Aston Villa conceded three goals to Sunderland. Three goals to a team whose main striker is the ghost of Tottenham’s Jermain Defoe. Nobody who has seen Villa this season will have been surprised either.
The defensive displays this season have been insipid at best, excluding the draw against City which seems to be the exception that proves the rule. There’s a script to almost every match this season that goes like this
Start on the front foot, push for a goal, gift away a goal or two, lose.
Most people believe we need to bring in better defenders, but defences aren’t magically improved by better players. It takes time, solid coaching and hard work on the training ground. A defence needs to act as one, to have a single identity, be a cohesive unit that knows instinctively how to react in any given situation.
My biggest criticism of Garde is he hasn’t managed to come close to achieving this. Even bad defenders can be coached and drilled to become more than the sum of their parts, just ask any defender who played for Tony Pulis.
Villa have the players in the squad to at least make teams work for their goals, there’s no shame in being beaten by a moment of quality. Richards, Lescott, Clark, Okore are all of Premier League standard. So why are teams rolling over us with weekly without breaking a sweat?
The constant change in personnel has hindered the ability for players to form partnerships. Injuries have contributed in no small way to this constant flux, allowing doubt and indecisiveness to take root.
A settled back four is a must.
Without any additions, this group of defenders could still be turned from an error prone bunch of individuals to a solid unit and the captain is the key. Richards is a right back, whether he likes the idea or not. He lacks the positional sense to be a center back and, perhaps more importantly, he’s a better right back than Hutton. Okore is a talented, pacey defender who can be trusted to replace him in the middle and with the return of Cissokho, the back four would finally be balanced.
Another Center back would undeniably strengthen the beleaguered back line, especially a replacement for Lescott, whose legs have gone. A new goalkeeper is also a high priority and a whole article in itself.
But without proper coaching, Villa would just be throwing their money away.
