Team shape, tactics and personnel

[tinker]

You can't read every post about the Villa as been from a villa fan even if they are claiming to be a 'villa fan', far to many posters on the net have little else to do, they promote flames of discontent among many oppositions fans bases, it's a sport, a sad one but nevertheless it goes on.

Poster who only post when we have a blip, and that's what it is , a blip.

Look at where we was this time last season, we're disappointed about losing away to Newcastle and Liverpool away and our first European away game in 10 years! Losing by one goal. Last season we was worried about relegation, its laughable tbh. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

2 hours ago, Jas10 said:

McGinn is a major concern for me right now… we can’t cope when he’s not “at it”. 

Oh no way does he need to go, we just need our captain back who was immense under Unai last season…

He’s more of a concern than Bouba imo… he will get there and I think we are missing the support of Ramsey and McGinn in midfield that we had last season - it was solid. Bouba’s job was made less difficult…

Remembers i've been beating this drum for a while Jas.

Bizarre.

Whenever he is off, the WHOLE team is off, when he's on fire... the whole team is.

Very strange.

Then again, this could be more of a reflection on the team around Meatball, than it is on him.

We need someone who can step up to the plate similarly when he isn't on it.

Edited September 23, 2023 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[Jas10]

36 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Remembers i've been beating this drum for a while Jas.

Bizarre.

Whenever he is off, the WHOLE team is off, when he's on fire... the whole team is.

Very strange.

Then again, this could be more of a reflection on the team around Meatball, than it is on him.

We need someone who can step up to the plate similarly when he isn't on it.

We both have mate… it’s quite a concern. Dougie seems to be stepping up but everyone is falling apart around him

I guess it doesn’t help John being played in different positions either… I thought it was a mistake sticking him up there against Legia when we needed him further back… we have more fitting players for that position and role…

If RM is where he excels, maybe just keep him there. But he also did well next to Luiz at times last season too, surprisingly.

[CVByrne]

I think our attack has been superb this season. After 5 games only City have higher xG than us showing the quality of the chances created in our attacking system. With that level of attack comes some defensive fragility exacerbated by the loss of our best defender in Tyrone Mings. 

I do feel once we get enough time into Torres Carlos Konsa partnership it will be effective and either Moreno or Cash with them. I also think wither Moreno or Cash can play in LM or RM too if needed giving us more options. I can see what Emery wants the players to do it's just his plans for this system for this season relied a lot on the defensive players we had last season. A quick back 4 in Cash, Mings, Konsa, Moreno are fast or very fast players. 

I think without both Carlos and Konsa on the pitch we are going to ship goals. We need those two to allow Torres play that attacking play as Torres is primarily a creative player not a defender despite playing as a CB. I think we will improve as the season goes on so as long as we're floating about the top 10 come December I'll be happy

[GeordieVillan]

Today was a great example of the other side of what our high line can do for us. We caught Chelsea offside alot, but we also gave them some chances and half chances by playing so high, which we got away through a mixture of good goalkeeping, last ditch defending and a bit of luck. In exchange we were able to control much of the game and create a few of our own openings.

If we want results like today, we are going to have to accept results like Newcastle and Liverpool, and even in Europe in midweek. There is a bit of jeopardy to how we play, it’s almost cavalier, so sometimes it will work and sometimes it won’t.

[sne]

Need to have more pace on the ball when we are passing it around at the back if we want to pass ourselves out of trouble and create space. Far too easy to press against. Their press wasn't even that intense. Grass looked slow so maybe they didn't water the pitch? which would be odd since their only tactic was getting around of the flanks with long balls.

[DJBOB]

10 offside calls. Unai is sticking to it no matter what. No coincidence he keeps trying this same back 4. They have to keep playing together to get that understanding. 

[andym]

I suspect the issue over a high line wouldn't be so much a thing if they flagged straight away for obvious offsides.

Letting it run gives a false impression of being constantly open, when in fact its good defending.

Edited September 24, 2023 by andym

[markavfc40]

31 minutes ago, andym said:

I suspect the issue over a high line wouldn't be so much a thing if they flagged straight away for obvious offsides.

Letting it run gives a false impression of being constantly open, when in fact its good defending.

Totally agree. I think even a couple of tight ones that weren't flagged today had they have resulted in goals and gone to VAR would have been shown to be off side.

Our defending was excellent today and we played the high line very well. 

[DeepDish]

I think it is great to see that we now have a decent squad. Can change several from our first eleven and will not be a lot weaker.

[PaulC]

He is key to our success. The partnership with him and Luiz is the strength of the team. When he has been poor we normally loose.

[CVByrne]

Kamara dropping into the back 3 in possession with Luiz and McGinn as the two CMs is a good tactic to allow the full backs to attack and Zaniolo and Diaby to play as the two 10s

Emery is a legit genius. He is always thinking and adapting. 

McGinn is just a coaches player. Will do what he's asked for the team. It doesn't help him changing positions and role so many times but he's such a reliable player. 

[Tayls]

What do Man City do? 

[Jas10]

On 24/09/2023 at 18:56, andym said:

I suspect the issue over a high line wouldn't be so much a thing if they flagged straight away for obvious offsides.

Letting it run gives a false impression of being constantly open, when in fact its good defending.

Comment of the season.

[DJBOB]

 Interesting this. Think as the new back line figures it out, we will see a big defensive improvement. 

[FLVillan]

1 hour ago, DJBOB said:

 Interesting this. Think as the new back line figures it out, we will see a big defensive improvement. 

I think the big thing that gets overlooked is that by our defence playing higher, especially away from home, teams find it hard to create any type of attacking momentum or quality sustained possession in our half.  They generally resort to long balls over the top, which occasionally will work, but invariably don't.  You'll not see long sustained periods where we are camped out at the edge of our own box, defending for our lives and giving up countless chances.  Away from home it is usually "normal" to defend for long periods and soak up pressure, yet we don't do much of that.  

The key to stopping balls in-behind is the pressure by our "attacking" players in preventing/affecting quality balls being played behind us.  It's where we've missed Buendia and Ramsey the most. Eventually Zaniolo and Diaby will get better off-the-ball also.

[Delphinho123]

If there is one thing I hate about the way we play, it’s the high line. I’m not even saying it’s the wrong thing to do, it seems to be effective, I’m just fed up of watching the opposition running through on goal and praying the flag goes up (which it usually does). It’s not good for the heart!

[Keyblade]

1 hour ago, Delphinho123 said:

If there is one thing I hate about the way we play, it’s the high line. I’m not even saying it’s the wrong thing to do, it seems to be effective, I’m just fed up of watching the opposition running through on goal and praying the flag goes up (which it usually does). It’s not good for the heart!

It's beautiful when it works though. I think Chelsea had 2 chances where they were onside. Everything else was offside. Also Spurs at VP was a work of art. Must have caught them offside about a dozen times. It's heart in mouth at times, but the success rate tells you we have a real maestro at the helm.

[CVByrne]

2 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

If there is one thing I hate about the way we play, it’s the high line. I’m not even saying it’s the wrong thing to do, it seems to be effective, I’m just fed up of watching the opposition running through on goal and praying the flag goes up (which it usually does). It’s not good for the heart!

But it's a smart way to get more control of a game. If we get opposition offside with high line we turn over possession and get the ball back to attack them ourselves. This gives us more control of the game. It's a fundamental part of our system and it functions better with players like Konsa, Mings, Moreno, Cash who are all very quick players with recovery pace. Against weaker opposition we can really put pressure on them too with the compact field and try turn over ball to create chances of our own too, 

[villan95]

I get why we play the high line and it works far more often than not but I still can't help wondering if it's a bit naïve at times though. Like on Sunday when we'd just scored Chilwell got in far too easily and it could/should have been an immediate equaliser. Could we not just drop a little deeper and tighten up for a bit? Similarly we seemed far too open at Liverpool, especially early on when surely you need to stay in the game.