What have we learnt from the first preseason game?

[Londonvilla]

What have we learnt from the first preseason game?

Last season was underwhelming. In the words of Steve Bruce, I expected us to be there or thereabouts, for a top 8 finish and we underperform, considering the quality of our squad. The most disappointing thing was the lack of identity and style of play. It was as if Stephen Gerard was trying to find a style of play with the available players rather than implementing his style and making the players play that way. (Sounds harsh, but we should have finished higher in the league.)

This is why I was interested in seeing how we would perform in our first preseason game. Would there be clues as to how our new first-team coach would set the team up?

So, below are the top three things I took from today’s performance.

Our players fall into two categories. The first is those players who cannot retain possession of the ball (they dribble till they lose it or pass it straight back to the opposition) and those who retain possession at all costs and play high-risk passes when they’re in the final third. Unfortunately, two of my favourite players fall into the first category. Mings and Watkins, even when they’re at their best, give control of the ball away far too easily. Traoré, Bailey and El Ghazi, on their day, can be magic, but in general, their first instinct and not to retain possession, and as a result, we lose control of games more quickly when they are in the team. It was fantastic to see our young players who played in the middle of the park try to keep control of the game by keeping the ball moving using a simple pass-and-move philosophy. Brighton doesn’t have better players than us, but they play better football because the dribblers in their team try to keep possession, and their central defenders don’t kick the ball aimlessly down the left-wing.

The second thing I noticed was the fact that for the first time, we had people trying to play the number six position who dropped in between the central defenders, giving us the angles to play out from the back. Marvellous dropped in there at times, and in the first half, Finn Azaz (who looked very good) did the same. You can’t play out from the back unless a midfield player is willing to drop back and help create the angles needed to progress the ball up the field. This midfield player needs to receive the ball on the half-turn and not with his back to the opposition goal because he will have limited options for moving the ball out of defence. Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t do it very well, but we did it better than we were doing for most of last season. I never want to see Tyrone hoof the ball up the field because he has no options.

The third thing I noticed was that last season, we played with a flat three in midfield, and when our full-backs bombed forward (they were living in the final third), our two wider midfield players would cover for the full-back on their side. This was a waste of the talents of our midfield players, who were good at times but could have been better if they were playing in another formation. Today we played with a minimum of four people behind the ball at any one time. (Mostly right back, two central defenders and one defensive midfield player.) It was clear that both full-backs never got forward together in either the first or second half; it was either one or the other. If you look at Liverpool, they pressed teams to death by playing both full-backs high up the pitch, forcing teams to play risky balls through the middle of the park and then their midfield pressed, putting challenges to win the ball back. Like Manchester City, if they fail to win the ball back. They then use tactical fouling to stop attacks. The way Kaine Kesler Hayden was playing was similar to how Liverpool’s Trent Alexander plays in that he didn’t seem to care about defending. Also, there were times in the second half when Ashley Young was the furthest villa player up the pitch. So it will be interesting to see if we press heavily from the front, leaving three/four players to cover. (It was fun watching young Chrisene cut inside when running through looking for a pass in the final third in the way that Ajax under Erik ten Hag played.)

Overall, I enjoyed watching football again and thought Cameron Archer looked like a natural-born killer. Bertrand Traore tried to curb his instinct of dribbling first rather than passing and, as a result, played quite well. Finn Azaz looks like a tidy player; no wonder he won the league to Young player of the season. Feeney looks a real player and will be pushing our centre-halves for a starting place next season. (You read it here first.) If O’Reilly can gain one-half stones in weight, he will be outstanding against teams who play a low block because he retains possession and uses it smartly. In Sanson, I am convinced that there is a  player in there, and it’s a shame we can’t seem to get the best at him.

Anyway, I’m probably overthinking all of this, and there may not be any real takeaway from this game; however, what would be your main conclusions from today’s performance?

[Steve67]

What we learnt is that we have over half the likely starters still on holiday and that Walsall are happy to fill the ground up for this regular friendly. 

[Londonvilla]

What we learnt is that we have over half the likely starters still on holiday and that Walsall are happy to fill the ground up for this regular friendly.

Thanks for that great analysis .....nice to hear from a top brain

[Toronto Villa]

I wouldn’t read too much into a friendly we always win. And recently by a lot. Many players missing. It was good to see a number of the kids get a run out and we still have the Euro winners to come in. Australia will be a nice test. And by the end we will have one more in and hopefully at least one more.

[Mister E]

Thanks for your observations, LondonVilla: interesting to hear your perspectives.

[Dave P]

I think you are being harsh on Watkins. He took his goal very well and there was very promising link ups with Ings and Buendia.

Archer’s touch was found wanting more than once but give him a chance and he’ll be lethal. Certainly worth keeping in our squad this season. Until Jan at least.

[ChicagoLion]

Your first point LV is spot on, one of if not the biggest problem we have as a team is the ease at which we give up possession and has been a problem for too long.

[PeterWithe]

Good analysis I thought, the midfield looked noticeably better drilled when we had possession in our own third.

[wittonwarrior]

Lets be honest its an annual favour to Walsall.  A chance for a bigger number of Villa fans to watch an away game.  It was all about fitness nothing more.   The only thing I would say football wise is that O'Reilly looked good and Mings was Mings.    It's wrong to look into this fixture as some sort of plan.  Still better than watching the training session at Villa Park when that friendly got cancelled.   

[eamonn]

I did a BE-frown on reading the thread title, thimking that whatever you had to say should be in the post-match thread and not be a selfish topic on its own.

Having read through your sound analysis, I realise it was a cut above our post-match breeze-shooting and you were dead right to set-up a breakaway discussion.

[Londonvilla]

I think you are being harsh on Watkins. He took his goal very well and there was very promising link ups with Ings and Buendia.

Archer’s touch was found wanting more than once but give him a chance and he’ll be lethal. Certainly worth keeping in our squad this season. Until Jan at least.

Lol.....your right I think I was a little harsh

[Londonvilla]

I did a BE-frown on reading the thread title, thimking that whatever you had to say should be in the post-match thread and not be a selfish topic on its own.

Having read through your sound analysis, I realise it was a cut above our post-match breeze-shooting and you were dead right to set-up a breakaway discussion.

The thing I can't work out is do we have the players to play a passing game like Brighton or should we play on the break like Leicester.

[LeeB]

I did a BE-frown on reading the thread title, thimking that whatever you had to say should be in the post-match thread and not be a selfish topic on its own.

Having read through your sound analysis, I realise it was a cut above our post-match breeze-shooting and you were dead right to set-up a breakaway discussion.

The thing I can't work out is do we have the players to play a passing game like Brighton or should we play on the break like Leicester.

If we can play both ways depending on the opposition we'll finish well above both of them.

[jwarry]

Bit late to the party but that’s a good analysis LV.  The two halves were very different.  The first half seemed to be about keeping the ball and I agree that in Azaz we have a gem who did exactly that - no risks just keep the ball.  Second half saw the top half interplay that we know our players are capable of.  Risks were taken but at time the one twos between Buendia, Watkins and Ings were sublime.  But also the press was higher up the pitch

So to answer your question yes I thought we saw Gerrard trying out two different styles in one game which suggests he doesn’t have one way of playing in his head

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

Good interesting analysis as I only saw the goals and read some of the comments in the match thread.

Last season was underwhelming. In the words of Steve Bruce, I expected us to be there or thereabouts, for a top 8 finish and we underperform, considering the quality of our squad. The most disappointing thing was the lack of identity and style of play. It was as if Stephen Gerard was trying to find a style of play with the available players rather than implementing his style and making the players play that way. (Sounds harsh, but we should have finished higher in the league.)
 

I disagree with this though as my feelings were the opposite. Gerrard was trying to implement or force his Rangers style of play on the players that weren’t suited or unaccustomed to it. It’s a balancing act as each manager has his own style but there was no gradual transfer of formations. Instead of looking at the skill sets of the players and picking a formation / tactic that they were comfortable with, it was straight into the Rangers tactic imo.

Even after a couple of longer breaks where the added time on the training pitch should have paid dividends we looked worse.
Hopefully with more of his own players and a full pre season will see an improvement.

Perhaps this should have gone in the Gerrard thread.