Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Legion on December 30, 2010, 07:46:19 PM
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Manager insists defensive solidity is crucial as Villa look to reverse fortunes.
From Pravda (http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2253716,00.html):
(http://www.avfc.co.uk/javaImages/ea/ba/0,,10265~9288426,00.jpg)
Gerard Houllier says tightening up defensively is Villa's top priority in their quest to move up the Barclays Premier League table.
The manager insists his team need to become a more solid defensive unit in order to overcome their current difficult spell.
Villa have shipped six goals during the festive period and Houllier is determined to address mistakes made in the defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.
"We have to be aware that to sort this out we need to work harder as a team to defend and protect the ball," he told AVTV.
"If you don't do that you are always exposed to conceding goals and that will cost you games.
"I think we have to be aware that as a team we need to put in more effort to defend.
"We have improved in terms of passing and movement but this must not bring us to some kind of indulgence on the back of that."
The Frenchman hopes his players will begin preparations for Sunday's trip to Chelsea with clear heads after giving them yesterday to recover from their double festive setback.
He is hoping Emile Heskey is given the green light to resume training after twisting his ankle in the Boxing Day defeat to Spurs.
Meanwhile, Ashley Young is on the mend after being ruled out of the past two matches with a knee problem.
"I think some players will be fitter and what they need to do is take a day off, think of something else, come back and prepare for the game," Houllier added.
"Emile twisted his ankle so we will see how he is. Ashley had his first training session on Tuesday."
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Well i'm glad he's realised, as giving 2/3 goal starts is always going to be a problem when getting results.
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In the words of the one and only Basil Fawlty A statement of the blindingly bleeding obvious.
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The depressing thing is that not to long ago I thought our defence was in great shame and we had cover as well. All we needed was another another midfielder and a couple of decent strikers and we would have been a top team....sigh how times have changed :'(
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All I have to add is from Dr. Watson; "No shit, Sherlock!"
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How much have we sent on our defence in the lat 4 years?
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The depressing thing is that not to long ago I thought our defence was in great shame
A very apt slip of the keyboard.
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In our current back 4 inc the keeper who realistically would you want to keep?
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In our current back 4 inc the keeper who realistically would you want to keep?
Short term? Friedel, Cuellar, Collins, Young. And both Dunne and Warnock if they can get back to last season's form. Neither if they can't.
Long-term? The above, minus Friedel and Young.
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These are MON's defenders. There job was to stand tall, block everything and whack the ball as far as possible to the fast lads up front. Now they are being asked to retain possession, play the ball out, or be a bit more intelligent in how they play the game. They can't do it.
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Never mind the defence what about the offence we don't score enough goals.
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Well i'm glad he's realised, as giving 2/3 goal starts is always going to be a problem when getting results.
Yes. It's very hard to come back when your 2-0 down you know.
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Except for Lichaj that is a very experienced back line and this is all about confidence. Really has to play two up front so we can keep the ball up the other end and give them a chance to have some respite and not constant pressure. You never know we might even score !!!!
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Well i'm glad he's realised, as giving 2/3 goal starts is always going to be a problem when getting results.
Yes. It's very hard to come back when your 2-0 down you know.
Indeed...oh, for the days of Dion Dublin and Julian Joachim, and the great come back against the Arse...0-2 down to a brace from Bergkamp at HT. Then, Santa hit the roof of the Trinity Rd Stand...and we went on to win 3-2. How I'd love to see that sort of thing again...without the Santa tragedy, of course :(
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In the words of the one and only Basil Fawlty A statement of the blindingly bleeding obvious.
Quality
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These are MON's defenders. There job was to stand tall, block everything and whack the ball as far as possible to the fast lads up front. Now they are being asked to retain possession, play the ball out, or be a bit more intelligent in how they play the game. They can't do it.
no offence but that's a load of shite.
If they remembered how to defend first and foremost we wouldn't be in this mess.
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These are MON's defenders. There job was to stand tall, block everything and whack the ball as far as possible to the fast lads up front. Now they are being asked to retain possession, play the ball out, or be a bit more intelligent in how they play the game. They can't do it.
no offence but that's a load of shite.
If they remembered how to defend first and foremost we wouldn't be in this mess.
Maybe if they are being asked to defend in zones rather than by player it could explain why it has been such a shambles this year. The third goal against City was the worst for me - we had about 5 men behind the ball with Silva on the edge of the box and still got ripped apart.
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I think some of the defensive problems are due to a change from man-marking to zonal-marking. Also, less energy (we sold Milner) and experience in midfield making the back four more exposed. Finally, an inexperienced right back (Lichaj) and out-of-form left back (Warnock) also adds to the equation.
I also dare say, Dunne was possible our second best player last season. This season he is completely unfit and also, it seems, out of favour. There are several reasons why we cannot maintain last season's defensive record. Not all of them are Houllier's fault.
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The point that GH makes is that we have to defend better as a team. We have conceeded too many goals where opposition players have lost their markers 30m from goal, whether it be wide or through the centre, because players have not tracked back. Defending starts from the front.
I must say though, our defending from set-pieces has been absolute garbage. The number of times when the wrong player has been marking the danger player or the space he is going to run in to. I am not one for zonal marking as I believe when you mark the player you put him off just as much by moving with him as actually winning the header. There are many times when we look as though we haven't a clue where our players should be for set-pieces.
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Dunne not performing is the biggest loss, last season with Carlos at right back Dunne ,Collins in the centre gave us a solid defence, better at defending sst pieces too with three big bodies in there. I was one who hated Carlos playing there but maybe O'Neill had a point. As i've said in a previous post we have virtually every player except Milner availeable maybe in the short term we should go back to what worked last season and get some cohesion back into the side.
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A new keeper is a priority. Friedel looks shot to bits.
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Warnock is our biggest defensive problem at the moment but we don't have anybody to replace him. That really starts to hamper any sort of improvement.
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Perhaps a more agricultural style of play is what's needed now. As I said a few days ago, I don't feel comfortable when Cueller/Collins/Dunne are passing the ball around at the back. It's a disaster waiting to happen and they don't look comfortable either.
We were very effective as we were and I feel Gh tried to change things too fast. It'd be better to gradually revert to a new style.
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Why don't we get back to the trusted formulae of playing a CB at RB, and a RB at LB ? Job done
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Dunne not performing is the biggest loss, last season with Carlos at right back Dunne ,Collins in the centre gave us a solid defence, better at defending sst pieces too with three big bodies in there. I was one who hated Carlos playing there but maybe O'Neill had a point. As i've said in a previous post we have virtually every player except Milner availeable maybe in the short term we should go back to what worked last season and get some cohesion back into the side.
It was quite an admission of failure(?), having bought two central defenders to replace two weaker ones, to then have to play another one at fullback to form a solid defence.
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the defence is an absoloute shambles and i dont think any of them are playing well. defences are built around a goalkeeper and one member of the back 4, usually a centre half, one has to be the decision taker and organise the others including the central midfield, with Dunne out of form and fitness and Friedel having a bad season we are stuffed. Collins is a last ditch defender and cuellar dosent comunicate. promote clarke
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Last season our defence were playing really well i would love to know how we can go from being good one season to being shite the next with the same defenders i know about confidence but all of them it's unreal.
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the defence is an absoloute shambles and i dont think any of them are playing well. defences are built around a goalkeeper and one member of the back 4, usually a centre half, one has to be the decision taker and organise the others including the central midfield, with Dunne out of form and fitness and Friedel having a bad season we are stuffed. Collins is a last ditch defender and cuellar dosent comunicate. promote clarke
I like Clarke but he was involved in our worst defensive performance of the season, that alone isn't the answer.
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Lets do a Blackpool then score more than we concede...... oh I see the problem there... oh well
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It is a real mystery. We have the same players at the back that were so effective last season. Solid on paper too - proper full backs, battle hardened centre backs, decent cover. Maddening really.
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I think it just goes to show how important Dunne was. He's a leader on the pitch and I don't think any of the others do that job. We also had Cuellar at right back and either Heskey or Carew for defending set pieces so we were rarely bullied where this season we're a soft touch. Add to that the inexperience in central midfiled for much of it and it isn't that much of mystery.
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Add to that the inexperience in central midfiled for much of it and it isn't that much of mystery.
That's a big factor, not having the experienced and fully fit NRC and Petrov to back track, which they both do very well.
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I think it just goes to show how important Dunne was. He's a leader on the pitch and I don't think any of the others do that job. We also had Cuellar at right back and either Heskey or Carew for defending set pieces so we were rarely bullied where this season we're a soft touch. Add to that the inexperience in central midfiled for much of it and it isn't that much of mystery.
It's amazing how Dunne has gone from being picked for the Premier League Team of the season to how he is now. He's been very poor this season and taking him out of the team for Carlos was the right thing to do, but if the rumours are true that Wolves are interested, it would be such a waste.
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Perhaps Dunne is going to get a second chance. From Mat Kendrick in the Mail:
GERARD Houllier is prepared to give Stephen Ireland and Richard Dunne a chance to save their Villa careers – but has warned his players to accept his management methods.
Talks have been ongoing with Ireland and Dunne and their advisors in an attempt to re-integrate the former Manchester City pair back into the first team squad.
And it is believed Villa still regard the Irish duo as being more valuable to the club than the money they could recoup by selling them next month – most likely to mid-range Premier League rivals.
Dunne, Ireland, John Carew and Habib Beye were conspicuous by their absence from the match-day 18s for the defeats to Tottenham and Manchester City.
There is no doubt that off-the-field indiscretions have infuriated the manager – but he insists his decision to leave them out were based purely on footballing reasons.
Asked if the quartet are still part of the squad and under consideration for selection, Houllier replied: “So far, yes. “They were out for football reasons, nothing else – all four of them.”
However, it is understood that, if Dunne and Ireland show willing, they have a much better chance of salvation than Carew and Beye, who are almost certain to be off-loaded in January.
Houllier has warned any players sulking about his no-nonsense managerial style that he won’t tolerate insubordination.
“In terms of professionalism and training, yes we knew we would go through a difficult period,” he said.
“But if you ask me ‘Are you going back to an old style and an old regime when the players can come whenever they want and do whatever?’, No, it’s not that way. I know that’s a bit of a shock to the system, but they knew that.
“The road to success is not something which is straight and smooth. It’s rocky and it’s difficult. Sometimes you go through bumps.
“Maybe January will be a different ball game. It has been rockier than I thought because of the injuries.
“As the manager you always get criticism when you are not winning games.”
Houllier is hoping to take stock after Sunday’s trip to Stamford Bridge and plan for a potentially hectic month in terms of fixtures and squad rebuilding.
Villa host Sunderland in the league next Wednesday and face Manchester City at Villa Park, as well as trips to fellow strugglers Birmingham and Wigan in January.
There is also an FA Cup third round tie at Sheffield United next weekend.
“After January 2 we will have played a heavy schedule and after that things will be better,” added Houllier.
“In the new year we can definitely draw a line under the past few months. I’ve had a few surprises, but I don’t want to extend on that.”
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Two things
Firstly since Mon's departure are we seeing more leaks from within the club to the media, or just more media contact, than before.
Secondly, considering most of what Houlliers says there was similar to 3 similar articles from Mon in subsequent past seasons, I'm not panicking too much as it took him 4 seasons to get some sort of defensive unit together and even then it was built on a huge expenditure at a loss to the rest of the team build and based on several older players.
When you think of the likes of Agathe, Knight, Davies, Ridgewell, Cahill, not forgetting several keepers, Houllier isn't doing too bad considering
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These are MON's defenders. There job was to stand tall, block everything and whack the ball as far as possible to the fast lads up front. Now they are being asked to retain possession, play the ball out, or be a bit more intelligent in how they play the game. They can't do it.
no offence but that's a load of shite.
If they remembered how to defend first and foremost we wouldn't be in this mess.
Dunnes unfitness is a major factor. Houlliers insistence on playing a zonal system is another, the whole idea is to get your team playing with a system they are comfortable with.
One sour grapes comment from Arsene Wanker & we were playing "hoofball" under MON. Did we beat the scum 5-1 playinghoofball? Did we beat Chelsea, Liverpool Arsenal et al playing hoofball? Did we get to our first major final for 9 years playing hoofball? Did we consistently finish in the upper echelons of the toughest league in the world playing hoofball?
If the answer is yes then for FFS lets get back to playing hoofball