Frustrating times indeed.
The West Ham United game was everything wrong with the club under Paul Lambert’s reign, condensed into 90 minutes. Bereft of ideas in the first half, as West Ham edged play, followed quickly by two lapses just after the second half leading to a two goal deficit. The rest of the game? Well, that reminded us all of the second leg against Bradford. Then, against Cardiff, the team still struggled to create chances for most of the game.
As it turned out, the solidity provided by Ron Vlaar’s return was the difference between the 2-0 loss over the weekend and the draw on Tuesday. I like both Clark and Baker, and I’d go as far as to say both have improved over last year, but they can’t play together. Lambert alluded to both being left-footed, but the more pressing issue is that neither read the game as well as Vlaar or are composed enough on the ball.
As was the case with West Ham’s second goal, the midfield has not done the defence any favors either. To be fair, as far as Saturday is concerned, Fabian Delph has been the best midfielder on the team by a mile and nobody would argue otherwise. Karim El-Ahmadi has adjusted to the league in his second year, and is the only central midfielder who regularly makes runs into the opposing box, but he isn’t “The Governor” – the deep-lying playmaker he was brought in to be.
If he was then he could drop deep and give Clark and Baker somebody to receive a simple pass. As it is we’re bypassing the midfield which renders Ashley Westwood’s skill set almost useless – he still isn’t doing enough closing down opponents, or winning the ball back as Villa’s opponents frequently dominate possession. The only ball winner we have Yacouba Sylla, but he seems to have regressed in the manager’s plans t the point that it appears he has no faith in him at all anymore.
Over the last two weeks, the one midfielder who has shown something is Marc Albrighton. He has looked good ever since he has regained fitness. I suspect that he hasn’t seen more time on the pitch due in part to the deficiencies in the rest of the squad. Albrighton is best deployed in a 4-4-2 with another winger. If Aleksander Tonev wasn’t as horrid as he has been, this would be Albrighton’s time to shine.
That Villa lack wingers is the main reason the manager resorted to playing Joe Bennett on the left wing. Hell, we all assumed Charles N’Zogbia was next in line for the Bomb Squad, but either as a winger or in the hole this team could desperately use him if he is motivated.
Getting back to the midfield, there is no obvious choice to pair with Delph in the middle of the park. Ideally the club would have an intelligent, all around midfielder to compliment him, but they still lack such a player. When one ventures forward, the other would have the understanding to stay back. That is allegedly Bacuna’s best position, but he seems to be playing right back instead.
If I were the manager, I’d like to see Bacuna back in midfield sooner rather than later. Of course, doing that would require another regressing player – Matthew Lowton – to regain his form from last season.
The club have been looking for a creative midfielder for longer than Stanley searched for Livingston. We all know they failed to find one in January, but I could argue they any kind of midfielder would’ve helped.
As it standard, this team will muddle through the rest of the season, but I think they will survive. As long as Vlaar, Christian Benteke, Gabby Agbonlahor, Delph, and Andi Weimann are reasonably fit – and in form – the team will be fine and will still probably be closer to mid-table than the drop. This season was always about consolidation and improvement. There isn’t as much of the latter to hang our hats on as we had hoped.
The Author
