Goals from the Midfield

[KRS]

My favourite ever Villa free kick was Sid's away at Everton in 1990, where he tickled the ball over the wall and in off the bar from right on the edge of the box.

Pure class.

I remember that one as clear as daylight...I was in line with the ball as he stepped up, we paused, the ball hit the back of the net, we went mental. Also memorable for the longest rendition of Graham Taylors Claret and Blue Army that started before and went through half time into the second half.

[JD]

Great resurrection of the thread! Shows how long we've been waiting. A goal for Grealish would be fantastic in the not too distant future.

The winner in the FA cup final would be a great start for Jack. He then wouldn't need to score again in his career.

[pauliewalnuts]

The confusing thing about this is that what has changed it is really relatively simple.

Under Lambert, our midfielders never actually got in the box. They'd be all around it, passing the ball amongst themselves, but hardly ever in it.

Sherwood has clearly told them to get in there as often as they can.

Look at Cleverley's goal against Everton. He sees there's the chance to give Bacuna somewhere to play the ball, and he absolutely bombs it into the area, pretty much from just inside our half. Picks up the ball (superb pass from Bacuna) and scores.

That is emblematic of the difference.

[passitsideways]

The confusing thing about this is that what has changed it is really relatively simple.

Under Lambert, our midfielders never actually got in the box. They'd be all around it, passing the ball amongst themselves, but hardly ever in it.

Sherwood has clearly told them to get in there as often as they can.

Look at Cleverley's goal against Everton. He sees there's the chance to give Bacuna somewhere to play the ball, and he absolutely bombs it into the area, pretty much from just inside our half. Picks up the ball (superb pass from Bacuna) and scores.

That is emblematic of the difference.

Yeah - it's not like the formation was any different compared to Lambert's time either: it was mostly 4-3-3 back then as well, yet the midfield three would all basically just sit really really deep and do absolutely nothing.

I think having Grealish and N'Zogbia (and Sinclair, to a degree back when he was starting) instead of Gabby and Andi as the two playing off Benteke have been influential as well though - even though they're both cutting inside a lot, they're just so much better at dragging defenders around, which opens up space for someone in midfield to make a run into.

[Holte L2]

The confusing thing about this is that what has changed it is really relatively simple.

Under Lambert, our midfielders never actually got in the box. They'd be all around it, passing the ball amongst themselves, but hardly ever in it.

Sherwood has clearly told them to get in there as often as they can.

Look at Cleverley's goal against Everton. He sees there's the chance to give Bacuna somewhere to play the ball, and he absolutely bombs it into the area, pretty much from just inside our half. Picks up the ball (superb pass from Bacuna) and scores.

That is emblematic of the difference.

Yeah - it's not like the formation was any different compared to Lambert's time either: it was mostly 4-3-3 back then as well, yet the midfield three would all basically just sit really really deep and do absolutely nothing.

I think having Grealish and N'Zogbia (and Sinclair, to a degree back when he was starting) instead of Gabby and Andi as the two playing off Benteke have been influential as well though - even though they're both cutting inside a lot, they're just so much better at dragging defenders around, which opens up space for someone in midfield to make a run into.

Completley agree with the NZogbia and Grealish post.  I really hope NZogbia continues this run in the side.  He's been fantastic recently.

[Matt Collins]

Three key things for me on why the current 433 is so much better
- full backs now playing much better at pushing fwd to give width
- midfielders much more licence to get fwd - delph in particular is often playing quite wide
- nzogbia and grealish so much more creative than  weimann and gabby

Zoggy and grealish do need to start scoring some goals though, if we're going to keep playing this way. If benteke were to leave, unless we replace him with a prolific scorer, that will be even more true

[Ron Manager]

The confusing thing about this is that what has changed it is really relatively simple.

Under Lambert, our midfielders never actually got in the box. They'd be all around it, passing the ball amongst themselves, but hardly ever in it.

Sherwood has clearly told them to get in there as often as they can.

Look at Cleverley's goal against Everton. He sees there's the chance to give Bacuna somewhere to play the ball, and he absolutely bombs it into the area, pretty much from just inside our half. Picks up the ball (superb pass from Bacuna) and scores.

That is emblematic of the difference.

Yeah - it's not like the formation was any different compared to Lambert's time either: it was mostly 4-3-3 back then as well, yet the midfield three would all basically just sit really really deep and do absolutely nothing.

I think having Grealish and N'Zogbia (and Sinclair, to a degree back when he was starting) instead of Gabby and Andi as the two playing off Benteke have been influential as well though - even though they're both cutting inside a lot, they're just so much better at dragging defenders around, which opens up space for someone in midfield to make a run into.

Completley agree with the NZogbia and Grealish post.  I really hope NZogbia continues this run in the side.  He's been fantastic recently.

I agree. N'Zogbia is not getting enough credit for his recent performances. He could be a match winner, of that there is no doubt.

[not3bad]

The confusing thing about this is that what has changed it is really relatively simple.

Under Lambert, our midfielders never actually got in the box. They'd be all around it, passing the ball amongst themselves, but hardly ever in it.

Sherwood has clearly told them to get in there as often as they can.

Look at Cleverley's goal against Everton. He sees there's the chance to give Bacuna somewhere to play the ball, and he absolutely bombs it into the area, pretty much from just inside our half. Picks up the ball (superb pass from Bacuna) and scores.

That is emblematic of the difference.

And the difference was seen straight away.  FA Cup v Leicester, Sherwood has a quick work at half time, and in the second half Bacuna makes a run into the box and scores a cracker.  Then Sinclair gets the second!!

[tomd2103]

I think the trio of Delph, Cleverley and Grealish have the capabilities to chip in with the goals we have desperately needed from midfield for a while now.  All three have it in them to score at least ten each a season.

[Mister E]

  I really hope NZogbia continues this run in the side.  He's been fantastic recently.

I think 'fantastic' is stretching credulity a little.
He has improved to a point where we can see that he has skills largely hithertofore not displayed. However, for a senior player on good money that cost £10m, we are still not seeing the end-product.
Although I've never really been a fan (in my view TSM bought him because he had been unable to 18 months' earlier when at the Sty), I accept that he has improved ...
... but I'd be picking Sinclair ahead of him, personally.

[tomd2103]

  I really hope NZogbia continues this run in the side.  He's been fantastic recently.

I think 'fantastic' is stretching credulity a little.
He has improved to a point where we can see that he has skills largely hithertofore not displayed. However, for a senior player on good money that cost £10m, we are still not seeing the end-product.
Although I've never really been a fan (in my view TSM bought him because he had been unable to 18 months' earlier when at the Sty), I accept that he has improved ...
... but I'd be picking Sinclair ahead of him, personally.

Agree with all of that. 

[Toronto Villa]

I love the fact that we now attack in waves especially on the counter. The big gap that used to exist between the forwards and everyone else no longer exists. We we push on everyone is so much higher up, and even when we lose the ball the closing down is so much faster. Attacking with 6 or 7 players as opposed to 1 or 2 makes a huge difference and it sounds simple but we weren't doing it before.

[LeeB]

  I really hope NZogbia continues this run in the side.  He's been fantastic recently.

I think 'fantastic' is stretching credulity a little.
He has improved to a point where we can see that he has skills largely hithertofore not displayed. However, for a senior player on good money that cost £10m, we are still not seeing the end-product.
Although I've never really been a fan (in my view TSM bought him because he had been unable to 18 months' earlier when at the Sty), I accept that he has improved ...
... but I'd be picking Sinclair ahead of him, personally.

Agree with all of that. 

I don't. I think he's been great, and a big part of our upturn. Watch those clips of Grealish on Saturday, and see who keeps feeding him clever little passes.

[tomd2103]

  I really hope NZogbia continues this run in the side.  He's been fantastic recently.

I think 'fantastic' is stretching credulity a little.
He has improved to a point where we can see that he has skills largely hithertofore not displayed. However, for a senior player on good money that cost £10m, we are still not seeing the end-product.
Although I've never really been a fan (in my view TSM bought him because he had been unable to 18 months' earlier when at the Sty), I accept that he has improved ...
... but I'd be picking Sinclair ahead of him, personally.

Agree with all of that. 

I don't. I think he's been great, and a big part of our upturn. Watch those clips of Grealish on Saturday, and see who keeps feeding him clever little passes.

Clever little passes are great, but moves consistently break down when he has the ball around the box.  Case in point on Saturday, he broke down the left in the first half and had Grealish and Cleverley free in the middle and in on goal.  It really didn't look too difficult to make the pass from where I was sitting in the North Stand, but he ended up floating the ball intio the arms of the keeper.  Watch our recent games (including the semi final) and see how many times he gives the ball away in the final third.     

[LeeB]

Wind back to the quarter final and see who opens the game up for us.