I saw the team news as I took my seat. The side showed 3 changes: Cahill, Rodwell and Saha were all out and replaced by the mouthy Dutchman, Bily and Beckford. I couldn?t help but notice how we had defenders almost everywhere. I would much prefer to have youngsters in midfield rather than experienced defenders in there, purely because it?s their natural position. Although we all know how Moyes loves to play it safe, I swear he is getting more negative by the week.
The game began without much pattern to it. We seemed to insist on hitting long balls towards Bily; he must have lost every header except one and yet we kept doing it. Surely one of the managerial staff/players is paid enough to notice things like this and rectify them with alternative instructions/ideas.
Heitinga puffed his chest out and strutted forward to plant a free kick into the top of... the wall. Why we let him do this I?ll never know; he never looks like getting it anywhere near the goal. Around 10 minutes in came our first real chance; Beckford forcing Friedel into a save low down to his left with a well hit half-volley. He really should have scored though; he had the freedom of the penalty area and should have taken a touch and buried it. He could do with watching Bent?s goals to see composure in front of goal.
Villa then forced a succession of corners, they came to nothing although Howard contrived to stay on his line for all of them, even though most where 4 or 5 yards out. I wish we would leave Beckford on halfway for opposition corners. We invite chaos as we have everyone back and we always have 2/3 people in the way, marking no-one. Get them out of there and then the other team has to leave players back, thereby making our box less crowded and easier to defend.
Beckford hit a shot wide from an Osman corner although it never troubled the target at any stage. Villa's first real chance of note came just before the half-hour mark. A set-piece dropped to Reo-Coker inside the area and he hammered a drive at goal. Ten-year Tony pulled off a great block, throwing his body at it and deflecting it away for a corner. A few minutes later, Johnny picked up a very strange yellow card by seeming to just run into one of their players; a needless booking.
The game seemed to be meandering towards a half-time scoreline of 0-0 but our current man of the hour, Osman (I choked whilst typing that line) had other ideas though. Bily provided the assist, one of his few highlights today. He made a good tackle to rob Walker of possession and then play a ball through to Osman who had made a run towards the box. He slalomed in and out past a statuesque Collins, who turns like a bin wagon. After working a yard of space, he fired a low shot that seemed to somehow go through Friedel. Osman then proceeded to celebrate like a child on Christmas morning. I?d like to think he had a flutter on himself 1st goal; that might justify the child-like celebration. The game played out to its first-half conclusion without any incident of real note.
Half-time usually lasts 15 mins; ours seemed to last about 35 mins yesterday... We started the second half poorly and took a good while longer to realise that there was a game to be played. Villa equalised a couple of minutes into the second half, after doing pretty much nothing in the first half. Downing was given too much space down our left. This was right in front of me; it was both Bily and Baines at fault for different reasons. Downing then played a ball into the box and Bent created space far too easily and smacked the ball into the top of the net; Jagielka seemed to still be thinking about the half-time oranges.
Villa then grew in confidence as we proceeded to shrivel up and die; at least as far as passing football was concerned. Ashley Young ? I hate that arrogant, whinging excuse of a man ? played a free kick into the area. Walker proceeded to wallop it into Row Q of the Gwladys Street from about 3 yards out. Awful miss and a lucky escape; the players soon noticed we needed to pick it up or we would be in danger of losing another winnable home game.
Just after that chance, Coleman went off. He looked to be carrying a knock. Truth be told, he didn?t look fit from the first whistle and probably shouldn?t have been on the pitch at all. The invisible man, formerly known as, Magaye Gueye made his long-awaited Premier League debut.
Then began Osman?s quest to show he could ruin a good personal performance by placing a host of chances here, there and everywhere. The first was from a corner and he did exceptionally well to turn his marker and then proceeded to curl it a good few feet wide of the far post. How he missed the target from there, I?ll never know. Sunday league shooting; unfortunately, worse was to come from Osman.
Leon then wasted another great chance, blazing a deep Bily cross over from about 8 yards out. You?ve got to be hitting the target from there; these misses would soon prove costly. About 65 minutes in, came the game?s two defining moments. Gueye, who looked sharp, played Beckford through on goal. The ex-Leeds man took the shot first time and it crashed off the bar and down behind the line. The linesman was too far behind play though and didn?t give it. Beckford needs to stop trying to win BBC goal of the month though, I?ll take a scruffy looking goal over these spectacular near-misses all day.
Friedel gathered the ball and heaved it long; Young controlled and played a ball through to Bent who finished well past Howard. Firstly, the goal seemed offside and, from what I?ve seen since, it still looks offside. Secondly, what was Howard doing? Distin wasn?t that far away from Bent, I really don?t think Howard had to rush that far out of his goal.
2-1 down at home in a game we should not have been losing, with the opposition's only shots on target all game resulting in goals. Boy does that sound familiar this season? Maybe some changes would help. Silly me, I forgot it's Moyes doing the tactics, so all hope of a purposeful substitution drifted away. Jagielka advanced forward to cries of ?shoot, shoot?. I wish he had; the ball went goal bound, well for a split second, but to call it a shot would be giving it undue credit.
Osman then crowned his hat-trick of misses, saving the worst, most hideous attempt till last. Bily worked a yard of space and played a cross into the area, past a bevy of Villa defenders. The ball sat up invitingly and Osman gleefully accepted the invitation... to hoist it into the Park End. He could have taken a touch and then hit it in. I had gone from praising him to cursing him in the space of 25mins.
After having a warm-up suited to a marathon runner, Vellios finally entered the fray. I would love to know what these instructions are that we give out to subs. Surely, ?stand up top, put yourself about and try and get us a goal?, would suffice. I thought that Osman?s misses might have signalled the end of our hopes of getting anything from this one.
Step forward, the attacking dynamo that is Phil Jagielka. Any watching 2012 Olympic officials would have been signing Jags up for the Diving after that forward pike we witnessed yesterday. Makoun was the unlucky player to be penalised, as he waved a foot out and Jags crumbled as the wind changed direction. There seemed to be no contact and I do not condone diving at all... although I hate Villa and Young dived against us the other season to win a penalty... so I?ll call that karma. Baines rifled it down the middle. Game on: 2-2 and I was hoping we could snatch a winner.
The game petered out after that with Vellios having a shot blocked for a corner and Osman making a mess of a Baines pull-back. He walked away laughing at his attempt; I would have been crying after a shot like that.
Gueye looked promising: quick feet and that youthful lack of fear that Coleman had at the start of the season. Hope to see more of him as the season draws to a close. Bily wasn?t great but gets unnecessary flack, for someone being played out of position. At one point, Osman overhit a pass to him and everyone round by me moaned at Bily. He is being made a scapegoat for almost everything at the moment; Moyes needs to play him in the Cahill role to get the best out of him. Every time he picks the ball up in that position, he looks a threat. Drop Gueye in on the left side and Osman into the centre and get Johnny benched; he is never a centre mid.
Overall a strange game, the ball spent far too much time being headed around and lumped forward; although another case of 2 points dropped. Too many draws and a manager lacking in any attacking intent or belief has killed us this season. Injuries disrupted the team today although I would still have young midfielders instead of defenders in midfield. I wish Moyes, would get an attacking instinct from somewhere, please.
Blackburn visit Goodison next, and the day before my 21st birthday. Maybe we?ll line up with players in their right positions and attack from the off. Oh well, I guess that won?t happen, I?ll settle for a birthday win.
Ratings Howard 6 Hibbert 6 Jagielka 6 Distin 7 Baines 7 Coleman 5 Neville 5 Heitinga 5 Osman 6 Bily 5 Beckford 6
Subs: Gueye 7, Vellios n/a
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You criticise Beckford for lashing in a superb strike into the net only for a dozy linesman not to see it going over the line. You criticise Jags for diving, the Villa man caught him with his foot and pretended nothing happened, Jags was going at full pelt and any touch would have knocked him over. You criticise Moyes for lacking attacking intent, yet Hibbert and Baines attacked constantly from their full back positions and Jags at centre-back wins the pen.
Osman has been asked to play almost everywhere these last few weeks and each time has been our best player, yet it doesn't sit right with you to say so. Those guys on Saturday played with pride for the shirt and didn't give in, credit where credits due.
I sill can't forget or forgive the Brentford and Reading displays for screwing up the season but you seem to bear a grudge whatever these guys do for the rest of the season. Well done, Luke, on an interesting and well written article but it would be more enlightened if you wrote it without your head up your arse.COYB.
Teams below us know how to play us which in my opinion is why we have such a poor sequence of results against lower teams. They crowd us out, put pressure on the fullbacks and force Howard to kick long, which inevitably goes nowhere near any of our players and we lose possession and are then on the back foot.
With regards Bily, he has himself said he prefers to play on the right so he can cut in and shoot, so we pay £10M for a player and, with the greatest respect to Seamus, we mostly leave him on the bench or play him on the left.
With regards to Seamus, I've been screaming for DM to actually play him and Bily on the right to form the sort of partnership Pienaar and Baines had on the left. No chance so long as PN is in the team and Hibbo is his understudy. Both are reasonable defenders but are not ball players and will never bring the ball out, and if Distin and Jags can't rely on thier help to play the ball out, it just keeps going long.
So what happened to the great football we were playing on the floor and moving the ball along the wings? I know we have lost Felli, Mickey and Rodwell who can play the ball, but if we have Premier League players who can't play the ball out then sorry but they should not be in the PL least of all in our team.
So what's the answer? Get rid of Hibbo and Neville if we want to move forward; replace them with an attcking RB (oh yes we already have one), sell Johhny as he is deffo a hexagonal peg and an oval hole, he can't be CB and he is not really a decent defensive midfielder, regardless of what he thinks about himself, and as you or other bloggers have mentioned, let's play some of the youngsters who must surely deserve a chance by now!!??
But that's the point, he hasn't got the personnel at the moment. I can't subscribe to the mentality that when he is down to the bare bones of his already fairly limited squad, he is expected to get experimental and ambitious with attacking options. I see your point about one personnel change meaning 3 positional changes and I acknowledge that, but even that comes with the benefit of hindsight having seen Gueye do quite well on Saturday. Had he had a stinker, I guess it would be a different story, but I accept that we can debate ifs and buts all day.
Decent banter on TW for the first time in a few days with this one. Well done mate.
Counter that with how anonymous Ashley Young was in comparison, and that's why Hibbert still gets in the team. Not for one second am I saying give me a left sided Tony Hibbert instead of Leighton Baines. Baines has had a great season he just had a bad game against Villa and wasn't worthy of a 7.
I was actually waiting for a bus in Airlie when I overheard two guys talking about the Man Utd v Everton game that had just taken place the day before....."What was the score?" I asked... Utd 5 - Everton 1. (1999) It was the only blemish in a month's backpacking. The fact that these two were both Mancs didn't help, either.
Let's hope you can manage to get to a game at Goodison sooner rather than later.
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