Stoke City beat Aston Villa by a 2-1 margin. They started the match well, with a lot of discipline and organisation in defence. The midfield department was very committed to winning balls but seemed addicted to the futile route one football. This broke down at the progression of the match.
Aston Villa finally settled towards the closing stages of the first half, keeping possession well and scoring an amazing diving header from Dunn Collins from a lovely cross from the right. Ashley Young could have converted a simple header just before the half-time whistle from the cross flighted from the left wing.
Stoke City were however their worst enemies, winning the ball and giving it away with the same urgency. This is definitely their weakest point and is the source of their careless tackle as a result of extreme frustration. They spend all day labouring for ball and they fail keep it for 3 seconds, after which they began to toil again.
It took them 79 minutes to string more than 3 passes together actually touching the ball 13 times and that move resulted in the equaliser from a header from the dreadlocked Jones. Both goalkeepers had outstanding saves while better finishing could have seen more goals.
I personally think that Stoke have a defeatist attitude that kills their potentially good attacks. They are not keen to be patient and build up from the back and trust each other. Their kick and run style keep all players chasing the ball and occasionally, they would string a maximum of 3 passes.
While they stole points with virtually the last kick of the match from Robert Huth, they were always on the back foot. Tactically, they are organised in defence, but their movement forward is not organised at all. They will break a lot of legs this season if they do not slow down things and take control of their own attacks.
Villa lived to rue the chances that may settled this thing in the first half. Will former Liverpool boss, Gerard Houllier turn Villa around?
No comments:
Post a Comment