A crescendo of boos and jeers greeted Tim Sherwood’s Aston Villa at the final whistle as a Marko Arnautovic goal sealed back-to-back wins for Stoke City in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Villans’ fourth consecutive league defeat means they head into the international break already cut adrift by four points in the relegation zone. The Potters, meanwhile, completed a hat-trick of Villa Park wins for the first time in their history as they pushed themselves up to 14th in the table.
Villa, who started the game with five recognised defenders on the pitch, were somewhat flattered by the 1-0 scoreline and only managed two shots on target in the entire 90 minutes.
City had also made a slow start to the season but there was nothing sluggish about their performance in the second city as they came out of the blocks sensing blood and could have been a goal up inside four minutes. A slick passing move between Bojan Krkic and Jonathan Walters opened up the Villa defence like a knife through butter only for Villa captain Micah Richards to deny Mame Biram Diouf with an excellent last-ditch sliding tackle.
Charlie Adam then almost repeated his outrageous wonder goal at Chelsea in April, unleashing a left-footed effort from deep inside his own half which goalkeeper Brad Guzan managed to tip over the bar. Arnautovic was a thorn in Villa’s side all afternoon and he should have broken the deadlock just before half time when his glancing header was incorrectly ruled out for offside. Replays suggested he was level with the last Villa defender when the ball was played into the danger area by Bojan.
Sherwood replaced Joleon Lescott with Jack Grealish at halftime as Villa desperately went in search for a breakthrough. But it was Stoke who dealt the crucial blow. Glen Johnson spotted the Villa centre-back pairing of Richards and Jose Angel Crespo part like the Red Sea and his accurate pass through to Arnautovic left the Austrian with the simplest of finishes.
The visitors’ goal finally spurred Villa into life but for all their endeavour and running there was a desperate lack of direction and quality. This was encapsulated when Richards spurned Villa’s best chance by heading wide from close-range with the goal gaping.
Formations
Sherwood raised a few eyebrows with his starting lineup as he drafted in full-back Crespo for his debut in an unfamiliar 3-5-2-come-5-3-2 formation. Jordan Veretout also came in for a start as Carlos Sanchez dropped to the bench. Villa’s creative flair players of Grealish and Carles Gil were among the substitutes as Sherwood favoured a more conservative approach.
Aston Villa XI (5-3-2): Guzan (GK); Hutton, Richards, Crespo, Lescott, Amavi; Veretout, Gueye, Westwood; Sinclair, Gestede.
Stoke set up in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation with Diouf on his own up front, supported by the pace and trickery of Bojan, Walters and Arnautovic which kept the Villa back line busy all afternoon.
Stoke City XI (4-2-3-1): Butland (GK); Johnson, Cameron, Wollscheid, Pieters; Adam, Whelan; Bojan, Arnautovic, Walters; Diouf.
Stoke target claret and blue weakness
Imposing Senegalese striker Diouf was tasked with putting pressure on weak defensive link, Lescott, who has had a torrid start to life at Villa Park. His day went no better on this occasion as he immediately lost Diouf inside four minutes only for Richards to save his blushes with a great lunging tackle.
According to whoscored.com, Lescott’s passing accuracy was a lowly 54.6% and he won no aerial duels while committing two fouls and making three clearances – all of which went straight back to the opposition. He was rightly substituted at half time and it will be interesting to see whether Sherwood persists with him for the trip to Stamford Bridge in two weeks time.
Arnautovic beat Hutton down the flank several times and often ghosted into central attacking areas as illustrated by his winning goal and the one which was disallowed.
Muddled Villa approach
Villa are playing like a side devoid of a clear plan and this is emphasised by Sherwood’s constant tinkering with the lineups and formations each week and his own revelation that he is not confident he knows what his best team is yet.
This uncertainty is translating onto the pitch and affecting the players. They started with a 3-5-2 which included five recognised defenders and the aim was to win the midfield battle and allow wing-backs Hutton and Amavi to push on and provide the aerial deliveries for Rudy Gestede.
But with Stoke’s four forward players skipping through Villa with ease, this formation often reverted to a 5-3-2 and Gestede simply did not receive the service he craved. Added to that, Gestede himself offered far too little in the way of holding up the ball and giving the City defenders something to seriously think about – it was far too tame and predictable from the Benin international and he needs to add a different dimension to his game. Heading ability inside the box is simply not enough in the Premier League.
The players looked uncomfortable in the new system and Sherwood acknowledged this by switching to a 4-3-3 in the second-half. Even then, Villa’s approach screamed desperation rather than calculated play and this overall muddled approach was demonstrated perfectly when they decided to go short on several second half corners before being swiftly dispossessed – and completely wasting the chance to get the ball onto Gestede’s head.
Boring boring Villa
After this dismal loss Sherwood said: “In patches we have good possession but are a little bit boring at times passing the ball square and backwards too much”.
He is completely right, of course, as the stats show that 38% of Villa’s 478 passes against Stoke were in a backwards direction. Far too often the Villa players are happy to pass it around in the middle of the park with little penetration and when they do get it forward quickly, Gestede and Scott Sinclair invariably gave it away.
But while the Villa boss is perfectly right to point this fact out, maybe he should consider how his tactics and team selection may have had a significant bearing on this in the first instance. At home against a City side one place above, Sherwood selected seven defensively minded outfield players including holding midfielders Ashley Westwood and Idrissa Gana Gueye. It was little surprise to see Villa offer far more penetration once Gil, Grealish and Jordan Ayew were on the field.
Conclusion
After registering two successive wins, Stoke City can now push on after the international break with a trip to South Wales to face Swansea City the next game for Mark Hughes’ men. It was an efficient if not spectacular performance by the visitors with Arnautovic providing that bit of quality when the game was deadlocked at 0-0.
Villa, meanwhile, are in danger of sinking without a trace. They are already four points adrift of rivals West Bromwich Albion ahead of a daunting run of fixtures in October and November that includes Chelsea, Swansea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City. Sherwood can only expect his new recruits to start gelling if they are playing in a settled team so the Villa boss has some serious work ahead of him on the training ground during the two-week break to determine which is his best XI. Only then can Villa begin to look like a cohesive side capable of winning football matches.
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