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First Eleven


VillanousOne

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if all of our players are improving, and we have a full squad all capable of competing for starting positions, then i think we are in the best position we've been in for a long time...

in my humble opinion, i think we've seen clear signs of improvement from gabby, db9, ciaran, eric lichaj, zoggy, wee barry, delph, ireland, as well as the successful introduction of many of the new players into the squad...

with dunne coming back fairly shortly, i can see very very few positions which have nailed on starters... brilliant to see that villa is no longer a place where people will be picked regardless of performance...

well done PL and UTV...

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I don't think we have a set first eleven. There are certain players that are 'first choice', then others that can be rotated depending on opponent/ system/ form.

First choice:

Lowton RB

Vlaar CB

El Ahmadi CM

Bent ST

IMO all the other spaces are up for grab week by week.

(I would put Bennett in 'first choice LB' but we haven't even see him play for us yet)

Agree completely! I think a big problem with MON was that his tactics and first XI never really changed whereas PL seems to set up differently according to the oppostion and player form.

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I'm in favor of rotating a first eleven, but I think PL should really get away from the diamond that he's trying to play right now. I'll highlight some of the issues below.

Against Swansea and Southampton, we played a diamond that consisted of KEA at the bottom, Holman and Bannan on the sides and Ireland at the top. There are inherent issues with this. While Ireland plays his part, KEA is obviously not good enough to be the ball winner at that part of the diamond. Furthermore, he doesn't really keep good spacing when he plays this part. If Holman or Bannan gets it, he tends to drift until he's right next to the player to collect the pass. Considering that we have to keep some width, this creates a large seperation from KEA to either flank when he comes to collect the ball, thus making it easier for the opponent to press and clog the lanes.

This problem is further expounded by the fact that neither Bannan nor Holman are conventional wide players. While Bannan does have a good foot on him, you'll never expect him to really beat a man on the dribble. Holman...well he's Holman and it's hit or miss when it comes to that. So, on the left side you have Bannan (unable to get past players) and Lichaj (a player with no left foot. You don't really want your LB to be cutting in all the time while Bannan hugs the touchline. A lot of our movements fail this way because neither of them are unable to take on the opponent.

This would be all fine and good but when we have Benteke and Bent up front, neither of them likes to come back, collect the ball, and distribute. Benteke, in his short time, likes to play with his back to the defender and as a target man. Bent....well, he's Bent. Never quite good at providing an outlet or collecting the ball. What happens is that Bent, Benteke, and Ireland get stacked up front while Bannan and Holman are too static out wide, leaving KEA by himself in the middle. This just won't work.

Weimann would at least come back and present himself as an option and keep the spacing more balanced. He's not perfect, but at least it doesn't become top heavy like it does with Benteke and Bent both in the squad.

Anyways, that's a lot of rambling basically to say that I don't think the diamond with KEA should be our preferred formation going forward.

If I were to have it my way....

------------------Guzan----------------

----Lowton--Vlaar---Dunne----Bennet

-----------KEA-------Westwood---------

--------Ireland--------Bannan------------

------------Benteke-----Bent------------

Agree - I've always had reservations regarding the diamond with any team. With us, it can be exposed more so than normal because of our distinct lack of width.

I think Lambert has adopted a system that accommodates players in their favoured positions rather than getting them to adjust positionally to a less flawed formation. This is probably because we don't have the wide players in the squad to do that. Whether playing players in their favoured positions ahead of arguably greater solidity is good or not I don't know.

At Norwich he often played a very similar system with Hoolahan in the Ireland role - so perhaps the diamond is simply how he operates and if that's his style then fair enough. I also remember him and Petrov playing in a diamond back at Celtic, so he obviously knows the system well to be able to use it (and I'm sure he knows the flaws too). Like Norwich, because of our and their lack of width last season, we are going to concede and score a lot of goals.

However, going back to Kwan's point, I think much of his concern rides on the idea that Ireland or whoever is playing in the attacking midfield role won't do a job in tracking back - which certainly has not been the case especially with Ireland. This makes, for me, a lot of your concerns theoretically resolved. I think KAE also does his job a little better than you give him credit for.

I think the diamond is workable, but the players need to be fully aware of how it can be exploited because positioning is everything. If we continue to improve whilst using it I don't see why we can't carry on. A Plan B would be nice though.

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I actually quite like the look of that KHV, but there's probably a reason why not many successful English sides use it.

juventus,napoli and italy have started to bring it back. teams that play this new 4-2-3-1 style really struggle against it

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So, with Ireland likely to be out with a broken arm... Could this work?

---------Guzan/Given-------- (form dependant)

Lowton--Vlaar--Clark--Bennett

---------Delph---KEA--------

--Gabby---Benteke---Zog--

--------------Bent----------

gabby, benteke,zog and bent would stay fowrward so the opposition would walk past kea and delph on the same way southampton walked through us at st marys

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...................Guzan...................

Lowton....Vlaar...Clark....Bennett

..............KEA.....Delph..............

Gabby..........................Holman

.........Benteke.......Bent............

Given, Baker, Lichaj, Bannan, Albrighton, NZog, Weimann

Ireland in for Holman when fit.

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Guzan

Lowton -- Vlaar -- Clark -- Bennett

----- KEA --- Delph---Bannan-----

----- Benteke --- Gabby ------

------------ Bent -------------

Bringing on Albrighton and Nzogbia to maybe go 4-4-2

and/or Holman for whoever tires first

Playing Guzan near a corner flag is very risky IMO.

:winkold:

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Guzan

Lowton -- Vlaar -- Clark -- Bennett

----- KEA --- Delph---Bannan-----

----- Benteke --- Gabby ------

------------ Bent -------------

Bringing on Albrighton and Nzogbia to maybe go 4-4-2

and/or Holman for whoever tires first

Playing Guzan near a corner flag is very risky IMO.

:winkold:

HA HA :)

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