We’ve seen this score line a little too frequently lately haven’t we, and lets be honest, we deserved nothing from this game. Our defence was relentless, but so was the Chelsea attacking and when the game is all going in one direction, something has to give and it just so happened to be at our expense.
The majority of the Chelsea team put in a man of the match performance, and did what they do best. Aston Villa sat back waiting for the counter attack and to be fair, lets give credit where it is due because we came out looking like a stronger side compared to the Arsenal performance and that is where most of our praise ends because it wasn’t a stronger performance, just the illusion of one.
Counter Attacking Team.
I hate the fact that we are a counter attacking team, I despise this kind of football. We sit back, absorb the bombardment and then spring our own when they are off guard but we can’t pull it off with the players we have and it is looking like Aston Villa is a one trick pony, that can’t even do it’s one trick. Let’s break it down.
Agbonlahor
Counter attacking relies heavily upon Gabby getting the ball and holding it up, but he is a very weak player in the air and this is where the majority of the balls are coming from. He won 20% of all ariels, yet the team continued to lob the ball towards him. I also touched upon this last week, but I would never put all my eggs into just Gabby alone as I don’t think he is a consistent goal scorer. He works better on the wing, putting players under pressure and delivering the ball into the box, but when the boots are switched and the team is relying on Gabby to score, we won’t get many. Sorry if people disagree. He didn’t have a single shot all game.
Baker
Baker struggled in the air today which lead to us conceding. He wasn’t abysmal, and I still think he played a decent game but this needs to be touched upon. I still have to wonder what the deal is with Okore at this stage of his recovery?
Set Pieces
This is a massive issue because all our set pieces were dreadful. Corners, free kicks and general crosses have to be completely spot on with the style of play we use but instead, everything was either over hit, or never made it past the first man. These are good opportunities that are being wasted by a team that isn’t having many chances as it is (7 shots, 1 on target). I can’t even begin to make an excuse, because there is no excuse, nor do we deserve one.
We need improvement going forward, and we need to see more confidence from players in the oppositions half because it isn’t good enough. Our strikers are not striking. There has been too much pressure put on the defence in the past two games with the idea that by keeping a clean sheet and stopping these big teams, we can get a single point. NO. Pressure needs to be applied onto our forwards to encourage more of what they are being paid to do.
Positives
- The midfield looked good on the ball, and played well amongst each other. Sadly this was let down by the lack of movement going forward, and the lack of creativity to make things happen.
- There could have been more goals, plenty more goals but our defence was mostly composed and as a unit, we stopped a blood bath from occurring. The cracks appeared, but we did not shatter and we should all bear this in mind.
- BENTEKE should be back next week, and never have we needed a striker so desperately (Bent saving us from relegation may be the argument).
Verdict
We have no attack and are currently failing on the counter because of this. We can’t rely on an individual to nick a goal and then defend the rest of the game. Chelsea was always going to be hard and today it was evident that it’s even harder because our system is failed. Defend, Defend, defend, try and counter. It was also a shame to not see Grealish this week, although I actually felt Richardson played a lot better, chasing the ball down and being better with his passing. Wiemann on the other hand, I actually felt like I barely seen him in the game which is evident by his 23 touches in 69 minutes. NOT GOOD ENOUGH FROM ANYBODY UP FRONT.
We lost but we wasn’t destroyed and nor are we defeated. We sit 5th in the league with Man City next on the schedule; this should be the return for Benteke. Our defeats have been against the top tier sides and we still have one more to play. I believe the true test in our ability is how we play against Everton and the matches there after.
UPDATE
Just read this article on Skysports. Here is a quote from Jose and it sums our past few performances completely.
The team was keeping the ball and because they were so passive they never tried to press the ball. Our victory was never in doubt. They didn’t have a reaction.
