There's no Defense!
Nobody
will deny, the goals against Villa this season are going to send us down, but
who is to blame? We can look around the Villa team and see areas with a lack of
experience in their positions. Villa have Gana, Veretout, Ayew, Amavi, Okore,
and more, but one area we have experience is defense. We look at Guzan, Hutton,
Richards, Lescott, Clark, and Richardson, and we have 1490 games at a Premier
or Championship level. If that is the case, then why are conceding 2 goals per
game in the Premier League?
Over the
years, through my coaching experience, to have a strong defense, you need a
decent and vocal goalkeeper, and two well organized central defenders. One of
those defenders, needs to be able read the game extremely well, and take charge
of the defense. Have Villa got that?
I think Guzan has shown enough in the
past, he is a very good keeper. He has made a few mistakes this year, but with
such a lack of confidence in your defense, who would blame him.
As we
look at the central pairings that have been used over a number of games this
season, we have:
Richards & Clark (8 games, conceding
1.75 goals per game)
Richards & Lescott (7 games, conceding
2 goals per game)
Okore & Lescott (4 games, conceding 1.25
per game)
We can say, certain pairings may have
played against stronger opposition, but in the end we have to make the
decision, certain pairings may just not work. I look back at the games
throughout the season, and so many goals have been conceded by poor
positioning, or players not attacking the ball while it's in the air.
The two goals against Norwich, Richards
wasn't close enough, and didn't challenge Howson. Richardson, marking nobody,
doesn't close down Mbokani Bezua, as the ball floats over Clark's head. Is this
down to the manager’s instructions? Or are our players just that bad or just
can't give a rat's ass.
The confidence
maybe low, and a win may change things, but I feel a lot of the blame falls on
our captain. Clark has made a couple of mistakes, and Lescott is a lot slower
these days, but our captain's ability to control the defense is the major
problem.
Richards is awesome at challenging for a
long ball in the air, or challenging a forward as he receives a ball with his
back to goal. Sadly, his wanting to charge up field, and lack of defensive
awareness is killing us. If he had been in charge of the Titanic, it would have
sank long before it hit the iceberg.
All the other three defenders, should
position themselves off Richards. Defending is a lot about positioning and
angles, and not just how strong you may be in the challenge. I have worked with
flat back fours for over twenty years, and the only time Villa's defense has
looked right is when Richard's hasn't been there. I'm not saying Richards shouldn't
be one of our central defenders, I'm just saying he shouldn't be the one
controlling it. 1490 games between them, and we looked like they have never
played a flat back four before. I am not exonerating the rest of the players
for their part, but when you don't have a leader you can rely on, then players
start to do their own thing, and it all falls apart.
I'm not blaming Richards for, Lescott's
slowness, or Clark's naivety, or Richardson's lack of ability to attack a ball,
but I blame him for not being the lighthouse to keep everyone safe. People
claimed, he was going to be an England regular for years to come at the age of
17, but his career flounder at Man City. He played with Lescott there, and
formed a strong partnership, and friendship, sadly that partnership is now
failing because Richards is the leader. I believe the Lescott partnership could
be the one that brings a holt to the flow of goals, but only if Richards takes
a step back, and hand over the reins to his friend.
I believe if Richards isn't willing to do
that, then it has been shown in recent weeks that Okore is.
