Villa fans have talked a lot about a string-pulling puppet master in midfield, the missing link, the key to pushing up the table.
And it’s true, that sort of player can change a team’s identity.
But when I look at this Villa, the thing that strikes me isn’t necessarily the lack of a magical attacking midfielder. It’s just as much the lack of a magical forward.
This might seem strange, because we’ve all seen what Christian Benteke can do. But it’s more about what he can’t do, along with Gabriel Agbonlahor and Andreas Weimann, that damns Villa up front.
You see, none of these players is particularly good with the ball at his feet. Gabby can use his strength and pace to get in behind defenses. Andi can find himself in good positions, especially when Benteke is there to occupy defenders’ attention. But neither is really any good at taking on one or two players and making something happen.
And Benteke, for all his imposing strength and finishing instincts is not a ball-carrying player. Like John Carew before him, he’s a bit stiff and wooden, not well suited to taking the ball and insinuating himself like a Suarez or Aguero. He’s strong. He’s good in the air. He’s got a quick, accurate shot. But he doesn’t often take the ball outside the box, weave his way between defenders and open things up for himself or others.
So what you have is three forward players who can be neutralized tactically and don’t really scare defenders about what they’ll do with the ball. Don’t let Gabby get behind you. Press up close to Benteke, deny him space, keep him isolated. Neither will make you pay for being close and tight. Nor will Weimann if he doesn’t do something clinical with his first touch after someone else has shaped the opportunity for him to exploit.
Now, of course, a world-class AM can make things happen, weaving, pulling players to him, seeing a run and making a telling pass, or doing the scoring work himself.
But that doesn’t negate the fact that none of our forwards can do this. Kozak is in the same mold as Benteke. Helenius, while we’ve not seen much of him, is likewise not a small, athletic, dribbling player. They’re not really any quicker, more mobile, or better with the ball at feet than any of the CBs they’re facing, never mind fullbacks.
So for me, when I’m watching other teams, the thing that I most often envy is that player with real quality on the ball up front, that quickness and close control along with clinical finishing. Because when I look at the players we have, what I don’t see are the runs and instincts that a world-class AM would serve.
Maybe they’d do that if we had the player that could find them and reward them. But I’m thinking that’s not what would happen.
Whether it’s Gabby or Andi that gives way, what Villa could really use is something like a healthy CNZ that doesn’t run himself into cul-de-sacs. Someone who actually complements Benteke and poses a different problem. Someone who’s looking to score, and acting decisively and ruthlessly toward that end.
And this, in turn, is largely behind Villa’s style of inviting pressure, letting teams stretch themselves and possess the ball. In doing so, Villa try to create the space where Benteke can link up play, and Gabby and Andi can run into it and get on to simple straight balls to bang in. It’s a big part of why Villa are a counterattacking team by design.
It’s no accident that with the three struggling for form and with injuries Villa look lifeless up front. None of them are likely to make something happen purely by themselves in open play. When none of them are making defenders think about pursuing anything besides a simple tactic of denial that is unlikely to be punished, it’s not hard to thwart what seems like considerable firepower when Villa are trying to set up in the final third.
For Villa to push forward offensively, yes, we could use a player like Delph who also scores or makes that final pass.
But we could also use a smaller forward to play alongside or off Benteke who can run at defenders, pull them apart, and either beat them and score, or lay off the ball after threatening this into the space they’ve created for someone else to finish.
If I were Paul Lambert, I’d be scouting for this sort of forward every bit as much as I’d be looking for the attacking midfielder with whom he would profit.
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