PieFacE Posted September 14, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted September 14, 2013 (edited) Whilst we're only four games into the season. Our home form has resulted in two poor performances and two losses. When playing away we have a fantastic counter attacking team who will pick up plenty of points this season. However, if you don't win your home games you're in for a long season. It worries me how easy it has been for Liverpool and Newcastle to make the game difficult for us. Both teams have come to Villa Park with the intention of siting deep and marking the space, forcing us to break them down knowing full well we struggle doing it. I imagine that we'll see every team who comes to Villa Park using a similar tactic as it seems to be quite effective. We have had chances in both games, but failed to take them. So my question to you is.... What would you change in our tactics and personal to make us a better team at home? Afterall, home games are meant to give you an advantage, however, we seem to lack a footballing identity/philosophy when playing at home. For me - A creative midfielder was the most important signing we could have made in the summer. I'm shocked we didn't make one. A player like Ben Arfa would be great, someone who can create something from nothing. Edited September 14, 2013 by PieFacE 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3te Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 I don't think we were all that poor against liverpool tbh, we shouldve gotten something from the game I also don't really buy into the home game means an advantage thing to be honest, never have. Yeah, you've got your fans there, but when your fans are as impatient and prone to booing as ours are, that's hardly helping matters. There's definitely something missing when it comes to the home tactics, and it's definitely in the middle of the park. Our CMs are too similar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Need to spend in January to bring in a creative midfielder to help us break teams down at home. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 not conceding early every **** game would help a lot. It's like crippling our chances before we even get going. its becoming a **** farce 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 We can't keep playing a 4-3-3 formation for starters and we certainly can't keep hoofing the ball up from Guzan to Benteke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3te Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Might be worth trying an 4-4-1-1 at home ----------------------Guzan--------------------- Lowton-------Okore----Baker-----------Luna Baccuna----Delph------Westwood---Tonev --------------------Helenius--------------------- --------------------Benteke---------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Con Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 (edited) Ben Arfa is like Bale and Ronaldo, an Uberwinger. We already have bought one of those - Tonev. Question is whether we need to buy a Modric type of player to control possession and create from the middle of the park. Edit: 3rd time today I've written "and" instead of "an". Edited September 14, 2013 by Con Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Need to spend in January to bring in a creative midfielder to help us break teams down at home. We should have done this in August. We will not spend more than 2m in Jan, as HH said, the money is not there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Pretty sure since the beginning of the calendar year our away form has been twice as good as our home form - which is ridiculous. I mean, the only away game I can think of this year where we've been convincingly outplayed was the 3-0 at United (might be missing some) but I can think of half a dozen home games where we've been outplayed and lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted September 14, 2013 Author VT Supporter Share Posted September 14, 2013 (edited) Ben Arfa is like Bale and Ronaldo, an Uberwinger. We already have bought one of those - Tonev. Yeah well maybe Tonev will turn into a fantastic player. But from what we've seen of him so far it seems unlikely. Not writing him off, just saying. Edited September 14, 2013 by PieFacE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 I think some of the players are just overly nervous in front of the home supporters...they play with fear and it shows. It seems to actually fuel the opposition, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Never known why we can be so poor at home. Ok you may say the players are nervous, but surely its harder to play when the majority of your fans aren't there. Why should we set up differently at home I've never understood this. Anyone know the facts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mart-L7 Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Piss poor today, I can't think of one player that played remotely well, the balls always lost or passed back to Guzan, it's like nobody wants to push forward. Maybe Tonev is the man for the job but putting him on with 4 mins left ain't going to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 We are set up to counter attack. You can't be that team at home. We should know this: we spent a few years under O'Neill with the same problem. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 It's been like this for years, only twice in the last 12 seasons when we've won even as many as ten home games in a season, just over 50% was in 2007-08 when we had a record of 10 wins and 6 defeats and weirdly in the Graham Taylor when we actually won 11 out of 19 home games and yet finished 16th as we had one away win. It's a problem with how we play, too much pace and little though or guile and also maybe as Villa Park is seen as a nice arena by visting teams, excellent dressing room, big wide pitch, team who'll look to be play on the counter rather than trying to dominant and a less hostile home crowd than you'll fine in other stadiums. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted September 14, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted September 14, 2013 Home games are still a chore, it's so painful every game to watch us. Waste of £25. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir_gary_cahill Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 (edited) Home games are still a chore, it's so painful every game to watch us. Waste of £25. Agreed but I'll keep doing it for some unknown reason Edited September 14, 2013 by sir_gary_cahill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanBalaban Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 (edited) We have very little in midfield at home so Benteke can get isolated. Our width comes from our fullbacks as much as anything else, but it's a big task for them when the team is being overrun. When they can get forward they can be effective, and Lowton has a hell of a cross on him. So...with that in mind, I'd actually make a solitary personnel change, meaning a subtle formation tweak. KEA had a poor game today, but his short range passing and movement is the best of our MF. Delph has his driving runs and is starting to stamp his authority into more games. I would actually add Sylla in with Westwood giving a much stronger footprint in the middle of the park. This should take some of the pressure off the back 4 allowing Lowton (or Bacuna), and Luna (or Bennett) to get forward to create the width. It should also close the gap between Benteke and the rest of the play and free up Gabby somewhat. The player to sit things out at the moment: Weimann Edited September 14, 2013 by StanBalaban 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted September 14, 2013 Author VT Supporter Share Posted September 14, 2013 It seems most of the time when we play at home, for the first 20-40minutes we try to pass the ball nicely and retain possession. This is mostly between the defence and midfield, then back to defence, then back to midfield and so on. We then get caught out and concede a goal. Then it's almost as if Lambert says "ah screw this it isn't working, just lump it to Benteke"... then for the rest of the game we do just that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanBalaban Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 It seems most of the time when we play at home, for the first 20-40minutes we try to pass the ball nicely and retain possession. This is mostly between the defence and midfield, then back to defence, then back to midfield and so on. We then get caught out and concede a goal. Then it's almost as if Lambert says "ah screw this it isn't working, just lump it to Benteke"... then for the rest of the game we do just that. You're right. It's actually effective in parts but when that's the only string to your bow you're pretty easily snuffed out. Not to say that Gabby is a no.10 but something along the lines of this: --------------Benteke-------------- (Gabby) -------Delph---------KEA----------- ------------Westy--Sylla------------- As with the goal against Rotherham, today there was a lovely interchange of play which created the change for Andi (who should've squared it to Gabby). That pssing move relies on KEA, Westy and Delph moving around the MF. With Sylla in there too we'll have a great presence in MF, allowing us to play a better passing game at VP. Gabby can then do what Gabby does, and the Beast is more involved in the play. Hopefully, with more possession in MF we'll see Lowton and co. bombing forwards again creating crosses for the attacking players, but the whole formation means greater possession of the ball - which is key when playing at home. Off the bench we can change things with Andi, Kozak, Helenius, Tonev, Bacuna in many different ways too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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