Aston Villa v Sunderland.

VillaBill wrote:N'Zogbia & Weimann were pants yesterday , but you could tell from about minute 10 we were about to witness a 0-0.
Yesterday was as bad as anything i have witnessed this season , no pace , no guile , no skill & i still cant see Mr Lamberts tactics !
For instance, the entire time Benteke has been injured , Guzan has been playing the long ball up to Gabby / Weimann , now he is fit we play out to the centre halves near our own corner flags , WTF ?
I am sure this is to improve our possession stats , fcuk that , there is only one stat that matters !
We have one of the best players in the air in the league Mr Lambert, swallow some pride , add some width & pace (ie a winger or two) and give our only class player some service !

For the last eternity Lambert has had Guzan punt the ball long to Benteke (effectively using the midfield to defend rather than as a means to get the ball to the striker) but Guzan isn't that accurate (Steer from what I've seen is) and Benteke doesn't always have someone there for him to knock the ball down to. I think the change of play has come about from both Clark and Okore coming in and being both a) comfortable on the ball and in defence and b) more precise with their passing - long or short - than Guzan, plus we get to keep hold of the ball longer before it comes right back at us, thus taking some pressure off the defence. I think Sanchez has also made all the difference in allowing us to play the ball up the field. We fall short in a few places though:

1. The forwards are too static. Delph, Cleverley and Sanchez can pass it to each other all day but no one was moving the ball forward and the number of decent balls from any of them in towards the box you could count on one hand. The forward line stands there next to their markers. Nothing's going on. Weimann will make a few runs early on but the midfield would rather pass sideways and then he doesn't bother again. Benteke is our best attacking midfielder but as someone pointed out before, we need him on the end of his own passes.

2. It's all or nothing. Guzan is now holding onto the ball for everyone to clear upfield so he can roll it out to a defender (or Sanchez). The long ball needs to come into play and Delph + the forward line needs to be moving fast in different directions upfield as soon as Guzan picks up the ball, giving the option to kick long on the counter and helping draw opposition upfield with them to give us more space to roll the ball out to a defender or Sanchez. We've seen seasons of long balls, now we've had a run of games of short balls. Both are valid and it's possible to mix them up.