 said:

I think the high line only really started getting exploited today in the 2nd half once it was Carlos and Pau playing together? There's bound to be teething problems with a new partnership. Whether that ends up being Pau and Carlos or Pau and Konsa, I'm sure they'll get it right after a bit of time.

I thought we were a shambles defensively from minute one to be honest. The defensive line was all over the place, & that was with Mings & Konsa in the middle.

I though Digne looked off it, Cash is still a liability, Konsa was not his normal self & was solely responsible for their pathetic game killing third. Mings was trying to hold it all together and when he got injured we were finished. Torres looks very limited and far too slow & Carlos is not near his best yet either.

I thought we looked okay in patches up front, apart from Watkins still being a woeful finisher.

[villan95]

Oh there was a lack of cohesion for sure even in the first half but it definitely got worse with the personnel changes. I thought Torres was fine personally but Cash and Konsa well off it which cost us. Carlos will possibly take a few competitive matches to get up to speed too. 

I've calmed down a lot since the game and I'm reassured knowing Unai will analyse the match and then have the team, especially the defensive unit working hard all week to get it right.

[andym]

Doesn't matter how high or low your line is if its not held correctly, you don't get any pressure on opponent midfielders higher up the pitch, and your midfield doesn't track runners. The only goal we conceded where we were caught really high was the last one.

First goal we are set up deep for a cross, but Kamara just stands watching as Tonali runs past him into the box for an easy finish - pure laziness 6 minutes into the season.

2nd goal Cash was probably impeded by Burn who was offside; but check out the line and Cash was already a yard deeper than everybody else; he's able to look all the way across the line as well and still can't get himself set up right (happened with him last season as well).

3rd goal was Konsa error.

4th goal is mainly because our midfield allowed an easy pass into a Newcastle player between the lines - we had our midfield trio within about 5 yards of each other and they still allowed it through. Then Konsa charges out and gets caught square on, Cash is again not in line and Carlos' reaction and effort to block the ball across was not exactly great.

5th goal we did get caught very high as we were searching for a consolation; Torres charges up and misses a tackle, then Carlos starts to commit and backtracks getting caught in no mans land and we are then left in a complete mess.

Moreno, Mings, Konsa and Cash is a very very quick back line, so can see why Emery has generally played like that to date. It will be interesting with Mings now out as well as Moreno, we do shift a touch deeper. We did it at times last season even with them.

[DJBOB]

I wouldn’t read too much into it. 

By the time the floodgates broke, we were playing an XI that had never taken the pitch together. Will take some time now with injuries and new signings to reforge the line back into shape. 
 

Watkins - Diaby

Tielemans - Luiz - Kamara

Digne - Torres - Carlos - Konsa - Cash

 

What a mess.