Leaking goals has been Aston Villa’s biggest problem, obviously, and everyone’s a bit confounded as to why we’re so poor at set pieces. From open play, it’s not been so bad, things considered. But set pieces have undone us and robbed the side of critical points.
If Villa are to stay up, something has to change, and quick.
I was listening to Shaun Teale on TalkSPORT address the subject, and what he had to say made sense. Basically, his take is that we simply don’t attack the ball. We’re passive, almost rooted. We’re “marking” players, certainly, ie, trying to put Vlaar, Clark, Baker or Benteke on the most dangerous opponents.
But what’s happening is that we’re marking people and not necessarily getting to the ball first. We’re reacting. Which means we’re often second best. The ball is the only thing.
Simply getting to the ball first is what it’s all about.
But given that we don’t necessarily score a lot from set pieces ourselves, Benteke seemingly the only player to get a head to the ball with any regularity, the question seems to move on to whether we simply lack the requisite grit and prowess in the air. I truly wonder whether we’re simply too light to stand our ground and put attackers off, keep them from getting in clean and making good contact.
Given all this, we just need to concede fewer corners.
Tackling is an art, and all it takes is two mistakes to see yourself getting sent off. If tackling is not emphasized as much as it might once have been, it wouldn’t be surprising that here, too, we might lack the prowess necessary to shut things down further up the pitch. Given the lack of a dominating central midfielder, and the lack of overlapping coverage down the flanks, teams can get into us, and we’re ceding ground out of caution and a certain timidity.
The further back we are, the more pressure we invite, the more likely we are to concede corners rather than throw-ins. Both Matt and I have made the point that when playing against Villa, an opponent would do well to attack wide and just play for the corners that will seemingly almost certainly yield goals given enough attempts.
I think I saw we conceded 15 corners against Everton. That’s simply too many chances. You don’t need to get the ball in the box from open play against Villa. Just get a corner from a deflected cross, shot, or troublesome ball that forces a safety-first choice.
It’s been the flanks all year
Now, Lambert’s formations, and the emphasis on getting width up the pitch from our fullbacks or wingbacks makes some sense given we lack the natural width elsewhere.
But, as pointed out since the start of the season, the narrowness of our play has, almost by design, meant that being vulnerable to wide attacks is a calculated risk. And having the ball out wide, farthest from goal and with the poorest angles, would logically be the less dangerous place for our opponents to have possession.
However, if we’re going to concede corners, crosses, or fouls that we can’t defend, it’s sort of pointless.
Naturally, there are plenty of variations within a 3-5-2 or 4-4-2. But regardless of who is out there doing what, Villa need to be getting to grips with opponents more quickly further up the pitch.
For example, when Gabby is playing wide and gets the ball with his back to goal, defenders know they have to be right up on him to keep him from turning and using his speed. He’s got someone closing to him almost instantly, getting a foot in to prevent the turn or make it harder for him to settle the ball.
It’s the same all over the pitch.
Villa, on the other hand, are not consistent in this regard. Some matches, or periods of matches, we are getting right up on and into opponents, denying them time and space. Other times, they’ve got all the time in the world and options available.
In the games remaining, it has to be a priority for Villa to move quickly, anticipate the passes and shut down the available options for the opponent in possession.
Defending is hard. It takes a lot of energy, a lot of focus. The opponent often has the initiative. The idea is to blunt or deny as much of that initiative as possible. We have to take the risks of committing to pressuring and challenging, and we have to do it further up the pitch.
Likewise, when killing off a game, we obviously can’t just try to absorb the pressure. It’s not working. We have to push out as fast as possible, get our midfielders back up and onto their midfielders and defenders, and not necessarily try to counter to score, but to simply get it out, retain possession, pass it around and take the air out of the game.
These are basic things. And as a couple readers brought up in earlier weeks, going back to the fundamentals is critical. If our focus is on these basics, there’s less time to think and second guess, less chance of hesitating and dithering.
Like others, I saw signs of encouragement against Everton. With Gabby and CNZ in the mix we’re creating chances and scoring some decent goals. We just have to have a relentless focus on getting to the ball first and engaging more decisively further up the pitch.
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