Written by kirsikka
Changes were rung, with opportunity knocking once again for Travers in his stop-start career due to a knock to Kepa. Meanwhile Unal was a surprise starter ahead of Evanilson, maybe wanting to try out Villa with an unexpected style of striker.
Man of the match against Villa
Travers
Senesi
Evanilson
Kerkez
Cook
Tavernier
Zabarnyi
O. Dango
Christie
Someone else
We also saw Semenyo on the left and Dango on the right which was a huge surprise given how things went with that against Arsenal, and then how deadly they both look when swapped. I want to deal with this first as AS was, frankly, poor out there in attack and Dango equally struggled.
We’ve taken our most impressive forward and nullified him for the opposition in the last two matches. Meanwhile, we’ve taken someone who fought his way into the starting XI with impressive sub performances and shoved him into a role where he looks 30% of the player he does on the other side.
Like Howe before him, AI shouldn’t be above criticism and it feels like he’s too stubborn at times to accept these attacking changes haven’t worked. Same as with the Sini as a striker experiment. Compare and contrast with how ruthless he is when defenders don’t look comfortable… subbed off at halftime, or even still in the first half.
So yeah, really disappointed to see that again and to see it remain unchanged throughout the whole match. Semenyo and Dango were both very poor going forward, but I think I’ll put that one at the door of the manager rather than the individuals this time.
The tone of the match was set early when Onana was given a yellow for a bad challenge, with VAR deciding not to upgrade it. From what I could see, that was the right decision but I assume the ref was listening to Coldplay on his headset because thereafter the match was all yellow.
Thirteen cautions in a game that was niggly rather than dirty, one short of the record set in our match against Chelsea recently when the same thing happened. It’s strange that our matches seem to have been targeted twice in quick succession for this over-officiating. The tinfoil hat brigade might claim the refs are building up a narrative around us and we’ll pay for it somehow later. Not me though, I’m too busy listening to Catatonia.
On the plus side, as in that earlier match, the cards were distributed even-handedly. The only aberration was the non-penalty near the end. Given what the rules are meant to be and how handball spot kicks are given against us I don’t quite know what to say about that beyond there’s no way we would have got away with that.
The other side would be we had a lucky escape to see a goal disallowed by VAR, the ball judged to have gone over the line by the tiniest of margins. It looked Boruc level of mm in our favour to me so we got away with it rather than any good defensive play on our part.
Back to the match…
In an early break, Travers must have been stood in treacle the way he was stock still as a ball over the top let Watkins in when the keeper could have easily collected. However, after that moment he was magnificent. Punching away crosses, making a series of good to excellent saves and commanding his defence. Genuinely brilliant.
Whatever our tactic plan was, for the first thirty minutes it looked like we seemed to have collectively forgotten it. They regularly found gaping holes of space to exploit and play through us with depressing ease. Only profligacy on their part and some outstanding covering from Zabarnyi and MT in goal kept the scores level.
AI knew he had to intervene and after 29 minutes made the unpleasant choice to bring to an end what was possibly the worst AFCB fullback display I’ve seen since Marcos Painter. More on Araujo later.
Smith brought calm to proceedings from our perspective, and we then matched them until half time, even starting to cause a few problems.
After the break, when the wingers weren’t switched, I was counting down the minutes to sixty, hoping we’d see Dango go off, Tavs or Kluivert go left and Semenyo right but no. He somehow survived and Villa continued to control the match.
I know I’m banging on about this but Semenyo looks so uncomfortable out on the left. Whereas he’s normally this well-oiled machine who is smooth in possession and control, out there he he looks like a clunky, misfiring banger. Villa fans must wonder what all the fuss is about.
I don’t have a lot positive to say about most of the second forty-five as we weren’t much in the game. Villa dominated and we were hanging on, taking advantage of an excellent keeper performance and their largesse as they spurned good chances.
The goal when it came was from probably cross number 482 into our box and actually some luck for them as Barkley completely scuffed his shot, the ball bouncing off the edge of his shin, which deceived the keeper and scuttled in.
Having had us on toast, Emery then decided to go defensive and hold on to what they had rather than chase more. Lots of managers would have done the same but it was lucky for as it played into our hands.
With Dango now at left back, suddenly we saw some joy down that side although Semenyo still ballsed up several opportunities. Still, it looked like maybe we could get at them.
I did think our moment was gone when the ref waved away the penalty but then yellow card number thirteen was awarded for a foul on Tavs who was making a determined charge down the left. Having seen a heavy Evanilson touch waste a clever free kick a few minutes earlier, this time he pinged it into an ideal space and the Brazilian gave it the perfect flick header touch to score.
That turned out to be the final moment in the game as we came away with an undeserved point. Let’s be honest, away from home against quality opposition you know you’ll have to battle for everything and we put in the hard yards but I think we were held back today by some disappointing tactical decisions.
And yet, we come away with a draw. So who am I to judge?
Oh, and I quite liked the cameo from Brooks and nice to see Adams on the pitch finally.
Selected Player Watch
— Travers —
What do you say about that performance? One early moment aside, it was faultless. Came for balls he never would have before, dealt with crosses, made good saves and seemed to exude confidence. Our MotM today by a mile, and surely he has to keep the spot for Man City even if Kepa is fit?
— Araujo —
It’s hard to move into a new footballing culture but he’s looked well out of his depth in his last two appearances. If I was Aarons, I’d be knocking on AI’s door this week and pointing out the Mexican currently looks undercooked for English football and AFCB’s tactics so perhaps he should be given another chance to show he can be the option to replace Smith.
Araujo clearly has quality and will hopefully come good, but I won’t hold back on today. It was a performance so horrific, I can only assume it was so he can wear his matchday kit on Halloween to go trick or treating. I’d certainly scream if he came to my door dressed like that…
— Zabarnyi —
Class showing. Snuffed out danger multiple times and often seemed effortless in the way he did it. Last time out Watkins taught him a lesson about PL strikers. It looks like he was paying attention as this time he had his measure.
— Unal —
Ineffective. Didn’t really offer an outlet and didn’t manage to make anything of those quarter -chance moments. Not sure what’s going on with him this season.
AI and Tactics Watch
If you do the same thing every week in the PL in the end you get found out as some of the finest tactical minds in world football eventually crack your code. I wondered at the start of the season what changes AI would make and you can see he’s trying various things, some of the more visible ones being Sini up front and switching wingers who are on form the other way around.
I’m not sure I’m convinced by those but the important thing he is constantly trying, looking for way to misdirect the opposition and catch them offguard.
Another thing he knows is that he needs to integrate new players to replace the stalwart old guard, one of the things that Howe sometimes struggled with. He clearly respects the ability and contribution of Smith but is always aware the clock is ticking on his time here and so is trying to integrate a new option. The idea is good, but until now the individual options have seemed to struggle there.
Experimenting is fine and part of the process in improving, but there’s a time and a place for everything. I hope against Man City we start with Smith at right back and Semenyo on the right wing. The thought of Araujo playing there in his current form is scary.
I know I’m repeating myself but when I think on it, there must be some tactical reason related to the way Villa were set up for AI to keep Semenyo out on the left when he looked so poor out there. I can’t understand it otherwise. Our most potent attacking weapon was reduced to a broken water pistol, and Outtara didn’t look comfortable either.
In the end, it’s yet another match which features a late goal, something that has become a hallmark of our games this season, and four points earned against superior opposition making up for games where we undeservedly dropped them.
I was impressed with our effort and commitment out there but our attacking play was a long way short of even the Liverpool match, where I thought we showed some quality at times. On another day this could have been a thrashing but a nod of respect to the defenders who earned us that point, along with a good set piece from Tavs and a brilliant strikers goal from Evanilson.
In my eyes, not AI’s finest day but then he did bring on the subs that won the point so… I just think a certain former manager would have been lambasted for that performance and called lucky.
Next up is our Premier League kryptonite. And yet, I still have some hope because AI has shown he isn’t afraid to roll the dice and I think that’s what we’ll need.
Your say…
Simon says…
To say Semenyo simulated is laughable. What is the point in VAR?
Then, Bailey, they pulled out the picture from the handbook after Dangos v Newcastle, which they now accept was wrong of course. Baileys was way below the ‘sleeve’.
Personally, I don’t think you should be getting penalties for mis-jumps, but it was near his elbow, and he had an age to see it.
There is no way we would have avoided both those penalties being awarded at the other end. – To join the conversation, click here.
