Jump to content

The Aston Villa high line thread


Follyfoot

Recommended Posts

10 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

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. 

Why?

We won't come up against Newcastle every week.

Watch us play a high line and destroy Everton next weekend

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Freak result yesterday, very reminiscent of our 7-2 against Liverpool.

We caused them problems and at 2-1 it genuinely could have gone either way, we deserved to lose but I expect we will be back on it next week.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see the high line changing at all and why should it really.

However, the danger signs were apparent in pre season and obviously yesterday Newcastle took full advantage of us. I can't imagine its going to get any better any time soon with Mings out and a new CB pairing to develop. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, DJBOB said:

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. 

Not only hadn't they played together, but the 5-3-2 was something we haven't used much under Emery.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The high line worked very well last season 

Howe had for once done some homework  and drilled his players to make late runs from their own half , the danger now is  if other managers work it out as well .

Pau looks like one of slowest player to ever wear the shirt since Simon Stainrod so I think we will see 3 CB’s for a while 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

The high line worked very well last season 

Howe had for once done some homework  and drilled his players to make late runs from their own half , the danger now is  if other managers work it out as well .

Pau looks like one of slowest player to ever wear the shirt since Simon Stainrod so I think we will see 3 CB’s for a while 

I'm not sure the late runs is anything new really or something that other managers are suddenly going to work out, thats how you beat a high line. Teams tried it against us last year, notably Spurs and Chelsea.

Difference was our line end of last season was textbook, moved as a unit and in sync with the midfield pressing, so we caught teams offside constantly. It was also super quick, so even when we wasn't perfect, we had recovery pace.

Look at side ons of the game on saturday and it was all over the place, and we paid the price.

I do wonder now with both moreno and mings out long term though, whether he will drop us back a touch. With just Moreno out, you still had some pace down the left with Mings. Now we have no speed or running power, particularly with Ramsey and Buendia also out.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

The high line worked very well last season 

Howe had for once done some homework  and drilled his players to make late runs from their own half , the danger now is  if other managers work it out as well .

Pau looks like one of slowest player to ever wear the shirt since Simon Stainrod so I think we will see 3 CB’s for a while 

Problem is Howe has just shown every manager in the league the blueprint to beat us

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

The high line worked very well last season 

Howe had for once done some homework  and drilled his players to make late runs from their own half , the danger now is  if other managers work it out as well .

Pau looks like one of slowest player to ever wear the shirt since Simon Stainrod so I think we will see 3 CB’s for a while 

Interesting, can't say I noticed he was particularly slow 🤔

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the things I noticed in the pre season game vs Newcastle (didn't watch the premier league match for obvious reasons) was that they had more than one player going for the over the top ball. So if their furthest man was potentially off side, the 2nd furthest wasn't and that's how they kept exploiting us. 

Just takes the opposition to have more than one player going for the ball and the high line is stuffed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Dirtysanchez said:

It was one game, they have a week to sort it and I trust Emery will. Fans need to relax, yesterday was a one off(I hope) 

No one needs to relax for my benefit, if I may add? 😉 Anxiety is the bread and anarchy the claret-coloured jam that I eat here daily.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good debate here. I’m undecided on this…..but leaning towards an easing off of the high line slightly by Unai. 
As has been stated, the Mings injury is massive in regards to not only his recovery pace but, possibly more importantly, the way he organises and orchestrates all of the defence into maintaining that straight, uniform line which is fundamental to Unai’s tactic.

Obvs, Unai will know this anyway and will use a tactic that best suits the players available to him - it will be fascinating what he does during this post-Mings transition period. No doubt he wouldn’t want to scrap the tactic altogether but maybe he will adapt it slightly until the new defensive unit are confident in executing it. Personally, I would drop the line by 10 yards as we bed in that new CB partnership. This will increase the workload on the ‘box 4’ as we will be less compact in that area, however, I see that as a more manageable issue to deal with  than the danger of the high line failing at any point throughout the game. Dropping BK further back to fill that additional space in front of the back 4 would reduce the risk of opponents having a free rein in between the lines. 

I don’t see this as a permanent switch but worth doing up to the September break and getting that new CB pair playing together in all the matches up until then, including the ECL matches. 

Now, again, Unai has forgotten more about tactics/systems than I have ever learned in my 47 yrs and will probably have full belief in his ability to quickly embed the new defence into operation h the high line in just a few training sessions. It will be very interesting to see how we look come 2pm on Sunday…..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Dirtysanchez said:

It was one game, they have a week to sort it and I trust Emery will. Fans need to relax, yesterday was a one off(I hope) 

Yeah lets relax its ok konsa and cash can make league two type errors. Lets just not say a word

I have faith in emery just those two i have very little faith in as they have a history of making mistakes like that

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Week in week out last season pundits kept saying we would be punished for the high line. It's been a know thing amongst pundits and therefore you would think actual opposition coaches for a long time, including Howe at Villa Park last season. 

Just because of 1 bad game (and I still don't think 2 of their goals should have counted) there's no need to panic. Yes, we will get caught every now and again but if it allows us to dominate up front it's something worth persisting. 

If we get found out week after week then yes, something needs doing then. 

Edited by sidcow
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...
Â