The Doc's Diagnosis: Villa vs Portsmouth
Sunday, 09 December 07, 10:33 AM
Mark Hughes was resolute after our 4-0 drubbing of his excellent side at Ewood 10 days ago: "we know they're not four goals better than us, so we'll just put this result behind us and keep going".
At three-nil down in the Birmingham downpour this afternoon, I was thinking the same way: Pompey weren't worth a three goal lead - it was just "one of those days".
Reflecting on the M5 on the way back home, it struck me that the similarities don't stop there. In Blackburn, Villa out competed Rovers, stayed firm and resolute at the back and took the few chances they had ruthlessly. Such was the stuff of Harry's team's performance today: usually first to the loose ball, fiercely competitive in defence and midfield, and taking every half chance offered them. You have to hand it to him - 'Arry had Villa worked out.
Whilst I don't think Martin and the squad should lose too much sleep over this result, alarm bells should be ringing in two areas of O'Neill's mind. Firstly, why were we so slack in making the ball our own? And secondly, when we had the ball, why did we lack ideas to such an extent in our use of it?
The thing that worried me most was that every player today barring Gabby looked a yard off the pace physically and two yards off it mentally. Yes, Portsmouth are a strong, physical side - but by and large they are competitive more than unfair. They use their muscle and their experience in equal measure, but Villa should have competed more aggressively and used the ball more intelligently. We didn't, and we paid the price.
The debate will rumble on and on about whether it makes more sense to adjust and rotate a side a la Benitez, or to pick a consistent, settled team. O'Neill doesn't have the luxury of rotation with his slim squad, and both he and Redknapp - anyway - prefer to settle and play a "first team". Both sides showed no unforced changes from previous outings.
But I had the feeling that Redknapp and his coaching team had done their homework on Villa and done it well. They will have concluded that Sol Campbell would need to tame Carew, and that Pamarot and Johnson would need to contain the pace of Gabby and Ashley Young by fair means or foul. Often this afternoon, foul prevailed (though Mike Riley took an age to realise) - but Redknapp will accept his haul of five bookings and still leave with a big smile on his face.
Villa weren't awful, but they weren't good either. Barry was distinctly off colour, and didn't enjoy being hassled by Diop throughout the game. Reo-Coker won applause from the Holte End for the winning of several battles - but we have to be honest: in many cases, he was chasing back a ball he had previously lost. The battles were of his own making. It sometimes looked like Gavin McCann all over again.
But switch this strange game around again, and you can easily adopt a perspective which says that Martin Laursen missed two free headers on the edge of the six yard box in the first half; David James made a fantastic reflex save from Gabby in the same period and - whether deserved or not - Villa could easily have gone in at half time two- or three-one up.
Such are the twists and turns of the "chasing pack" in which we are involved at the moment. And I rather fancy it is going to stay that way, with a very real and enthralling battle looming for the UEFA Cup places between some very good sides. And I fully expect both Spurs and Newcastle to re-enter the fray in the New Year. Bring it on.
So what was missing at Villa Park this afternoon?
Well, this might be controversial, but I think a key element of Villa's recent fine form has been Stilyan Petrov. And I think we really, really missed Stan today. He's shown us he's a battler, but also a player with some genuine skill and vision. I think he's better than Reo-Coker, and I think his experience, composure and determination would have served us well today.
Secondly, we don't have an Artful Dodger. We don't have a pickpocket with the guile, imagination and cheek to overcome the experience and muscle Pompey presented us with. Or rather we do: boy, did the game cry out for super Shaun Maloney.
Like no other game this season. O'Neill knew we needed some vision and skill, but Paddy Berger looked well off the pace and totally ring-rusty. Maloney would have fired up the Holte End and probably started a fight on the field - great. And if he does go back to Scotland I will see it as O'Neill's first real mistake. But my thoughts on the wee man are well documented.
Thirdly, we need another winger - and desperately. I understand why O'Neill and Roberston switched Ashley Young to the right in the second half, but if we are going to make our game all about pace and width - and there is every sign that it's O'Neill, Robertson and Walford's vision - then a second winger is an absolute MUST in the January window.
It's too easy for good opponents like Pompey to focus on restricting Ashley Young: if we had two of them, it would give us far more options bringing the ball out from the back and through midfield and it would make us so much tougher to defend against. I'd like to see Shaun Wright-Phillips at Villa Park, but I'm sure Martin and his staff will have looked at other targets and also know far more than me. Milner, Duff or even Lee Cook would make a difference already.
Finally, we have to invest in our full back positions. We've entered the season without a recognised right back, and Harry rubbed it in today. Glen Johnson was quite superb, the best I have ever seen him play. I'm a Villa fan, so I don't want to go over the top, but maybe Randy could slip Harry a sly million under the table to bring Johnson to Villa Park.
He'd fit into Martin's "buy British" campaign, and he made one hell of a case for himself today. Come on Martin - slip 'Arry a few squiddlies under the table and the boy's ours.
In summary? One of those days. Villa were sluggish, sloppy and second. Pompey weren't great, but they wanted to win. And that just about does it.
Apparently, the last ten minutes were quite exciting as Villa pushed forward. But of course I didn't see any of them as I was watching the backs of the early-leavers.
Good on 'em today. By the time I got to the car park, nearly all of them had gone.
Guess we just have to beat City now. I'be there as always. Up the Villa!
Man-of-the-Match: Glen Johnson, Portsmouth
Villa: Carson 6; Mellberg 6; Laursen 7; Knight 5; Bouma 6; Gardner 5; Barry 6; Reo-Coker 5; Young 6; AGBONLAHOR 8; Carew 6.
Villan-of-the-Match: Gabby Agbonlahor - always a threat.
Comments (13)
DO you honestly think Villa are in any kind of position to buy first team players from us?
You are having an absolute laugh. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
we got a found out with our one-dimensional play with young down the left. we desperatly need a right winger. with young and another winger, we would not need physical stength to overcome teams like pompey as we would have the speed to counter them. also a strong rb would give support, much like richards and swp. all is not lost though. we were unlucky not to get anything from the game but we had luck on our winning streak.
i thought you criticism of reo coker was harsh as i thought he played well. other than gving the ball away when he was under severe pressure, he was outstanding. the amount of tackles he made. its no surpise he has made the most tackles in the premier league.
I think this is one of the more sensible assesments of the match that I have heard today. There was not alot between us and Portsmouth, they just had more in their locker than us and put away their chances. We can bounce back and if there is any crumb of comfort then it's the fact the other teams around us have also slipped today.
Though and perhaps this is one for the Doc to comment on is the inconsistency of our fans, win one week and we are world beaters, lose the next and we talk as if we are relegation fodder....how different does this make us from Geordie fans?
A really good and fair analysis, but I think Barry's rating should be 5 or even 4, he was invisible in the whole match and took full responsibilty for pompey's 2nd goal as he was daydreaming behind Muntari. I always agreed that he is the best player for Villa but should not be given the captain's badge. He lack the leadership, aggression and determination to escort the team to victory.
The one thing in your comments you failed to highlight was the style of play Portsmouth were light years ahead of us in passing and movement everytime we play a decent side this is always the outcome our game is basically a long ball game which is dinosaur football flick on by Carew or gabby to chase.This is O,niels first team that he is assembling we have to be patient however i hope the style of play will change as i fear we are very pradictable against average sides this may work however as we have seen we have lost 4 home games against good sides who have outplayed us by passing the ball.
The one thing in your comments you failed to highlight was the style of play Portsmouth were light years ahead of us in passing and movement everytime we play a decent side this is always the outcome our game is basically a long ball game which is dinosaur football flick on by Carew for gabby to chase.This is O,niels first team that he is assembling we have to be patient however i hope the style of play will change as i fear we are very predictable against average sides this may work however as we have seen we have lost 4 home games against good sides who have outplayed us by passing the ball.
I said something similar in the comments section on Damian's assesment on the match. I think we were given a taste of our own medicine today. It was abit like the Blackburn match. I definatly think we need a new winger but i wouldnt want SWP that much. He would be so overpriced and he cant cross at all well which is what we would need with our big aerial threat. Milner i think would be good but Newcastle seem to be getting it back together so i dont see much chance of that. I dont know who he will get but im just hoping.
UTV
I Thought harewood done well when he came on showed he wanted to attack and hassle there defence. I agree we should have brought on Maloney he would have been the cheeky player that we could have done with that day. But out of the right wingers mentioned we need someone with pace and skill so it's got to be SWP.
Spot on Paul Adams. Every time we meet a top 5 side we passed off the park. Ive said it before that we will not get any higher then 6th with the current midfield we have now. Reo Coker might be able to tackle but once he gets the ball he is clueless. He has the technical abilty of an average championship player and if im not mistaken thats where west ham found him. He cant run with the ball and he cant pass. 9m for him. What a joke. By the way when are we going to see Saliou. Saterday would have been a perfect time to have had a look at him rather than throwing Berger on. His prem days are well past him now.
@ Paul Adams Villa were not outplayed thry were beaten by an o.g and two cracking goals, if Laursen had his shooting boots on it would have been different.
We didn't play particularly well and I can't say Portsmouth played much better, though I feel their passing was of higher quality and looked more comfortable attacking. Ultimately, in the long run I think Portsmouth will finish higher in the table and will probably steal the Europe spot from us, simply because they have a stronger squad. MON needs to stop messing about and extend contracts, and also have the balls to bring in the players he is interested in. We've missed out on some big potential signings IMO, Antunes for example; a great defender who was interested in signing with us but now he's playing his club football at bloody Roma!
Portsmouth reminded me in some ways of Aresenal; they have a couple of big, muscular yet skillful African players. They also seemed to be able to anticipate where the ball would come out of tackles and be there to collect. I thought that Villa were somewhat off their game. When watching other teams try to come from two goals down there often seems to be a chance of them scoring, Villa never seemd like they could come back. I agree with the remarks re Stan; we missed him alot. We also need a RB, RW and possibly a CM with trickery and a shot like we saw on Saturday.
I'm not sure villa played as well as some supporters suggest in this game - lobbing the ball into the penalty area with the hope of Carew flicking it on to Gabby is not skillful football. I'd like to see more of a passing game and technique at Villa Park, we never saw that at all. I think O'Neill was outwitted but also the players ahd no Plan B once they were chasing the game. Time and again we've seen teams like Arsenal & Tottenham come back against us when we've been in front - we just don't seem to have that resiliance or the technical know how to catch teams back when we are behind. >:(