Aston Villa: Steve Bruce's tactics leave much to be desired in 3-0 defeat

Aston Villa lost 3-0 to Cardiff City on Saturday. In an ugly display all over the pitch, The Claret and Blue struggled to create anything incisive in the attack. This was in part, because of the club’s set-up away from home.

The Aston Villa players were poor on Saturday. But they were set-up to fail by the personnel selection. Antiquated trust in veterans caused numerous headaches for Villa supporters watching from Wales.

Aston Villa continued in the 4-2-3-1/4-4-1-1 hybrid deployed in last weekend’s 1-1 draw against Hull City. The only switch in the first eleven came from Josh Onomah taking the departing Leandro Bacuna’s role in central midfield. After an excellent display in The Carabao Cup, Onomah was afforded the start by Bruce; he in turn rewarded that trust by being one of maybe 2-3 players who were not absolutely terrible.

Aston Villa’s numerous troubles all stem from the flanks. Very little possession-based play from the left wing and both fullback spots caused Cardiff to break incessantly into the Villa lines. Alan Hutton turned the ball over 143 times (probably) in the Cardiff final third. The Bluebirds star forward Kenneth Zohore feasted in dragging either James Chester and John Terry into open space.

It’s not exactly the center backs fault here, they were set-up to fail. (Though, full disclosure, neither impressed today).

Gabby Agbonlahor again started at left wing after scoring Villa’s only goal in the 1-1 Hull draw. He wasn’t great in that match, but Bruce rewarded him for working hard and scoring. Gabby was able to break into zones 13 and 16 twice, but tame left-footed crosses went nowhere in the first 20 minutes.

Subsequently, he tended to drift inward thereafter. Look at WhoScored’s match report. His average touch position is in the number ten hole. Gabby Agbonlahor was drifting so far inward, WhoScored labeled him as a CAM. Gabby Agbonlahor, a central attacking midfielder. Now, this may be because he moved over to right wing for a few minutes, but promptly returned to whatever nefarious position he was asked to play. However, asking Gabby to create from a central area is lunacy.

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It’s akin to a game of dominoes. Aston Villa created absolutely nothing on the left; therefore, the players took it upon themselves to remedy this. Henri Lansbury pulled out left to try and whip balls diagonally, or take on the right wingback, Lee Peltier, himself. Lansbury drifting everywhere caused Josh Onomah to work off-the-ball even harder, later tiring the on-loan Tottenham Hotspur player. But most damning, Glenn Whelan, at age 33, was asked to cover acres of space as the central defensive midfielder because of Lansbury/Agbonlahor’s absence.

They too, were all set-up to fail.

Left back Neil Taylor, normally quiet and solid, left his position too often to try and create from the left. It’s simply not his forte as a defense-first left fullback.

Again, like clockwork, John Terry had to push out wide on the counter, at age 36. Instead of defending corners with his 6’2″ frame, Terry had to block crosses from the 5’8″ Junior Hoilett. Scott Hogan, isolated up-top, struggled to do anything in the second half.

Nobody, save Sam Johnstone, was set-up to succeed in this match. For that, Steve Bruce is the culprit. This might seem like an evisceration, and it probably is, but a few tweaks need to be made before Tuesday’s away match at Reading.

It begins by setting-up simple, possession-based play from the wide areas.

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Aston Villa: Steve Bruce’s tactics leave much to be desired in 3-0 defeat

By Josh Tonti | Aug 12, 2017

Aston Villa lost 3-0 to Cardiff City on Saturday. In an ugly display all over the pitch, The Claret and Blue struggled to create anything incisive in the attack. This was in part, because of the club’s set-up away from home.

More from Claret Villans