Aston Villa v Swansea City Post-Match Thread

[john2710]

Other than the obvious well documented problems of not enough quality / experience / leadership, there are some very very basic problems.

On the rare occasions when we get the ball, the opposition chase our players until we give it back.  Some of this is down to a lack of quality & possibly down to confidence.

We all now by know that Swansea play the ball out from the back, goalkeeper to defender & they build from there. At no point today or in any previous home games this season have we ever forced the opposition goalkeeper to kick the ball out, which would at least give us a 50/50 chance of getting it back. We are effectively giving the opposition the ball & saying keep it as long as you like.  We seem obsessed with getting everyone back into position without ever putting teams under any pressure when they have the ball.  We then spend our time chasing around after the ball, for any of our forwards that must be soul destroying. It's a basic error in the way we are setup that simply gives control of the game to the opposition. For me this this is basic coaching.

[cdward]

This mentioned plan that we are 18 months into, must be to get the high earners off the books (Hutton, Bent, Ireland, Given still left), recruit younger players that cost less on lower wages, so they have a sell on value, and remain in the PL.

[silhillvilla]

This mentioned plan that we are 18 months into, must be to get the high earners off the books (Hutton, Bent, Ireland, Given still left), recruit younger players that cost less on lower wages, so they have a sell on value, and remain in the PL.

Thanks Sherlock 

[aj2k77]

A few more stats to ignore because they don't mean a thing.

Pass completion 57%
cross completion 6%
passes long 23%

[silhillvilla]

Here's some more
Shots 7 v 17
Corners 2 v 8

[damon loves JT]

Frustrated supporters 100%

The statistics don't tell us anything we don't already know, ie we are not very good.

[chrisf]

Here's some more
Goals 1 v 1
Shots on target 3 v 3
Shots 7 v 17
Corners 2 v 8

[PeterWithe]

My half time Balti pie contained more chicken than was expected and the sauce was fine.

We were pretty good for the first ten mins.

[Clampy]

I was actually laughing at our players today. They're so shit, it's unreal.

Words fail me.

With a username like he has, what else can you expect?

[cdward]

Match stats don't mean a thing in "modern football",get used to it. Remember the Deloitte top 20? Obviously as fans we should now be cheering spreadsheets with profits and losses, and projected profit forecasts and whatever else Randy looks at.

[supertom]

Re the debate on possession stats.

I would generally agree that too much can be read into them. I would argue that as long as the balance lies within 45% / 55% then it implies a reasonable balance and the possession in the final 3rd, or possession leading to chances is more interesting.

However as you get towards a 40% / 60% split it's starting to imply one team genuinely dominating, but again the possession by position on the pitch is still a valuable qualification, as was mentioned after Southampton if all the possession is in their half it's not really a problem, especially if it's a definite tactic to counter someone like Arsenal.

When you start getting down to 30% it's starting to sound like you can't string 3 passes together.

For me it's not that we're constantly under 50%, it's that we struggle to get over 35%.

Well put sir. We often struggle to string 5 passes together and not just in phases, through the majority of matches. You cannot get away with that at this level and expect to be comfortable.

[damon loves JT]

The most important statistic for me today is that we got another point. For a while after Swansea equalised it looked like we were going to lose by two or three goals. So forgive me if I don't slash my wrists.

[silhillvilla]

I'd love to watch a team like Swansea every week. Some of their football was great today.

[eric woolban woolban]

You see these sort of possession stats when the majority of teams play Barcelona.

You shouldn't be seeing anywhere near this against the likes of Southampton and Swansea.

[brian green]

For the Palace game when we had most possession the toilet cubicles were all occupied by men smoking.   For the Swansea game when we had least possession the cubicles were occupied by men throwing up.

Possession without goals makes you nervous and in need of a cigarette.   Lack of possession and hanging on to a point makes you sick.

Discuss.   Use both sides of the paper.