This weekend, my relationship with Aston Villa got yet more broken and frustrating. For yet another week, Villa took only a point after failing to close a game out, leaving the opposition the invarible route back in. The manager’s reponse was that the players had sat back when being told to put the game to the opposition, only to see the game slip away in the final five minutes.
For Alex McLeish, the post-match interview offered nothing that we hadn’t heard a thousand times before. “Don’t blame me, I keep selecting attacking teams, so it clearly isn’t my fault.”.
To date, as many regular readers will know, I have sat in a pragmatic position, giving the manager more than his fair share of support. After this weekend, after another mind-numbingly obvious concession, I’m starting to lose my ability to defend it.
Some will say “What’s so different this week, Matt?” citing that this is far from the first time that McLeish has set out the team in such a manner, and far from the first time that Villa have done little more than draw.
Well, there are two main reasons why this time it is different – firstly is because of tactics, and the second is because of the manager’s involvement in the half time team talk.
You Can’t Claim Good Football Based On How Many Attackers Play
McLeish’s attitude that putting lots of forward players in the team means that the team is going to win is pretty crazy. To give a comparison, it is like saying that just because you put lots of eggs in a cake, it makes it taste better on the premise that you like eggs. Recipes, just like tactics, have to have balance. You can’t just throw in random quantities of an ingredient and expect good results.
What we’ve seen is a front and a back to a team, and very little in between. Often the forward players are so removed from the defence, that the only hope is to hoof the ball forwards, desperately hoping that balls will connect. Having lots of strikers just means you have lots of attacking intent, but it doesn’t mean you have the actual ability to play football in an organised formation.
I mean, for example, taking it to the extreme, would you consider playing 10 strikers an “attacking team”, or would you call it complete and utter imbalance to a side? You can’t just add more and more players in one area and illustrate that as evidence you are trying to attack. The reality is that you actually look more like an idiot by doing so than you do a purveyor of Dutch style free flowing football.
Part of the reason why the team is selected in this manner is because Villa lack a player who can marshall the midfield. Stiliyan Petrov, an undoubtedly committed player, does not have the energy levels required to play how Villa should do – with constant pressure and high levels of athleticism. This isn’t a criticism of Petrov, merely an illustration that his physical ability is not up to the standard of what is needed in 90 minutes. 60, sure, but 90 is a little too much to ask.
What would make the situation understandable was if there wasn’t a player who could fulfill the role, but the sad irony is there is. Jean II Makoun, a player who came from a Champions League side, was quickly sent out from Villa Park on loan to Olympiakos, another team competing in the Champions League. So, knowing that the player went from a team competing in Europe’s premier competition via Villa to another team in the same position is clearly enough evidence that Makoun is good enough. If he wasn’t, he would have gone to (Leyton) Orient rather than Olympiakos.
Player selection aside, the other main aspect of what I wanted to express my displeasure about was the half time team talk at Blackburn. I have it on very reliable evidence that the talk delivered by McLeish said something akin to “Calm down the play lads, we have our goal, now let’s close down the game and take three points.”.
On its own, such a suggestion isn’t total insanity, illustrating as it does a certain level of will to take three points rather than one. However, in the context of actual football management, and knowing what we do know about the ability of our current squad, Villa are simply not good enough to grind out a whole half of football on a single goal lead – sooner or later, the opposition will see a gap and a chance will end up happening, followed by a goal.
For Villa, this was exactly what happened. Largely dominant for the first period, the team failed to show ability to finish chances. In the second half, a desire to sit back and try to defend illustrated flaws too. Here, sadly, is a team that can’t attack sufficiently, but can’t defend fully either. Such a team is surely the definition of broken.
The End Of The Season Means Changes, Potentially Managerial Given Circumstances
The close season will mean a massive overhaul for the team, with many questioning if McLeish is the man to spend whatever money the club make available to the manager. McLeish’s transfer dealing have been mixed – Given, N’Zogbia, and Keane being successes, whilst Jenas and Hutton are largely seen as poor selections. My concern with McLeish’s continued control of the club doesn’t stem from player purchases though, it comes from the foolishness expressed in team talks.
Is it ever good enough for a team, Villa or otherwise, to sit back after only scoring one goal? Isn’t that, by definition, opening yourself up to the likes of the issues that occurred this weekend? At home against Newcastle, we failed to push on and drew, the same happened at QPR away, just the same as this weekend – same old story.
The biggest success of this season, slightly diminished by Andre Villas-Boas’ tenure and recent sacking, was the 3-1 win against Chelsea, but this was inspired by a lack of a half time team talk, leaving the players to do the talking late on via some prudent substitutions that the manager did, to his credit, make.
So maybe, just maybe, McLeish should consider that telling the players to be restrained at half time when they are only one up is restrictive, maybe he should realise that if the players have some confidence behind them, they should be allowed to use that to press on to score more, rather than shutting up shop.
If not, and if what I heard about the manager’s team talk at half time at Blackburn transpires to be true, and there is no reason why it wouldn’t be given the direct source, then I have to definitively say this – the manager has to go. It is one thing being shackled by a lack of quality players, or by financial restrictions, but no team can afford to deliberately restrict their own ability to score goals on purpose and expect my support.
Sort it out Alex, or I’ll be the first person at Villa Park at the end of the season demanding you’re removed from your role, and I don’t give up till things are done.
The Author
