When it rains it pours. A soggy Villa lacked fiber once again, going down early to a header off a corner on three minutes. What happened thereafter had a depressing familiarity about it. Where Villa should’ve expected something from Wigan at home, the side instead slid deeper into potential crisis losing to Roberto Martinez’s perpetual cellar-dwellers in distinctly underwhelming fashion.

After scoring, Wigan went on to boss the first 35 minutes, looking like a side who knew what they were trying to do. Then Villa seemed to find their feet after a good long spell of possession, controlling the final 10 minutes and looking for all the world the most likely to score next.

But it didn’t happen, the scoreline stayed the same and Villa went into halftime still chasing the game.

And as we’ve seen all too often of late, sloppy play, cheap turnovers, a team pulled out of shape and a young defense consequently exposed meant that what should have been rather innocuous opportunities for Wigan turned into decisive goals. They weren’t good goals from Villa’s perspective, comedic indecision and half-challenges largely making them possible.

Villa did continue to battle but to little avail. Benteke has clearly been singled out by the opposition, and Villa don’t have any other real options up front. Whether we’re counting on Benteke to hold up, create, or score, he’s finding it difficult going now that he’s got everyone’s attention. And with no one else offering a credible alternate threat, the number of quality chances was limited.

What can be done?

For me, as we’ve discussed, there aren’t huge changes that can be made at the moment. While the 3-5-whatever worked well initially in Vlaar’s absence, teams have seen how to attack it, and we find the individual components are lacking. It also, to me, shows how much Ron Vlaar brought to the back line and how much we’ve missed him. Moreover, it was cruel that Nathan Baker got injured next and not Chris Herd.

Eric Lichaj, while a gamer, is just not good enough. And Chris Herd and Matt Lowton do not work well together, mainly, I suspect, because while Vlaar is big enough and fast enough, and reads the game well, Herd is nowhere near a substitute. Vlaar makes Clark and Lowton better.

The initial match stats belie the scoreline: Villa had four shots on target, seven off; Wigan had six on, and three off. Eleven chances to nine. Action areas tell a similar story. While Wigan had 60% of the possession, 30% of the match was contested in their end versus 26% at Villa’s end, and 44% in the midfield.

Organization and discipline seem to be the biggest issues, the side routinely getting pulled out of shape by moves and attacks that end cheaply and suddenly, catching too many people out. A lot of misplaced places, a lot of indecision on the ball…It all adds up to what we’re seeing.

For me, that was a very hard game to watch, not least because Villa needed something and were punished a bit too efficiently for their errors. It really did seem as though the side had settled down and could reasonably expect something, and from nowhere the game was snatched away.

Which isn’t to say that Villa were brilliant but unlucky. They certainly contributed to their own demise, and again, one can see the pressure in the indecision and sloppiness. It’s not flowing for the team. One can only hope the injury situation clears up with Charles N’Zogbia, Gabby and Vlaar, because we could use the changes in the side. And January? It’s obviously going to be a very important window.

Over to you…

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