Villa Post Match

[ric.williams]

Because he hides in games too often, even when we are playing well he can disappear in a game. He shows no fight at all.

no he doesnt hide at all. dont be daft

[Mattshark]

Sure but with Henderson, you at least get defensive stability. With Shelvey, it's alike flipping a coin and leaving it to chance

You are joking right? He doesn't cover back, he can't tackle and he lacks defensive positioning.

[Mattshark]

no he doesnt hide at all. dont be daft

If you like.

[destinydude]

He really didn't though. Lucas got stuck in and tackled.

He made a hell lot of unnecessary tackles, gave away stupid fouls in dangerous areas. At least Henderson is not doing that. He has a decent footballing brain.

Just because he doesn't go in two footed making silly tackles and getting stuck in, doesn't mean he is mentally weak.

[Buzzo]

Not sure that I agree. For the money we spent on him he is a decent option coming from the bench but the problem is that he played too much and we relied imo on him too much this season.

The players that I'd sell:

Carroll
Downing
Kuyt (wages and past his best)
Maxi (wages and also past his best)

We really have problems in the midfield and upfront and imo if we really want to be on top with other big clubs we need to buy smart this window.

Need at least a CM/box-to-box, AM, a striker and one more player that can play wide but also play inside.

I'm running out of patience with Carroll. Yes, he can 'win' the ball in the box, but he does **** all with it, it just bounces off his head. He should be burying headers like the one at the end, and seems to get muscled of the ball quite easily.

I think he has been badly managed at times (I think he should have started today after last week) and seems low on confidence, but essentially he is not an LFC player, and the football that suits him is not football we are famous for or footballl that I have much interest in watching.

Newcastle replacing him with Cisse and Ba for, what, £9m looks like a master stroke.

[Muddled]

We lack tactical awareness. The players and coaching staff need to take responsibility for this.

I don't think it's tactical awareness, but more our shape.

Tactically, we had a game plan - positionally, we were all at sea; Shelvey went walk about and it's no coincidence we started attacking better when Gerrard dropped back in the middle. We were heavily left-sided, mainly due to Kuyt going central and Flanagan holding his position and Suarez dropped.

Tactically, we sat deep(ish) ensuring the pace of Agbonlahor didn't hurt us and we kept a very solid line that didn't rush out to meet the ball. What we didn't do, was track the Villa midfielders (linked to Shelvey) and Henderson's lack of bite meant we were over-run.

Again, our play in the final third leaves a lot to be desired. How do you solve a problem like Suarez?

[destinydude]

You are joking right? He doesn't cover back, he can't tackle and he lacks defensive positioning.

1. He covers back.
2. Defensively, his positioning is actually much better than a lot of players in our squad.
3. He can tackle but chooses not to as there is no point in making a tackle if you can't win the ball.

[ric.williams]

If you like.

good post. how do you classify that he hides?

[Buzzo]

One things for sure, it can't be good when playing Blackburn away is looking like a tough fixture. **** me, they all look like tough fixtures right now....

[Mattshark]

He made a hell lot of unnecessary tackles, gave away stupid fouls in dangerous areas. At least Henderson is not doing that. He has a decent footballing brain.

Just because he doesn't go in two footed making silly tackles and getting stuck in, doesn't mean he is mentally weak.

Yeah, that is not really true of Lucas though. He was accused of that for ages, even when he averaged 2 fouls a game across the season.

As for Henderson, he is not doing anything, that is the problem, he offers little going forward and offers nothing defensive and he really doesn't offer him self as an outlet, he is wasteful when he does push forward (look at his shots today, that is not intelligent use of the ball).

[Gibbo]

Sure but with Henderson, you at least get defensive stability. With Shelvey, it's alike flipping a coin and leaving it to chance

I see Henderson as a bit of a headless chicken, part of this is down to his mentality and the other is part down to management.

The reason I believe he has been criticised so much this season is down to the way that Kenny has played him, he is not a right midfielder and is without a doubt a square peg in a round hole out there. And he drifts infield because that is his natural position.

He also has next to zero confidence in his ability, now this could be down to a number of reasons but the main thing is he will either pass sidewards or backwards, every time sidewards or backwards, there have been occasions where he could shoot and decides not too and ends up losing the ball anyway. I think this is down to the fact that he has little faith in his ability.

I don't really think he is defensively sound either. He's not a worker like Lucas and doesn't really hassle and press players, he waits for the opposing team to come to him, and often makes fouls.

I'm not saying Shelveys perfect - far from it, and its clear that they both play different positions but I've seen more encouraging things from Jonjo then I have from Henderson, and I think a lot of it is down to bottle and mentality and not having that fear of failing.

[Mattshark]

1. He covers back.
2. Defensively, his positioning is actually much better than a lot of players in our squad.
3. He can tackle but chooses not to as there is no point in making a tackle if you can't win the ball.

Ah, so what explains the huge holes across the front of our defence today?

His defensive positioning is utterly woeful.

His tackling tends to lead to silly fouls.

[baitman]

When Luis needs to get to almost half line to get the ball cannot never be a good thing.

so true. as the team is currently set up the strikers are too isolated. there are no attacking midfielders who will run with the ball, or make positive forward passes.
i think we need to vary the set up. 3, 1, 4, 2.
we could easily play coates in a advanced defence/DM role to help snuff out the oppositions forward play and stop our defence dropping back too deep. three at the back, depending on who is fit, agger, skertel, kelly/flano.
we could play suarez in a more withdrawn attacking midfield role that gerrard would normally occupy. this would allow better control and possession of the ball and allow kuyt and carrol to get some service from midfield. suarez has creativity and dribbling that will help unlock defences. with other players in front of him he will also have passing options. as the most advanced player he doesnt have that option.
gerrard and shelvey could then dominate central midfield.
sterling on the right, as he can play with both feet. downing on the left, as he only can play with his left foot.
a couple of the kids on the bench, including a young striker as back up/sub for the last 15 mins to stretch the opposition.

note, no places for carra or spearing unless filling in for injuries] or adam, hendo.

[peekay]

The huge problem is our midfield. Hendo and Jonjo are not ready yet and they haven't really played together and Hendo has no confidence in himself at the moment he should not play at all.

When Luis needs to get to almost half line to get the ball cannot never be a good thing.

Also we don't commit enough bodies in the box when we attack so there is no point of trying to cross.

Downing went into hiding again and Enrique really needs a break and someone has to go over the match film with him as he is holding and holding on the ball too much and when he passes it is either too late or totally wrong option.

I better stop as I could go on and on, which is really ashame..

We bought mid table players.

We appear to be coached like a mid table team - so many obvious flaws like the ones you pointed out.

It is no surprise we are ending up in this position.

In fact it would not be too outlandish to suggest that our relatively "good" form in the first half of the season can be construed as a mid table team hitting a purple patch.

[Gibbo]

so true. as the team is currently set up the strikers are too isolated. there are no attacking midfielders who will run with the ball, or make positive forward passes.
i think we need to vary the set up. 3, 1, 4, 2.
we could easily play coates in a advanced defence/DM role to help snuff out the oppositions forward play and stop our defence dropping back too deep. three at the back, depending on who is fit, agger, skertel, kelly/flano.
we could play suarez in a more withdrawn attacking midfield role that gerrard would normally occupy. this would allow better control and possession of the ball and allow kuyt and carrol to get some service from midfield.
gerrard and shelvey could then dominate central midfield.
sterling on the right, as he can play with both feet. downing on the left, as he only can play with his left foot.
a couple of the kids on the bench, including a young striker as back up/sub for the last 15 mins to stretch the opposition.

If we played 3 at the back with no wing backs we would get destroyed.