If Villa adopted the Spainish model......

[Quiet Lion]

What gets me is I hear large moans and groans at VP when we do play it around with no progress.  "Fuck me - goals that way Villa!" is often heard.

Yes I've heard similar shouts.  Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I bet Arsenal fans used to shout similar under Graham. After 10 years of Wenger, they have learned to be patient.

So would we

[pauliewalnuts]

There are an awful lot of intermediate points between the way we play and the way Spain play.

Perhaps we could aim for one of those?

I would at least like to see us move off the ball, to try to keep possession when we have it, and to be less predictable (out to wing, whip in cross, repeat).

What gets me is I hear large moans and groans at VP when we do play it around with no progress. "Fuck me - goals that way Villa!" is often heard.

Play it around in the sense of hit it aimlessly from side to side in the middle of the park before giving it to one of the wingers?

Yes, I've heard that, too.

At the risk of going on and on about it, we'd make it much easier for ourselves if our players got into the habit of moving into space to give the man with the ball options.

They're not bad players. In fact, some of them are very good players. I'm sure they could do it, if the manager would try to get them playing that way.

[peckvillajunior]

It's variety we need more than anything. Our style, for its faults, serves us well for the most part in the Premier League due to the way in which we play football here, but we would hit a brick wall were we to qualify for the Champions League. In much the same way that the naional team does in World Cups - the English style of football is fairly isolated from most of the rest of the world, especially continental Europe.

What we can look to mprove on is ball retention, but our mostly one-dimensional play doesn't let us do this - our attacking players our all notable for their pace or power rather than technique or inventiveness, so it makes sense to get the ball forward as quickly as possible. Hopefully (but I won't be banking on it) players with different styles will be added this summer to make us better prepared to fight all fronts.

[TheSandman]

I think we would fill the stadium every week if we started to pass it around the way Spain do! I would love to see us play foortball in that way.

It bores the shit out of me. I know it takes a high level of technical ability to play that way but it hardly makes for thrilling football.

Give me the Jairmans any day.

Spot on.

That match last night has to have been one of the least pleasant ways I've spent two hours in a long time.

I did actually say I wished the Germans were playing as to be honest I like their style.

I want us to have a band of more technical players yes; but I'd prefer them not to piss around. So as many have said in this thread I'd like us to use some form of happy medium. Like the Germans.

[pauliewalnuts]

Unfortunately, I think we're stuck with England.

[StMalachy]

I thought it was a bloody great game.  Spain with 11 stars holland with maybe 2 or 3 and holland had to come up with a game plan to win. If Robben had dived and seen Puyol off it could have been different. Tactically Holland were too cautious and needed 2 up front to challenge a weakish Spanish central defence. Instead they allowed Spain stroll out with the ball. Mourinho has shown how to counteract tiki-taki football against Barca who are better than Spain. About Villa I'll take anything other than counter attacking all the time

[Warren Aspinall]

Can we stop the spanish myth please. Yes they deserved to beat the thuggish dutch, but they're not Barcelona (by that I mean the style of play), for large parts of the world cup they stank the place out, you can keep on blaming the opposition if you want, but they relied on Villa to get them where they were. It  is only because of David Villa that they are world champs. Spain are like the German teams of the 70's - 80's methodical & not much else....... Exciting football, pull the other one please.

[Concrete John]

I think we would fill the stadium every week if we started to pass it around the way Spain do! I would love to see us play foortball in that way.

It bores the shit out of me. I know it takes a high level of technical ability to play that way but it hardly makes for thrilling football.

Give me the Jairmans any day.

Spot on.

That match last night has to have been one of the least pleasant ways I've spent two hours in a long time.

I did actually say I wished the Germans were playing as to be honest I like their style.

I want us to have a band of more technical players yes; but I'd prefer them not to piss around. So as many have said in this thread I'd like us to use some form of happy medium. Like the Germans.

Agreed again!

The German's seemed to find a great balance between technical/possession football and actually getting forward quickly and attacking.  If I was going to pick a style to model ourselves after it would be them and not the Spanish.

[Monty]

Now there's a myth. The Germans didn't have to deal with playing against good defences and everyone behind the ball from minute one - that's all Spain faced, including from Germany. In fact, the times that Germany played against reasonably organised teams were the defeat to Serbia and the narrow win over Ghana, where their only chance was the moment of inspiration from Oezil. Ghana were not as good defensively as Portugal, nor Paraguay, nor Germany, nor Holland, and yet Spain managed to eke out more chances against those teams than Germany did against Ghana.

This idea that Germany get forward quickly and Spain don't is just rubbish - Germany got the chance to counter-attack quickly, Spain almost never did - and whenever they did they created chances. Germany played against an appallingly slow England and an Argentina who forgot to pick a midfield, leaving them hopelessly open on the counter. Spain never had that luxury. It's not that Spain somehow chose to be less attacking and Germany did the reverse - it's just that Germany got the chance to be and Spain didn't.

[LeeB]

Sorry Monty, I don't buy that. The Spanish allowed the opposition to get behind the ball by fannying around with it forever in the middle third.

[Monty]

Lee, that's just totally unsubstantiated. How do you allow a team to get behind the ball if they've started there with the intention of finishing there? On the other hand, the rare occasions when Spain have got the chance to counter-attack, it's led to chances, for instance Pedro against Germany. Spain do not 'fanny around', that's just nonsense.

[LeeB]

No it's not, and in my opinion, yes they do.

They are a very cautious team. They dominate posession with the intent to wear the opposition out until gaps begin to appear. I'm sorry Monty but I don't enjoy watching them play. If want to see football like that I'll go down to power league thanks.

[Greg N'Ash]

you do get the feeling the majority of villa fans prefer the hussle/bussle style of play rather than a measured build-up retaining posession which is probably why mon is so popular.. always been that way unfortunately. me, i'd love us to play like spain but its not going to happen.

[Monty]

If by cautious you mean they don't just pointlessly give the ball away, then I'll take cautious any day of the week. My main criticism of Del Bosque is the slightly unnecessary playing of Xabi Alonso AND Sergio Busquets, but I can see that he didn't want to be counter-attacked. Spain were as attacking and direct as they could have been, and in Euro 2008 they approached games with much the same mentality and scored billions. It's the tactics of the opposition that changed, nothing more, and if the same happened to Germany everyone would be unfairly calling them boring.

[Concrete John]

One thing about Spain is they were without a fit and on form Torres throughout the tournament, who often provides the cutting edge to their build up play.  Although I still prefer the Germany style overall, had Torres been right we would have seen Spain score more goals and probably not be having this discussion.