Well that really was a game of two halves. In much the same way as the last game against Arsenal panned out in two almost unrecognisable halves, so Aston Villa salvaged a point after a series of calamitous errors cost the club the first half.

Looking at the positives for a moment, the second half was literally a bombardment. It seemed to me that it was wave after wave of pressure from Villa, with Keane, Ireland, and N’Zogbia linking up play like magicians and making it look easy. Quite how we managed to not score more is almost beyond me, as should Villa have had the rub of the green with penalty calls and unlucky shots, Villa could have bagged another three, four, or five goals.

All that said, we are still looking at a single point. The statistics will paint a picture of no wins since November, leaving Villa with something of a forgettable winter of discontent behind them. If there’s an indicator of how things might look going forwards, it will start this weekend at Newcastle, with the combination of a slick second half from Villa this evening, and the positive away form the club has hopefully working together to provide a result.

Getting back to looking at the negatives, the defending was mighty sloppy, and not just at full back. Often there’s a disjointed feel about watching us play. Even though the seemingly high risk of James Collins has been dropped, little is any different. Perhaps this, in itself, justifies that dropping the likes of Alan Hutton or Stephen Warnock, or any of the back four, really does very little. That or Villa just are poor at defence.

If You Attack, You Don’t Defend

One of the things that is altogether obvious from watching the movement and freedom of our full backs is that Villa are definitely not playing defensively. All these ideas that Villa are playing ten men behind the ball unravel when you regularly see Warnock and Hutton 90 to 95 yards up the pitch, attacking and crossing to provide width.

Given Villa’s recent penchant for playing players out of position, especially needing to play central players in wide roles, such as in the case of Gabriel Agbonlahor, Warnock and Hutton offer much needed width across a large portion of the pitch. Part of why Warnock and Hutton are making errors is because they are continually breaking forwards, with their Achilles heel being tracking back.

Imagine that. Villa playing with Brazilian style attacking full backs. The issue here is that neither Warnock or Hutton seem to be focussing any effort on the defensive side of the game. It’s great to be attacking wide areas and providing width, but when it comes down to it, the pair are defenders, not wingers.

Both players are scything down the opposition in dangerous areas, regularly jockeying wingers till they are almost in the box, before gift wrapping any winger with pace a free kick. Sooner or later, that kind of defending is going to fall over.

So it means that I’m probably going to be asking Alex McLeish to get these players to work more defensively, all across the pitch. Break forwards, sure, but don’t leave attempts at defending till the opposition are in the final 20 yards of our half. Either press them further up and commit 30 yards up the pitch with a crunching tackle, or just learn to use the wingers to provide the width instead. Either way, stop the player, even if it means picking up a card from time to time.

Defence First May Mean Less Goals Conceded, But Less Goals Scored

I’m sure some will think my suggestion to defend more with the defence will be ridiculous, that it is impossible to defend more than a McLeish team that puts ten men behind the ball. Except of course they don’t, and that any replays watching Hutton and Warnock’s movement is as likely to show the pair of defenders at least 50 yards from their goal. Hardly what I would call defensive.

Of course, the balance means that if Villa defend more, they can’t chase the game more, and thus are unable to attack with the freedom that we saw today. If ever there was evidence of gung-ho attacking football from Villa, and not just counter attacking with long balls, this was it. Here was play switched from flank to flank by the trio of Keane, Ireland, and N’Zogbia, with effortless ease.

If that kind of form can stick, and if the defence can be patched up through acquisitions in the close season, then Villa are going to be very dangerous next season, especially if money starts being spent again.

Of course, it’s not great to get a draw at home, but QPR will see themselves as lucky to have escaped with a point after the endless pressure Villa applied for the second half.

Yes, it would be very easy to say this isn’t good enough, and a major part of the first half obviously wasn’t, but if Villa can, by hook or by crook, string together two halves of football as fluid and well constructed as the second half, then most teams will find coming up against the team from B6 a difficult challenge indeed.

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