Aston Villa v Swansea City Post-Match Thread

[PeterWithesShin]

The problem (to me anyway) is that this was no surprise. As I said on the pre-match thread ...

It would be just like us to ruin today be screwing up at home to Swansea.

After beating Chelsea away, Swansea at home shouldn't be viewed that way. Sadly, it feels like it's the Villa way.

[old man villa fan]

The worrying thing (Saturday apart) is that we do not look like scoring.  Since Norwich at home, that is 9 games and we have only managed 6 goals (3 on Saturday) with us scoreless in 6 of those.

We are creating very few chances as we seem to have an inability to put pressure on teams.  15 corners today and we didn't look like scoring from any of them.  Also, why is it when other teams have corners and we head it clear to the edge of the penalty area, it goes straight to one of their players.  When the opposition head it clear we never seem to have any players on the edge of the area.

[PeterWithesShin]

15 corners today and we didn't look like scoring from any of them.  Also, why is it when other teams have corners and we head it clear to the edge of the penalty area, it goes straight to one of their players.  When the opposition head it clear we never seem to have any players on the edge of the area.

I've often thought that. It's as though the opposition sneak on a couple of extra players at set pieces.

[hawkeye]

I'm sorry Bent is a contributing factor to us not playing well.

He scores tap ins, he isn't a goal machine, he is a goal hanger.

We don't play a system or have the personnel to accommodate him, so what's the point?

It's no coincidence he came back in and the performance suffered. The ball never sticks up front it just keeps coming back thus applying constant pressure on ourselves.

So having attacking minded players like Ireland, Bannan, Albrighton, N'Zogbia and Gabby arent the right type of personnel to provide Bent with service to score goals? We could certainly do with some more guts in midfield but surely those players have the footballing intelligence to supply Bent with the type of service he thrives on to get his 20+ goals per season. He is a player capable of doing that and he has the players around him to help him reach that target, so it can only be the system that is wrong...who is responsible for the system and the tactics?

Bent is a goal scorer, but he doesn't contribute to the play at all, he is just waiting for someone to put it on a plate for him.

Gabby up top backs into the defender holds the ball up and brings the rest of the team into play. Bent doesn't.

People cannot seriously say its just a coincidence we've looked a completely different team the 3 previous games while playing without Bent.

Bent would be perfect for a team that dominate possession, but there must be a reason he has never played consistently for a top 10 team.

I would honestly sell him and strengthen the squad, but that's just me.

What you're actually arguing against is a style of player issue rather than Bent contributing to the team. Bent isnt and has never been the type of player to muscle defenders off the ball and hold up play...his strengths are playing off the shoulder of the last defender, his positional awareness in the box and putting the ball in the back of the net. If you're argument for selling Bent is right, then we may as well play Heskey up front instead but the end result would be the same...we wouldnt score goals, we would concede at the back and lose games.

I can see the problems with Bent and agree with your points about his style of play, but its for the manager to use the correct tactics and style of play to utilise the strengths of our greatest asset on the pitch. If he cant recognise that or adapt a style of play to accomodate that then its best that we get in another manager that can rather than selling Bent.

If its a decision between keeping Bent and keeping AM...I know which one I'd choose.

Bent is not helping the team, we was too happy to spend his time in front or along side the 2 centre halves, I saw him make 1 diagonal run the whole game and not try and run the channels at all. Its not good enough to say he isnt getting the service, he is not making himself available.

[Brend'Watkins]

   If you are going to play football from the back, then have defenders who can do it, and more importantly defenders who have pace, so that they have the confidence to play from the back.

  Swansea played well today, but we let them, and to be honest, they did'nt look that dangerous.

But that's it, their not at all dangerous.  They're just well organized.  Well organized and given 2 gifts is a recipe for disaster. 

I will say it again.  This window, we need two better than our current really crap full backs.  Full backs that look to have the measure of a Wayne Routledge for fuck sake.

[timeoutbigbar]

Also, why is it when other teams have corners and we head it clear to the edge of the penalty area, it goes straight to one of their players.  When the opposition head it clear we never seem to have any players on the edge of the area.

I always think this, but I just wonder whether all fans think this about their team, that the ball isn't rolling for them.

[Villanation]

The worrying thing (Saturday apart) is that we do not look like scoring.  Since Norwich at home, that is 9 games and we have only managed 6 goals (3 on Saturday) with us scoreless in 6 of those.

We are creating very few chances as we seem to have an inability to put pressure on teams.  15 corners today and we didn't look like scoring from any of them.  Also, why is it when other teams have corners and we head it clear to the edge of the penalty area, it goes straight to one of their players.  When the opposition head it clear we never seem to have any players on the edge of the area.

I think the biggest shock and concern today was how little we created up front, for me more so than the errors in defence, had we pegged back Swansea and give them something to think about we would have seen a different approach from them rather than the ever increasing confidence they portrayed as the game went on.

[Bottom Right 89]

Sadly today sums up perfectly the highs and lows of being a Villa supporter - remember when we finished 2nd under SGT and we turned in the performance of the season at Spurs to go top of the league on the Wednesday, only to follow it up with a clueless 3 nil reverse at home to HMP Wimbledon on the Saturday.

Some days we're the shit and some days we're the seagull, we'll finish mid-table above Swansea win a few then lose a few but don't forget we're still in the Cup. 

[Somniloquism]

Warnock...whoops!

Will they ever learn that there is a right time to play football at the back, and then there are times when you just twat it away. Feels like more often than not we hoof it when it could be played and play it when it needs to be hoofed.

The worrying part for me was that even after that cock up and the later one involving Guzan, they still kept doing the same things over and over again.

I can't comment on the second one yet but for the first the easy option for Warnock was to play the ball back to Dunne and then move wide or inside to offer a return once Dyer moved after the ball. Or a different option was to turn towards the byline. A mistake there is not as damaging and it could always be put out for touch in a pinch. Instead he turned inside which meant he was under pressure straight away, he had no get out option and the ball was on his weaker foot. This is a player who had played at the highest level for over a decade making a mistake like that. What can you do?

[Brend'Watkins]

The worrying thing (Saturday apart) is that we do not look like scoring.  Since Norwich at home, that is 9 games and we have only managed 6 goals (3 on Saturday) with us scoreless in 6 of those.

We are creating very few chances as we seem to have an inability to put pressure on teams.  15 corners today and we didn't look like scoring from any of them.  Also, why is it when other teams have corners and we head it clear to the edge of the penalty area, it goes straight to one of their players.  When the opposition head it clear we never seem to have any players on the edge of the area.

I think the biggest shock and concern today was how little we created up front, for me more so than the errors in defence, had we pegged back Swansea and give them something to think about we would have seen a different approach from them rather than the ever increasing confidence they portrayed as the game went on.

We created 15 corners.  That's not little in the way of creativity.  We were once upon a time a force from such.  Even allowing for our lack of ability from this set piece we should at least be getting something to bobble in or around the area but there's never a threat from our corners.  What do we do all week to remedy this?

[Ads]

If you gift a side, any side, be it Swansea, Chelsea or Arsenal, as we have done (generous aren’t we?) then you’ll struggle.

Lerner needs to allow McLeish to wheel, deal and spend a bit of cash to up the quality. A centre half partner for Dunne, two central midfielders; it just has to be done.

[old man villa fan]

Also, why is it when other teams have corners and we head it clear to the edge of the penalty area, it goes straight to one of their players.  When the opposition head it clear we never seem to have any players on the edge of the area.

I always think this, but I just wonder whether all fans think this about their team, that the ball isn't rolling for them.

It is not about the ball rolling for you but having your players in the right position for set-pieces.  Both in attack and defence we over crowd some areas and do not have players in others.  Overall it looks a chaotic mess.

[hawkeye]

The worrying thing (Saturday apart) is that we do not look like scoring.  Since Norwich at home, that is 9 games and we have only managed 6 goals (3 on Saturday) with us scoreless in 6 of those.

We are creating very few chances as we seem to have an inability to put pressure on teams.  15 corners today and we didn't look like scoring from any of them.  Also, why is it when other teams have corners and we head it clear to the edge of the penalty area, it goes straight to one of their players.  When the opposition head it clear we never seem to have any players on the edge of the area.

I think the biggest shock and concern today was how little we created up front, for me more so than the errors in defence, had we pegged back Swansea and give them something to think about we would have seen a different approach from them rather than the ever increasing confidence they portrayed as the game went on.

We created 15 corners.  That's not little in the way of creativity.  We were once upon a time a force from such.  Even allowing for our lack of ability from this set piece we should at least be getting something to bobble in or around the area but there's never a threat from our corners.  What do we do all week to remedy this?

Our corners are Sunday League level, get alll the big boys up and swing it in and let them all charge after it, god its dull

[paul_e]

15 corners today and we didn't look like scoring from any of them.  Also, why is it when other teams have corners and we head it clear to the edge of the penalty area, it goes straight to one of their players.  When the opposition head it clear we never seem to have any players on the edge of the area.

I've often thought that. It's as though the opposition sneak on a couple of extra players at set pieces.

Some people will tell you there's nothing the manager can do if the team isn't following instructions but it's things like this that make me think they are.  It's been the same all season.  When we defend we leave people unmarked 20-25 yards out which means they get time and space on the follow up and we never have anyone in that deep role, it's always 2 back defending, 1 taking the corner and 7 in the box (generally standing still).

I've said it a few times already this season but the vast majority of our problems in midfield and attack could be remedied with competent coaching.  The same applies to defending set pieces.

The only thing we can genuinely blame on the players is the amount of individual errors in the defense.  Myself and Mac both mentioned it on the match thread, we have a back 4 that always looks like it has a mistake waiting to happen.  MoN is responsible for 3 of them and AM for the other (Cuellar had a bad one today but is usually much more consistent).  Until we replace 2-3 of them we're always going to be prone to days like today where a team doesn't actually have to do anything to create chances.

[Jockey Randall]

Some people need to stop throwing their toys out the pram and acting like we're some sort of force these days who should be steam rolling teams like Swansea at home.

You're daft if you think we shouldn't have dismantled Swans today. Coming off a win at the Bridge Swansea should have been chopped liver.

This is exactly why there's so much negativity around Villa fans at the moment. Too many fans think we've got a better squad than we actually have. The reality is that we're in that group of teams from 7th-20th who are on course to finish exactly where our ability should see us finish. I honestly don't understand where some people think we should be? Challenging teams that have spent millions more than us?

I never say this, ever.. but absolutely terrible post.

It's not about the squad at hand, but the club. Aston Villa should never lose at home to a promoted side. Swansea played some excellent football today and deserved all the points, but for a large club like Aston Villa to roll over and serve up this dross is unacceptable. And to accept the fact that we are on the same level, or below, clubs like Swansea is absolutely absurd. Generalizing us in the group of "7th to 20th" is nonsense, the gap between clubs in 7th and 16th is miles, let alone Blackburn. Then to bring up the "Well, they spend millions" argument is ridiculous. Villa have spent tons on the current squad, whether they meet their transfer values is completely irrelevant.

You're voluntary acceptance of a pessimism is why there is so much negativity at the club. We're Aston Villa Football Club and we don't want to lose to clubs who have hardly ever established themselves in the history of the FA.

Of course the gap is miles because you're going to get sides who ride the crest of a wave such as Newcastle and side like Blackburn who are generally having a shocker. The squads on paper though are really not that different in the ability they contain. Look at the prices for Newcastle against QPR in a couple of weeks. Newcastle are 4/6 at home. Do you not think they'd be a lot shorter if the general consensus was that there is a massive gulf in class? Manure were 1/7 to beat Blackburn the other day ffs! and why the hell shouldn't Villa lose at home to a promoted side? You make it sound like we're Barcelona!