Villa display poses more questions than answers
As evening fell on Villa Park, there were yet more questions being asked by the Villa fans who once again turned out in large numbers to see inept defending cost Villa three crucial points. The most powerful question is perhaps the most obvious one - how can a defence that cost nearly £30M be performing so badly? How can a side that were relatively clear from Arsenal in fourth position now be finding a win so difficult and a clean sheet equally as hard going?
West Ham came to Villa Park today stripped down to the bare bones. The Hammers played pretty football with nice short passing movement but lacked penetration and threat where it mattered. Despite the minimal threat posed by the visitors, the villa defence - and in particular Davies and Cuellar - looked consistently vulnerable, unaware, edgy and all over the place. It wasn’t too long ago that Curtis Davies was pushing himself forward into the thinking of England coach Fabio Cappello. His villa career started poorly. Many Villa fans will remember his debut in a League Cup defeat by Leicester City at Villa Park. After the match Davies said “I’ve been bigging myself up, saying I’m ready and obviously I’m not. I looked like a pub team player.” His honesty endured himself to the Villa fans and he eventually won his place in the side and has been playing regurlay this season. His defensive partnership with Martin Laursen was considered as good as Villa have had in recent years.
Since Laursen’s injury troubles, Davies has been playing with Zat Knight or Carlos Cuellar and never really built a good understanding with either. You have to ask whether Davies is really fully over his shoulder problems which he obtained during an FA Cup clash at Goodison Park a few months ago. Since that day, Davies has not been the same player. Martin O’Neill was rumoured to have been interested in a central defender in the January market. Matty Upson from West Ham (yet again subject to homophobic abuse from the Holte End today) was mentioned..but O’Neill denied any interest. If Davies is carrying an injury, what is the Villa boss doing playing him?
Cuellar arrived from Glasgow Rangers in the summer for a fee thought to be around £8M. He has found things difficult in the faster paced Premier League. When it comes to defending long balls, Cuellar is a no-nonsense defender who is happy to put the ball into Row Z but yet again today he was incapable of basic defending skills. Both Villa central defenders suffer from any sort of movement or pace from opposition players. We all know that Stiliyan Petrov took a few years to settle into the pace of the Premiership and it could be that Cuellar develops into a fine defender but how long can Villa afford to wait? Today’s draw at Villa Park means that Villa haven’t won in 11 games and a better side than West Ham would have come away from Birmingham with more than just the one point.
Martin O’Neill started today’s match with a front two pairing of Emile Heskey and John Carew. On paper, this is a hideous combination that paints mental images of long hopeful balls being hoofed into the area for these two lumbering giants. In fact - and to my surprise - the combination worked quite well. Whereas Heskey and Agbonlahor have looked like total strangers, Heskey and Carew developed a quick understanding of each other’s game and complimented each other well. They both created decent chances for each other and a mixture of bad luck and poor finishing prevented Villa adding more goals today.
But by playing 4-4-2, the Villa manager is taking a gamble. Neither Ashley Young or James Milner are particularly good at the defensive side of their game..whilst Barry and Petrov often tire in the latter stages of games which makes Villa vulnerable to conceding late goals. There is often a gaping hole in Villa’s midfield and little protection for the (already) edgy defensive four. O’Neill has a few options. He sticks with the four (perhaps a different combination) or adds another body in midfield and sacrifices one of his strikers. He could put Nigel Reo-Coker back into the midfield - playing just in front of the back four. That would offer protection at least and hopefully prevent the leakage of so many goals.Then there’s Steve ‘fit one week injured the next’ Sidwell. Sidders has had his critics this season since his arrival from Chelsea but anyone who saw Villa win at Arsenal earlier this season couldn’t help but be impressed with Sidwell’s biting midfield performance. He could sacrifice James Milner and play a more defensive midfielder like Gardner. He could just keep things as they are and hope Villa start winning as soon as possible..But despite any lingering talk about Champions League, you get the feeling that Villa need the summer break to re-group and move on again.
O’Neill isn’t keen on change. He will point out that Villa dominated large periods of today’s game and should’ve won comfortably - but he will also be aware that Villa need to return to basics again and stop conceding goals. It has been a problem that O’Neill has faced ever since he arrived at Villa Park.
It will be interesting to see how Gary Cahill performs next week for Bolton. Many Villa fans - me included - felt that O’Neill swapping a potential England defender for Zat Knight was a big mistake. Many of us have not changed our minds since.
