Remi Garde & Slaven Bilic – www.90min.com
Aston Villa put in their liveliest, most vibrant attacking performance of the season on Boxing Day, yet they only managed to draw. West Ham put in their most lacklustre, lifeless attacking performance of the season at Villa Park, yet they still managed to draw. The very fact that Villa dominated the Hammers for 90 minutes, but the two teams finished the match drawing 1-1, highlights the position that the two clubs are in at the moment.
Villa set the tone for the rest of the game when they started strongly, as the battling Idrissa Gana combined well with the speedy Jordan Ayew down the left side of the pitch. Ayew was superb in the first half and made some dangerous runs in from the flank which lifted the Holte End faithful. The home side’s high tempo attacking play forced the Hammers into conceding a couple of corners early on, as Gestede challenged with intent for Jordan Veretout’s centre but James Tomkins was on hand to clear.
And yet, for all Villa’s pressure, they still lacked that bit of class in the final third. A lot of their play in advanced areas was a bit improvised and they did not show the kind of precise quality that Remi Garde would have wanted. Some of the home side’s football consisted of direct balls in the direction of Rudy Gestede, who looked to get flick-ons for the many other players running forward. Gestede could always get to the high balls, but his head was something akin an Iain Dowie style ’50 pence piece’ – there was a sense of indecision about where he headed the ball.
It was Gestede who had Villa’s first big chance of the match, but the Benin international headed Jordan Veretout’s left wing cross just wide of the right hand post. Veretout has been a bright spark for the Villans over the last few weeks and continued his form with a driven, all-action display. The Frenchman has the unique ability to collect the ball in the centre circle and, within a few seconds, start running at the back four and or play a killer pass – he could be key to Villa’s chances of escaping the drop.
James Collins – www.standard.co.uk
One of West Ham’s best players was centre-back James Collins, who was returning to the ground where he plied his trade for three years. Collins continued the fine form that convinced the club to hand him a new contract on Christmas Eve, showing a desire to put his body on the line when it mattered. The 32-year-old was part of the reason why the Hammers did not lose the game, because his teammates failed to impress in possession.
The tempo of West Ham’s play was too slow and their passing was aimless, the team lacking movement up top with the absence of injured forward Dimitri Payet seeming costly. Payet was in superb form in the first few weeks of the campaign and played a big part in the Hammers’ early season giant-killing. Without him, West Ham do not pose quite the same threat when they go forward.
Although, the East Londoners did enjoy a rare breakaway on 25 minutes through Mauro Zarate. The Argentine has been one of their more consistent performers and one of the few who provides a potent goal threat. Zarate, formerly of Villa’s local rivals Birmingham, surged forward and Brad Guzan tipped his shot round the post. The hosts were back on the attack a couple of minutes later, however, and Adrian San Miguel was forced into a double save. The Spaniard showed good reflexes to parry Leandro Bacuna’s drive before smothering the ball at the second attempt, with Gestede lurking.
Carlos Sanchez received treatment on 38 minutes, prior to being taken off, but the midfielder had enjoyed a reasonable afternoon up until that point. Sanchez had shown the aggression and defensive diligence needed to stifle West Ham’s attacks, and while he did not do anything special with the ball, the battling qualities he showed were important. When he came off, Villa lost some of their shape and that enabled West Ham to find some momentum in the latter stages of the half.
Mark Noble’s set piece deliveries might have been disappointing, but the 28-year-old offered the kind of leadership that Villa were arguably lacking and played a part in West Ham’s improvement. Quick wide man Michail Antonio was anonymous for much of the game, but he did show a flash of promise when he cut in from the left flank and blasted over the bar. The 25-year-old, who starred for Nottingham Forest last term, is just recovering from injury and now has a huge opportunity to establish himself in Slaven Bilic’s plans, with so many players in his kind of position ruled out at present.
The same could be said for Enner Valencia, who was starting his first game of the season at Villa Park and looked one of the away side’s livelier performers in the first half. The inside forward had a good World Cup with Ecuador last year and it was the 26-year-old’s deflected shot that found the combative Cheikhou Kouyate, whose header bounced off the bar.
That was a warning sign for Villa, but one they failed to heed. West Ham hit them on the break as sturdy-looking left-back Aaron Cresswell went on an impressive forward run. The Tranmere Rovers academy graduate was not closed down properly, and was given the space to rifle a left-footed shot into the far corner. Aston Villa had been the more creative side in the first half, but Cresswell’s goal meant they were punished for missed chances.
Alan Hutton – www.skysports.com
Right-back Alan Hutton was guilty of not getting close enough to Cresswell for the goal, but he was the only Villa player who offered width in an otherwise narrow system. Hutton showed a willingness to get forward early in the second half and made some good runs into space, although the quality of his crosses left a little to be desired. The Scot’s ball in for Gestede on 50 minutes had a bit too much height, and the lanky recipient was unable to keep his header down.
When it comes to crossing, Leandro Bacuna is arguably more skilled than Hutton. Playing at left-back, however, Bacuna always had to take a touch to cut the ball onto his favoured right foot and this sometimes halted the momentum of Villa’s attacks. As a potential solution, home supporters call for Bacuna to be moved to the right side of the pitch, where he can whip a ball in first time.
The second half continued in a similar vein to the first as Villa showed plenty of endeavour but little end product. Both defences were on top, with West Ham doing some strong last ditch work while Villa centre-backs Joleon Lescott and Jores Okore dealt with rare opposition attacks comfortably enough.
The Villans were pilling on the pressure and the impressive Veretout hit a shot at Adrian, before Ashley Westwood fired over following the resultant corner. Westwood was guilty of missing a couple of half chances and was rarely explosive in possession, yet he provided the midfield stability Villa needed when Sanchez came off for the more adventurous Carles Gil. The latter tried to instigate attacks in the second half but lacked strength and bravery, too often reverting to a non-threatening position when closed down in the final third.
Adrian made a good save to deny Gestede on 59 minutes, and home supporters must have feared that their luck may be out. However, those fears were abolished moments later when their side won a penalty. Angelo Ogbonna had been one of West Ham’s slower defenders on the day and the Italian brought down Gestede, to task Ayew with scoring a goal that could kick-start Villa’s season. If the former Lorient man was nervous, it did not show. Ayew wrong-footed the goalkeeper and slotted the ball home in an unerringly smooth manner.
Jordan Ayew – dailysoccerghana.net
Villa Park was rocking and Ayew looked in the mood, his long range shot charged down by the colossal James Collins. Corner after corner, chance after chance followed as the hosts had the bit between their teeth. With fifteen minutes to go, it looked as though that theme would continue. Aston Villa had to win due to their current position, and one might have expected Garde to tell his players to throw caution to the wind.
It was surprising, therefore, that West Ham were in fact the team that finished the match in the ascendency. Villa were perhaps overly respectful of a point and dropped off a touch, just at the stage when one expected them to throw the proverbial kitchen sink. Visiting substitute Alex Song came on for Aaron Cresswell on 75 minutes and it seemed the Ivorian had stolen Edgar Davids’ dress sense, wearing orange glasses. One can only assume that he had stolen Davids’ footballing ability too, because the former Arsenal man’s arrival coincided with West Ham’s resurgence.
Michail Antonio made a forward run that forced Hutton into a foul but Mauro Zarate’s subsequent free-kick was headed clear. Pedro Obiang had looked uncomfortable when Villa were attacking, particularly in the second half, but the Spaniard’s curling effort forced good reflexes from Guzan. West Ham’s best spell in the first half came late on and the second period followed suit.
The visitors came closest late on when Valencia spotted Brad Guzan standing too far away from the right-hand post. He tried to deceive the American by gently curling the ball in, but the goalkeeper recovered well. Guzan’s save meant Villa held onto a point, but in the grand scheme of things, a point is not quite good enough.
Adrian San Miguel – www.dailystar.co.uk
Ordinarily, Villa could take the positives from that game. They played well, they created a lot of chances and came from behind to avoid defeat in two matches running for the first time since May. However, the situation the club are in is an extreme one. The team is nine points adrift of safety and needs victories at all costs. There was certainly no shortage of effort or endeavour from Villa, but a combination of bad finishing and good saves from the inspired Adrian San Miguel was their downfall. It may be harsh to pinpoint Rudy Gestede as the reason they dropped points, yet one cannot help but feel that if Christian Benteke was playing on Saturday, Villa would have won comfortably.
The goalscoring capabilities of Benteke over the last three years has perhaps masked the problems in a Villa side that has suffered from a lack of boardroom investment. The team has gone from having a striker in Benteke who would win them games when they were playing badly, to one in Gestede who rarely wins them games in which they are playing well – September’s second city derby aside.
Villa’s results in their next two games away at relegation rivals Norwich and Sunderland will be vital, because defeats or draws are not good enough. The team needs wins, not only for their intrinsic value, but also to attract players in January. Remi Garde will be desperate to sign a forward to play alongside Ayew, and perhaps a left-back and a goalkeeper. However, it will be difficult for the team to attract new players if they are still nine points adrift when they enter the market.
The positive for West Ham is that, despite all the injuries they have suffered, they are not losing too many games and still look reasonably solid. The Hammers have not conceded a goal from open play in 400 minutes of football as Collins has replaced the injured Winston Reid seamlessly. If one builds a team that combines West Ham’s current defensive strength with the attacking quality of absentees such as Dimitri Payet, Manuel Lanzini and Diafra Sakho, you have a very promising cocktail of players.
Remi Garde – sport.bt.com
Given how open and unpredictable the race for the top four is this season, given that the Hammers were 2nd in mid-September before injuries hit them, and given that they are still only six points off the Champions League places, these crushing injury problems have hindered the team massively. If Slaven Bilic and the club’s medical staff can perhaps address the training methods and the sport science aspect of the club, or perhaps if the team simply gets a bit luckier, one must look at what West Ham can achieve in future with some excitement.
West Ham are a club led by superb, and perhaps undervalued, business people in David Sullivan, Karren Brady and David Gold. The board plan to build a new stadium, which will increase the club’s revenue and give potential players the sense that they will be part of something big. Playing in London is already a huge attraction to players, as we have seen with Crystal Palace signing Yohan Cabaye, and to an extent Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez joining Arsenal from the two Spanish giants. This summer, Dimitri Payet joined the growing trend of supremely talented footballers who want to live in the capital. Payet would not look out of place at one of the biggest clubs in Europe, and when West Ham get him back, their attack could be transformed. For now, a point at Villa Park is a reasonable outcome for one team in claret and blue, but not so useful to the other.