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Villa | Vibrant new dawn?

Charles N'Zogbia - part of a vibrant new dawn?

Alex McLeish’s first competitive game in charge of Aston Villa ended in a goalless draw away to Fulham.  Without wanting to sound disrespectful to the 25 men who, at one point or another, contributed to the “spectacle” at Craven Cottage on Saturday, the first sentence would suffice in providing you with all the information you’d ever need should you want to re-live the “drama” this match had on “display”.

But, at the end of the day, it’s the result that counts (sort of) and an Away draw to an established Premier League team should never be taken for granted.  Also, a (thankfully) brief review of Big ‘Ecks debut will go some way in to seeing just how the new Villa manager is going to use the higher quality players at his disposal.

So, without further ado…

Possession

Playing a flexible 4-3-3 formation, which often seemed more like a 4-2-3-1,Villa had 45.9 % of the ball over the 90 minutes.  This is a good figure when playing away from home against a team considered top-half-but-not-top-six. Pass completion for the whole team was 72%, exactly the same as the Home side.

Pass completion for the whole team was a respectable, if not brilliant 72%.  Of the 406 passes the boys in Claret and Blue attempted, 58 of them can be classed as “long balls”, or 14% of the overall amount.  Admittedly, not much can be read into that this early in the season, but it is a statistic that will have the most worth in proving/refuting just what Villa’s style of football will be under McLeish.

Defending

Goalkeepers and Defenders love clean sheets. Long time. Helpfully, Alex McLeish, for all his perceived faults, has a reputation in cultivating defences which, put simply, do not concede many goals. The success that Birmingham City had in the 2009-10 season was down to a defence which kept 11 clean sheets all season and not much else.

So not conceding against Fulham is a clear positive. Also, when any of Martin Jol’s team managed to get a shot on target (5 in total) new signing Shay Given was found more than capable in thwarting them each time. On 2 particular occasions, when dealing with efforts from Bobby Zamora and Andrew Johnson, he showed why he is considered one of the safest pair of hands to have ever played in the Premier League.

Going Forward

A sturdy defence will only get you so far, as Birmingham City fans know only too well. Equally important is a midfield comfortable in ball retention, combative in retrieval of the ball, and capable in creating goal scoring opportunities.

Both central midfielders (Stilyan Petrov and Fabian Delph) were impressive when passing the ball, being successful over 80% of the time. In terms of stopping the opposition from having possession (by this I mean Possession Duels, Tackles and Aerial Duels) Fab and Stan finshed victors 64% and 63% respectively. Ok, but not great; something that must be improved upon in order to protect the defence more.

As we go further up the pitch, the clear positives dim. A combined total of £36.5 million worth of attacking talent created a meagre 7 chances, 1 being on target. The stick that McLeish has been beat with the most over his management time in England (forgetting inter-city rivalry) has been his team’s underlying weakness in the goal scoring department, itself borne of  the fact that his sides don’t make that many chances over 90 mins.

This will not be improved by playing Emile Heskey regularly. New signing Charles N’Zogbia will significantly better the side going forward; his substitution on saturday due to lack of full fitness rather than poor play.

Conclusion

The problem with boring first games of a season is that a decent team performance is usually lost in negativity or worse, apathy. Aston Villa played ok, but not great. Our two debutants did what was asked of them, and will surely turn out to be vital members of McLeish’s squad.  Throughout the match, Aston Villa were overly cautious, and should have asked Fulham’s defence more searching questions.

We can be safe in the knowledge that with Alex McLeish in charge, the team will not ship in goals on a weekly basis; our defenders, combined with the Boss’s organisational skills will comfortably see to that. We should be thankful that we have  Darren Bent, who has proven season after season that he will take the chances presented.

The worry is the creative department, and putting out a team more concerned with winning than not losing. Alex McLeish has to be more progressive in how he sets his team up. Darren Bent needs a good supply; players like Charles N’Zogbia and Marc Albrighton will provide this. Emile Heskey will not.

Loko
Lokohttp://dicanioswhiteboots.wordpress.com
26 years old, married, father of None. Aston Villa fan since the age of 7; have been through the proverbial "thick and thin" with the Claret and Blues. Would talk about Football all day if I could! Particularly interested in French football too. Also love Tennis, Snooker and Golf. My Wife is an excellent cook, and for this I'm grateful.
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