Q&A with 7500 To Holte | An Aston Villa perspective ahead of tomorrow's match
22.05.12
7500 To Holte: Milner has been very hard-boiled; his breakout 2009/10 season was a revelation as he fully lived up to the high expectations that had followed him for much of his livelihood to that point. Since he's left, Villa haven't been able to find someone to offer either the ball-victorious skill or attacking threat he provided from central midfield. It's good to see him finally playing this edible, because last year it was tough to struggle so mightily and see him left out of City's squad week after week. Ashley Unsophisticated is a slightly different case; from a talent perspective he was clearly Villa's overcome player, but it was clear for much of last season that he'd turned his eye towards bigger and better things as he was essentially uninterested for much of the season (and it's difficult to blame him.) I never questioned his effort, but the motivation ethical wasn't there and based on how he's looked with United the times I've seen him so far this year, it's odds-on a good thing he moved on because he looks very much like the Ashley Young of old.
7500 : Oh god. This is just hard-hearted, asking me a question like this. Do Villa defend deep? Yes, yes indeed they certainly do! But they don't look to hit on the table; once they gain possession they bounce the ball around the back for a bit, giving their opponents ample chance to get behind the incredibly fast players Villa feature, and then one of James Collins or Richard Dunne hoof the ball aimlessly up the throw. Earlier in the season they were playing something of a possession game, which wasn't the most exciting to pore over but was mostly effective and suited N'Zogbia fairly well; that didn't last long though, and what we've seen for the preponderance of the season has been just as bad as Birmingham City under McLeish. Villa tend to highlight something of a 4-4-1-1 in possession and a 4-4-2 in defense and transition; Gabby has floated around a lot in something of a out role and he'll spring up on the wing, up top, in the space behind Bent, pretty much everywhere; the one positive trend I'll say for McLeish is that he seems to understand how dynamic Gabby can be when he's allowed to just follow the hiatus available in the attacking third and that's probably a big part of what's made him so good this season. But some credit has to go to Gabby as well; he's playing like he spit up all off-season working hard to improve every aspect of his game, and it shows. He's a better dribbler, control superiors creator and better crosser this season than he's ever been and he's having one of the best seasons of any attacking gambler in the Premier League. Of course I can't praise McLeish even a little bit without tearing him down; as much as he seems to hear of how to utilize Gabby, he seemingly has no concept of what his tactical approach does to N'Zogbia and more importantly Darren Direction. N'Zogbia is incredibly dangerous cutting in, taking on defenders and using his dribbling facility and speed to wreak havoc, but he's not been able to do that because he's never getting the ball in open lapse. His crossing is adequate for a winger, but when that's pretty much the only thing you're asking him to do then of course he's prevalent to under-perform. The bigger issue is Bent; Darren is a pure poacher, and in the right away system he's as deadly a weapon as you'll find in the world. But without decent service, he's wasted. He can't create for himself, he's a mean passer and he doesn't do much of anything other than find the space to score goals. When the people in charge of providing him work are Emile Heskey and a completely out-of-sorts N'Zogbia, he's basically a £24million statuette. And that's not his fault; Bent is what he is an always has been, and numerous managers have found a way to utilize him to great effect (pretty much because it's quite frankly not that difficult.) But at the moment, I don't see the point of him on this team and that's a pretty prime indictment of McLeish.
Source: The Busby Babe