A Grey Away Day.
A visit to Villa Park is anything but grey - as one of the PL's more pleasing grounds, it's a riot of Technicholor mixed in with Villa's claret and blue, and the aesthetic harmony of old and new at this traditional PL home is perhaps a lesson for all who would go their way as a long term and serious Club.
Add to that a brilliantly sunny early Autumn day and after our encouraging start what could possibly go wrong??
As it happens, on the playing front, quite a lot - it turned out to be a slap in the face and a reminder of "know your place" etiquette for any of us Jacks who were getting ahead of ourselves, and, as ML hinted in his post Match interview, that may turn out to be no bad thing.
Given our superlative performance in our last year's PL Season - our first, don't forget - I suspect we've all been privy to the premature crowing of a minority of our Fanbase (Newbies, perhaps?) in thinking that we'd just roll over teams who, like Villa, have suffered relatively lean times in comparison to their illustrious past.
Hey, Quelle surprise - this is Football in the Premier league and it just doesn't happen that way.
Both I and my three fellow JackArmy travellers had arrived in good time and had space to take in a pleasant lunch and light refreshment in close proximity to the ground, and our front row seats in the Lower Doug Ellis stand meant we had a first class view of an enthralling PL matchup.
As for the teams, they lined up as follows...........
Aston Villa
22 Guzan, 04 Vlaar, 06 Clark Booked, 30 Lichaj Booked, 34 Lowton Booked, 07 Ireland (Westwood - 70' ), 08 El Ahmadi, 25 Bannan, 09 Bent, 14 Holman (N'Zogbia - 79' ), 26 Weimann (Benteke - 71' )
Substitutes
01 Given, 29 Bennett, 10 N'Zogbia, 15 Westwood, 11 Agbonlahor, 20 Benteke, 21 Bowery
Swansea City
01 Vorm, 05 Tate, 06 Williams, 22 Rangel, 33 Davies, 07 Britton (Shechter - 79' ), 09 Michu Booked, 12 Dyer, 15 Routledge (Pablo - 57' ), 20 De Guzman, 10 Graham (Moore - 71' )
Substitutes
25 Tremmel, 11 Pablo, 24 Ki Sung-Yeung, 26 Agustien, 29 Richards, 17 Shechter, 19 Moore
Ref: Mason
Att: 34,005
The Jack selecion from ML showed just one change, with the long serving Alan Tate stepping in for the suspended Chico Flores, and both Ki and Pablo (the Club's record signings) started on the bench.
Lambert's Villains reflected the change within the Club, with several members graduating from their deservedly acclaimed Youth Academy, supplemented by key and influential senior acquisitions - in sharp contrast to the previous defensive and negative McLeish regime they had last season.
Paul Lambert has always proved against us that his tactical acumen often sets us a puzzle, and so it proved.
It's widely known within football nowadays that ML has set us up in in a structure that's a variation on our previous 4-3-3 Manque with wingers hugging the touchline. Nowadays, we're more like a 4-2-3-1 with both Routledge and Dyer as the wide men in the three playing a lot narrower, and Michu as the middle of that three both supporting and changing with Danny Graham.
A visit to Villa Park is anything but grey - as one of the PL's more pleasing grounds, it's a riot of Technicholor mixed in with Villa's claret and blue, and the aesthetic harmony of old and new at this traditional PL home is perhaps a lesson for all who would go their way as a long term and serious Club.
Add to that a brilliantly sunny early Autumn day and after our encouraging start what could possibly go wrong??
As it happens, on the playing front, quite a lot - it turned out to be a slap in the face and a reminder of "know your place" etiquette for any of us Jacks who were getting ahead of ourselves, and, as ML hinted in his post Match interview, that may turn out to be no bad thing.
Given our superlative performance in our last year's PL Season - our first, don't forget - I suspect we've all been privy to the premature crowing of a minority of our Fanbase (Newbies, perhaps?) in thinking that we'd just roll over teams who, like Villa, have suffered relatively lean times in comparison to their illustrious past.
Hey, Quelle surprise - this is Football in the Premier league and it just doesn't happen that way.
Both I and my three fellow JackArmy travellers had arrived in good time and had space to take in a pleasant lunch and light refreshment in close proximity to the ground, and our front row seats in the Lower Doug Ellis stand meant we had a first class view of an enthralling PL matchup.
As for the teams, they lined up as follows...........
Aston Villa
22 Guzan, 04 Vlaar, 06 Clark Booked, 30 Lichaj Booked, 34 Lowton Booked, 07 Ireland (Westwood - 70' ), 08 El Ahmadi, 25 Bannan, 09 Bent, 14 Holman (N'Zogbia - 79' ), 26 Weimann (Benteke - 71' )
Substitutes
01 Given, 29 Bennett, 10 N'Zogbia, 15 Westwood, 11 Agbonlahor, 20 Benteke, 21 Bowery
Swansea City
01 Vorm, 05 Tate, 06 Williams, 22 Rangel, 33 Davies, 07 Britton (Shechter - 79' ), 09 Michu Booked, 12 Dyer, 15 Routledge (Pablo - 57' ), 20 De Guzman, 10 Graham (Moore - 71' )
Substitutes
25 Tremmel, 11 Pablo, 24 Ki Sung-Yeung, 26 Agustien, 29 Richards, 17 Shechter, 19 Moore
Ref: Mason
Att: 34,005
The Jack selecion from ML showed just one change, with the long serving Alan Tate stepping in for the suspended Chico Flores, and both Ki and Pablo (the Club's record signings) started on the bench.
Lambert's Villains reflected the change within the Club, with several members graduating from their deservedly acclaimed Youth Academy, supplemented by key and influential senior acquisitions - in sharp contrast to the previous defensive and negative McLeish regime they had last season.
Paul Lambert has always proved against us that his tactical acumen often sets us a puzzle, and so it proved.
It's widely known within football nowadays that ML has set us up in in a structure that's a variation on our previous 4-3-3 Manque with wingers hugging the touchline. Nowadays, we're more like a 4-2-3-1 with both Routledge and Dyer as the wide men in the three playing a lot narrower, and Michu as the middle of that three both supporting and changing with Danny Graham.
Villa's
response was to compete in both formation and commitment, and their
constant harrying and closing meant that it took Swansea a lot more
effort to get into the rhythm and tempo of their normal game.
The first 15m saw Swansea press forward neatly and tidily, but the swarming nature of Villa's MF contribution made it hard to make an impression. Coupled with that, Villa too were prepared to break and threaten, and both Wegmann and Holman were influential, and Lowton at RB was prepared to maraud as Rangel does for us, with extra pace.
For all the perceived pressure, Swansea created two great early chances, both of which were to confirm the wisdom of starting Brad Guzan ahead of the benched and senior Shay Given.
From a corner won on the right, Jonathan de Guzman sent in a cross that was headed bullet hard goal ward by Ash Williams , only to be denied by a fabulous parry that sent the ball out to the left wing, where Wayne Routledge picked it up. He cut in and rolled it square to Nathan Dyer, who sent a terrific curling shot to the top left corner, only for Guzan again to palm it over at full length. Saves, sometimes, win games. These two certainly had an influence.
The scale of the interventions became evident soon afterward.
After this early period of fairly even football, with a leaning toward Swansea dominance even, the next phase of the game became different.
Villa began to swarm at Swansea, pressing hard and fast, designedly structured to stop City playing out from the back, and it worked. Moreover, when in possession, Lowton was playing the Maicon role as a marauding wing back, and his runs forward, both inside and out, began to cause problems for Swansea.
On 16m, Ben Davies was forced into conceding a corner on the right, and from Barry Bannan's driven cross, Ash Williams headed clear outside the box, only to see the confident Lowton not only chest the ball for control, but then to follow up with a left foot volley that skimmed Alan Tate's hair but then swerved two ways on its way to defeating the despairing dive of Michel Vorm who had gone to the right hand post only to see the viciously hit volley scream into the middle of the goal.
1-0 to the Villa, and it was a blow to the solar plexus as the home fans came alive after a nervous start.
The goal came, as I've said, in the 16th minute, and presaged the applause in the 19th minute (in honour of his number) to support the stricken but recovering Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov, generously and classily supported by the large JackArmy. Respect, all round.
The rest of the half remained a cut and thrust encounter, with both sides showing promise - Vorm saved well from both Wegmann and Ciaran Clark, but the end to end nature of the game cost Swansea dear just before half time.
A super move on the right allowed Rangel to play Dyer free, and from his fine cut back across the box, Danny Graham, just 6yds out and clear, was unable to get a touch on the ball and the gaping chance ran free and safe.
I suspect the psychological damage of the miss went on to hurt the side, since just two minutes later they went off for the half time break with Villa still 1-0 up, instead of being level at 1-1.
Did this cost us? I think so, but find myself unable to castigate DG, who had continued to run his heart out for the cause throughout the half. Sometimes, often even, football is a cruel game.
In the second period, City did their darndest to get back on the front foot, but Villa, with the crowd's backing, were generally coming out on top. We've seen the same at our place, where we begin to grind the opposition down just from relentless pressure, and now Villa were doing it to us.
Don't be misled though, - despite being on the ropes, the Swans were content to soak up the pressure and seek to break for an equaliser. Hey - this is the Premier League, not some vague awayday at Cheltenham (no disrespect), so it was a source of pride to at least stay in the game.
Villa's pressure led to a series of corners, the last of which saw Leon Britton heroically clear off the line from a Weimann strike to maintain the status quo.
Pablo Hernandez came on for his Swansea debut for Wayne Routledge to be followed by Luke Moore for Danny Graham on 70m.
Almost immediately for Villa, Lambert countered by introducing Westwood for Stephen Ireland and Benteke for Weimann, coincidentally switching their formation to a 4-4-2, with Bent and Benteke foraging at the front.
Whilst Pablo gave a promising cameo of his ultimate worth to the Swansea team, consistently and pleasingly both dribbling and feeding his classy control of the ball, and almost creating a breakthrough, Villa by obdurate defence were able to resist.
The best City chances fell to a Luke Moore header from a great move and cross from Rangel - unfortunately not up to his Man City standard goal from last year and comfortably taken by Guzan, - and a Ben Davies drive and shot which Moore, again, was unable to touch in. Both, unsurprisingly, were celebrated by the Villa fans, coming, as they did from an ex Villa player. Ah well.
As I've hinted, the dual threat of Bent and Benteke ultimately put the game to bed.
On 89m, Guzan sent a hit and hope ball forward. Bizzarely, in a vague echo of the Sunderland game, the ball skimmed off Ben Davies' head and Darren Bent outjumped the solid Alan Tate to send it forward again.
Ash Williams, some 25yds out, made to head it back to Vorm and safety, but miscalculated, and his diffident touch allowed Benteke to get to the ball before Vorm, flick it up and over the keeper, and run it into the net.
2-0, a horrible mistake, but these things do happen - even to a player as good as Williams. ML was decent in his approbation, and I feel that it would be unfair to criticise a player who has almost NEVER missed a game and will know only too well what went on. If it's hurtful for us fans, just think how both he and the team feel. Ouch and bloody ouch.
Schechter's late replacement of Britton had given us nothing, and we fell to our first defeat of the season, 2-0.
So, in retrospect, what do we take from the game?
Well, the first point to be made is this, - by all means read Internet blogs and the like, and weed out the fatuous and foolish. I've read lots that have been both critical and all but defamatory in their criticism of City as if the team didn't bloody care.
There's only one response to that sort of analysis - ignore it and move on - it's probably posted by some sad sack of 15 or 50, seeking in his (it's always a him) bedroom loneliness some sort of response. DANGER - " TROLLS FISHING HERE ". Move on.
ML provided a dignified and sensible response, and both Managers interviews are again here........
My generalisations are these.........
1) City didn't perform to the level that they had in the previous 3 games. This may seem simplistic, and may well have been influenced by Lambert's cute setting up of his side - after all, he has won 5 of his last 6 games against us.
2) Our squad has talent in breadth but is somewhat lightweight on depth. Witness the trouble we're in at CB, where, with Flores suspended and Bartley and Monk injured, we're down to exhausted Ash Williams and the stalwart Alan Tate.
3) We have cover wide and MF - Ki, Agustien, Pablo..............but, but, when Danny G goes off (for whatever reason), Luke Moore and Schechter don't seem to cut the mustard. I am NOT knocking our players, Moore particularly who has played his part in getting us to where we are, but I feel in January it might be something that we ought to look at.
Anyway, enough of the negative perceptions and emotions.
Let's be realistic. Even after the defeat I was proud and pleased to come away from Villa Park as a Swansea City supporter. I shall be at our next home game against Everton, both hoping and believing that we can get back on track. We really are good enough to do that.
I'll also be travelling to Stoke away, where, hopefully, this year we can show the rest of the division that it's more pleasing to play football in the Swansea City way. (Btw- no more viruses Michel V, please.........).
See you later in the week for an Everton preview and........
Onward, Swansea City.
The first 15m saw Swansea press forward neatly and tidily, but the swarming nature of Villa's MF contribution made it hard to make an impression. Coupled with that, Villa too were prepared to break and threaten, and both Wegmann and Holman were influential, and Lowton at RB was prepared to maraud as Rangel does for us, with extra pace.
For all the perceived pressure, Swansea created two great early chances, both of which were to confirm the wisdom of starting Brad Guzan ahead of the benched and senior Shay Given.
From a corner won on the right, Jonathan de Guzman sent in a cross that was headed bullet hard goal ward by Ash Williams , only to be denied by a fabulous parry that sent the ball out to the left wing, where Wayne Routledge picked it up. He cut in and rolled it square to Nathan Dyer, who sent a terrific curling shot to the top left corner, only for Guzan again to palm it over at full length. Saves, sometimes, win games. These two certainly had an influence.
The scale of the interventions became evident soon afterward.
After this early period of fairly even football, with a leaning toward Swansea dominance even, the next phase of the game became different.
Villa began to swarm at Swansea, pressing hard and fast, designedly structured to stop City playing out from the back, and it worked. Moreover, when in possession, Lowton was playing the Maicon role as a marauding wing back, and his runs forward, both inside and out, began to cause problems for Swansea.
On 16m, Ben Davies was forced into conceding a corner on the right, and from Barry Bannan's driven cross, Ash Williams headed clear outside the box, only to see the confident Lowton not only chest the ball for control, but then to follow up with a left foot volley that skimmed Alan Tate's hair but then swerved two ways on its way to defeating the despairing dive of Michel Vorm who had gone to the right hand post only to see the viciously hit volley scream into the middle of the goal.
1-0 to the Villa, and it was a blow to the solar plexus as the home fans came alive after a nervous start.
The goal came, as I've said, in the 16th minute, and presaged the applause in the 19th minute (in honour of his number) to support the stricken but recovering Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov, generously and classily supported by the large JackArmy. Respect, all round.
The rest of the half remained a cut and thrust encounter, with both sides showing promise - Vorm saved well from both Wegmann and Ciaran Clark, but the end to end nature of the game cost Swansea dear just before half time.
A super move on the right allowed Rangel to play Dyer free, and from his fine cut back across the box, Danny Graham, just 6yds out and clear, was unable to get a touch on the ball and the gaping chance ran free and safe.
I suspect the psychological damage of the miss went on to hurt the side, since just two minutes later they went off for the half time break with Villa still 1-0 up, instead of being level at 1-1.
Did this cost us? I think so, but find myself unable to castigate DG, who had continued to run his heart out for the cause throughout the half. Sometimes, often even, football is a cruel game.
In the second period, City did their darndest to get back on the front foot, but Villa, with the crowd's backing, were generally coming out on top. We've seen the same at our place, where we begin to grind the opposition down just from relentless pressure, and now Villa were doing it to us.
Don't be misled though, - despite being on the ropes, the Swans were content to soak up the pressure and seek to break for an equaliser. Hey - this is the Premier League, not some vague awayday at Cheltenham (no disrespect), so it was a source of pride to at least stay in the game.
Villa's pressure led to a series of corners, the last of which saw Leon Britton heroically clear off the line from a Weimann strike to maintain the status quo.
Pablo Hernandez came on for his Swansea debut for Wayne Routledge to be followed by Luke Moore for Danny Graham on 70m.
Almost immediately for Villa, Lambert countered by introducing Westwood for Stephen Ireland and Benteke for Weimann, coincidentally switching their formation to a 4-4-2, with Bent and Benteke foraging at the front.
Whilst Pablo gave a promising cameo of his ultimate worth to the Swansea team, consistently and pleasingly both dribbling and feeding his classy control of the ball, and almost creating a breakthrough, Villa by obdurate defence were able to resist.
The best City chances fell to a Luke Moore header from a great move and cross from Rangel - unfortunately not up to his Man City standard goal from last year and comfortably taken by Guzan, - and a Ben Davies drive and shot which Moore, again, was unable to touch in. Both, unsurprisingly, were celebrated by the Villa fans, coming, as they did from an ex Villa player. Ah well.
As I've hinted, the dual threat of Bent and Benteke ultimately put the game to bed.
On 89m, Guzan sent a hit and hope ball forward. Bizzarely, in a vague echo of the Sunderland game, the ball skimmed off Ben Davies' head and Darren Bent outjumped the solid Alan Tate to send it forward again.
Ash Williams, some 25yds out, made to head it back to Vorm and safety, but miscalculated, and his diffident touch allowed Benteke to get to the ball before Vorm, flick it up and over the keeper, and run it into the net.
2-0, a horrible mistake, but these things do happen - even to a player as good as Williams. ML was decent in his approbation, and I feel that it would be unfair to criticise a player who has almost NEVER missed a game and will know only too well what went on. If it's hurtful for us fans, just think how both he and the team feel. Ouch and bloody ouch.
Schechter's late replacement of Britton had given us nothing, and we fell to our first defeat of the season, 2-0.
So, in retrospect, what do we take from the game?
Well, the first point to be made is this, - by all means read Internet blogs and the like, and weed out the fatuous and foolish. I've read lots that have been both critical and all but defamatory in their criticism of City as if the team didn't bloody care.
There's only one response to that sort of analysis - ignore it and move on - it's probably posted by some sad sack of 15 or 50, seeking in his (it's always a him) bedroom loneliness some sort of response. DANGER - " TROLLS FISHING HERE ". Move on.
ML provided a dignified and sensible response, and both Managers interviews are again here........
My generalisations are these.........
1) City didn't perform to the level that they had in the previous 3 games. This may seem simplistic, and may well have been influenced by Lambert's cute setting up of his side - after all, he has won 5 of his last 6 games against us.
2) Our squad has talent in breadth but is somewhat lightweight on depth. Witness the trouble we're in at CB, where, with Flores suspended and Bartley and Monk injured, we're down to exhausted Ash Williams and the stalwart Alan Tate.
3) We have cover wide and MF - Ki, Agustien, Pablo..............but, but, when Danny G goes off (for whatever reason), Luke Moore and Schechter don't seem to cut the mustard. I am NOT knocking our players, Moore particularly who has played his part in getting us to where we are, but I feel in January it might be something that we ought to look at.
Anyway, enough of the negative perceptions and emotions.
Let's be realistic. Even after the defeat I was proud and pleased to come away from Villa Park as a Swansea City supporter. I shall be at our next home game against Everton, both hoping and believing that we can get back on track. We really are good enough to do that.
I'll also be travelling to Stoke away, where, hopefully, this year we can show the rest of the division that it's more pleasing to play football in the Swansea City way. (Btw- no more viruses Michel V, please.........).
See you later in the week for an Everton preview and........
Onward, Swansea City.
1 comment:
A very good and balanced review of the game.
As a Villa supporter I would have taken a draw before the match, considering how well Swansea have started the season and that we are in the early days of the Lambert revolution.
It was great to see Villa actually attacking again after the nightmare of last season and even better to see us continue to attack when a goal ahead.
For a long time we've sat back when we've taken the lead, even under the good times of Martin O'Neill. To be fair to MON that's his way and we had the players then to counter attack quickly so it wasn't a negative tactic.
Under Houllier and especially under McLeish it seemed purely negative and I'm extremely glad to see the back of those days.
I think you're spot on with the importance of the early double save by Guzan. It had been so long without a win, a scrambled goal in injury time against Fulham last November, that if either of those chances had gone in then the nerves would have got to the players and crowd.
It certainly wasn't an easy victory and Swansea always looked capable of levelling the match until Benteke's goal.
As expected the passing from Swansea was excellent and you created some very good chances. It's not hard to see why you've had such a good start to the season.
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