Wolves v Aston Villa.

FoxyAV wrote:

4BetLite wrote:

FoxyAV wrote:

4BetLite wrote:

FoxyAV wrote:

4BetLite wrote:westwood a poor version of geuye, will be sub this season.

Funny how we watched the same match (well, most of it, I had to reboot the feed five times, paused and hit play about the same number of times and had numerous pauses before it sorted itself out) and saw different things! Westwood for me has great distribution and picks out some great passes. He's also making some good passes into thin air for people to run into, I hadn't noticed so much of that before Sherwood (BS?).

I wonder if the whole team is going to be a lot more fluid on the pitch this season. Lots of young, energetic players coming in (apart from right back and the two centre backs) and moving into each other's positions.  

I thought westwood did ok but too similar to geuye for me and not as good, so I think he will be back up, especially if we get Jordan V. But its strength in depth and with quality like westwood on the bench and better 11 starting, its looking good.

The last couple pieces of TS jigsaw will define how well we do

Bearing in mind Kozak cost £8million or so, Westwood, Bacuna, Sanchez and Okore are the only remaining 'cheap' buys made by Lambert who are likely to play this season. McLeish bought Hutton, Guzan was signed by MON (!), Gabby, Baker and Clark came up through the academy and so did Grealish and Robinson. Cissokho and Bennett probably won't play again (Bennett isn't even listed as a player on the AVFC site although he seems to have edited his own Wikipedia page "On 21 August 2014, Bennett joined Brighton & Hove Albion on a season-long loan. He returned to Villa as he has the potential to become the best LB in the world.").

Things are changing fast aren't they?

Fast is an understatement foxy, much needed though! exiting times my friend........... I'm liking the adebayor signing, on his day he can be some player and will give opposition something to think about, just hope TS can get him going, who else would u bring in?

I haven't a clue who to bring in. I have a sort of tunnel vision when I watch Villa, I tend not to notice who we're playing against, I just look at our players! I try though to see the positives in the players we already have. Well, with the exception of N'Zogbia, who I've always thought is a waste of space. Now we've seen Amavi play, Hutton just looks slow and cumbersome, he's the only one I'm worried about now. With Delph, Benteke, Gabby and Grealish so strong down the left last season and Amavi, Gueye, Grealish, Robinson and Gabby there this time round we need to try to work out how to have two functional flanks, and while Gil is going to work a treat, Bacuna and Hutton are together either ok as defender or ok on the wing. We need someone like Amavi and someone like Gueye on the right, behind Gil in a 4-3-3. Bacuna for me is a wing back, with Clark, Okore and Richards as the back three. I did think Richardson would work well as the left sided wing back but Amavi is putting in a very strong case for himself. Hutton for me just doesn't defend or go forward well enough. I trust Sherwood to work this all out! I like the idea of Berbatov and Adebayor on short contracts. Sherwood seems to be able to motivate players and we already have Kozak making a very good case for himself. Who would you bring in?

I think we could be better then last year with what we have now, but to strengthen and improve us I'd like to see a world class keeper, I like Fabianski, Jordan V, T Carroll or Cambiaso, adebayor and gestede..........

my line when all fit would be

Fabianski

Richards Okore Clark Amavi

Gueye Veretout Carrol/Cambiaso??

Gil/Grealish/Ayew???????????????

Gestede Kozak/Adebayor??

Subs from.... Steer Bunn Crespo sanderos sanchez westwood bacuna Sinclair and whoever we leave out from above

With these in and the following out..... Guzan, Gabby, Nzog, Hutton, Baker, Cissoko, Bennett, Cole

Kids on loan till Jan

Dreaming I know but looks good to me

One question about last night .... Why, when we give the ball away in our defensive third (Baker this time) is it always a goal? It doesn't happen to other teams so predictably does it? Is it our positioning or what?

villabromsgrove wrote:One question about last night .... Why, when we give the ball away in our defensive third (Baker this time) is it always a goal? It doesn't happen to other teams so predictably does it? Is it our positioning or what?

Poor organisation IMO.

I seen one quote

"Richards will be ok - so long as he doesn't have to cover for Hutton'

which sums it up really, if we have a CB who can't , cover when the full back slips - then whats he doing on the pitch.

Coaching Issue IMO - We need a method of dealing with these things, at the moment its looks all off the cuff.

We have not looked solid defensively for years. Remember conceding 7 against Chelsea in MON era then our set piece frailties under Houllier and McLeish. Lamberts first season where we lost 8-0, 4-0, 4-0 around Christmas time through to today under Sherwood. Many different players and managers but a soft underbelly still. We need some top defensive coaching.

smetro wrote:

villabromsgrove wrote:One question about last night .... Why, when we give the ball away in our defensive third (Baker this time) is it always a goal? It doesn't happen to other teams so predictably does it? Is it our positioning or what?

Poor organisation IMO.

I seen one quote

"Richards will be ok - so long as he doesn't have to cover for Hutton'

which sums it up really, if we have a CB who can't , cover when the full back slips - then whats he doing on the pitch.

Coaching Issue IMO - We need a method of dealing with these things, at the moment its looks all off the cuff.

How do you coach for a mistake? You can coach to stop mistakes not to anticipate them. If someone is always making mistakes you get someone in who doesn't. Richards has been getting better in every game. It'll take him a bit of time to get an understanding with his other defenders but he's getting better. Clark is still finding his form of last year. Amavi looks like he'll be good and Hutton is solid. This isn't Sunday league so you shouldn't expect mistakes but yesterday the defence covered for each other on the majority of occasions there was one.

Haven't read the thread guys so apologies if I'm covering old ground, but here are my thoughts on last night - I'm not a fan of 4-4-2 & I don't think it suits our players at all, however I don't anticipate we'll play that way next season. To my mind it's a temporary measure based on the players currently available. But Jack, Gil, Sanchez, Westwood, Gueye - none of them are suited to this formation, plus Gueye was quoted when he signed as saying we're playing 4-3-3, which does suit our players. Kozak - delighted to see him back, took his goals well, but he should be a back up striker. Unbelievably slow & doesn't hold the ball up great for a man of his size. He's an asset though. Midfield hard to comment on as I don't think we'll play this wayl, but Gueye looks energetic & will only get better. Westwood usual mix of nice touches & bottling tackles, not his biggest fan. Bacuna is just awful in midfield & that was one of his better efforts last night. My biggest observation is the defence, both goals we let in were so soft & they could/should of had more. Amarvi is a real prospect, lot more to come from him, Richards is a beast of a player, although I'd prefer him at RB. My real issues are CC & Hutton. Sorry to say it, but pre season or not, CC looks like his old self, full of basic errors & ball watching. Forget the fact they're a new unit, I'm on about simple individual errors; poor clearances, misplaced passes etc. he needs to sort himself out as we're going to be playing much better teams than Wolves shortly who will brutally expose these errors. Hutton is a shame, I liked him last year but I thought he was poor last night. Lost his man for the 2nd goal & did the same several times previously, getting away with it due to poor final balls. Don't even get me started on Baker, who was nothing short of abysmal when he came on. It IS only pre season, but the defence worries me currently. We're a team plagued by soft goals from individual errors & we can't afford another season of being undermined the same way.

Are players more prone to errors if they feel that they're playing for a starting place & their bodies aren't quite up to match fitness?

Dions_Bald_Head wrote:Are players more prone to errors if they feel that they're playing for a starting place & their bodies aren't quite up to match fitness?

Not when you're talking about players whose error count is historically frighteningly high during the regular season too

Disappointing to read that Clark has slipped back to s old ways. I was massively anti-Clark for most of the last few seasons but had to eat humble pie and admit that he was class for much of last season.

I guess when he's good he's very good. And when he's bad, he's a ball-watching clown shoe who will relegate us.

Looks like the defence needs a lot of work still.

I thought Clark had an average game for someone who is just getting back to full fitness, he also has new team mates around him that will have impact on his own performance.

I like Clark, he will be a better player this season given time to adjust to other players around him.

I have to agree with most in regards to last night’s match:

Despite the result I was very encouraged by the performance.

Kozak Looks fit and hungry to make up for lost time first choice? not so sure just yet.

Geuye Impressing so far nice feet great passing the middle of the park, breaking up play, not afraid to tackle or to take a shot.

Amavi Such a pleasure to see a quality lb at villa park who can defend, beat his man and cross a ball. Not had this since buma.

Bunn Defiantly one to watch, looked very good yesterday wasn’t overly convinced, when we signed him but the last 2 friendly’s I’ve been impressed.

Westwood Can see his game time being limited this season, does the correct things well but doesn’t tackle or score enough for me.

Hutton looks a rite liability, gets in the final third but couldn’t cross for s**t might as well not bother an do his job defending.

Gabby Hard to see how far this guy has fallen from grace, if he was ever there in the first place. looks like his robbing a living now.

Clarke Like him but agree with jamie on this one.

Baker Lost patience with him either injured or poor decision making I’d get rid while we still can.

The rest played well enough.

Fpuppys wrote:I thought Clark had an average game for someone who is just getting back to full fitness, he also has new team mates around him that will have impact on his own performance.

I like Clark, he will be a better player this season given time to adjust to other players around him.

My issue with Ckark is some of the errors he was making had nothing to do with fitness or adjusting to new team mates, they were just sloppy play, which is what plagued his game for so long before. It's not the popular opinion but it was coming back into his game last season before his injury too. Misplaced passes, caught in possession, free kicks shanked into touch, plus being at fault for the Swansea winner & being extremely lucky not to give away a pen & see red at Old Trafford. He did have a run of good form last season, but I don't think it was as great, or lasted as long, as generally perceived. He needs to switch on & quick. He's 25, not some 21 year old kid. He should be virtually the finished article by now, not still learning his trade.

I think Clark grew in stature last season when he was paired with Okore and became the senior partner and leader at the back. He thrived on the responsibility and his confidence grew as a result.

Now Richards has come in and has already taken the armband and on-field leadership and Clark seems to have retreated into his shell a bit.

Cha Ching wrote:I think Clark grew in stature last season when he was paired with Okore and became the senior partner and leader at the back. He thrived on the responsibility and his confidence grew as a result.

Now Richards has come in and has already taken the armband and on-field leadership and Clark seems to have retreated into his shell a bit.

Can't agree as Clark was receding last season prior to his injury, as previously stated. Unfortunately based on his whole career his good form last season currently looks nothing more than a flash in the pan

With a number of Premier League teams playing a high back line and pressing, the days of the defensive shut out seem numbered. Apart from Chelsea's defence, are there really any good examples of error free centre backs left?

Jamie Gray wrote:

Cha Ching wrote:I think Clark grew in stature last season when he was paired with Okore and became the senior partner and leader at the back. He thrived on the responsibility and his confidence grew as a result.

Now Richards has come in and has already taken the armband and on-field leadership and Clark seems to have retreated into his shell a bit.

Can't agree as Clark was receding last season prior to his injury, as previously stated. Unfortunately based on his whole career his good form last season currently looks nothing more than a flash in the pan

Receding once Vlaar came back in and took over though. Clark is a good organiser when given the chance.

I must have seen a different match from you all. I thought Clark had a good game. Richards scares the Hell out of me, though. He's out of position too often and loses his mark on set pieces.