Seeing Out/Killing Off Games

Offside

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Following a million heart attacks we managed to see it out today against a great side.

However, nervousness in defence, no composure, constant stupid fouls, incapable of completing a few passes and winding the clock down, weird substitutions, trying to score again when we’ve got the ball with literally seconds left and then losing it. All were on show today and plenty of other times.

Is this something we massively need to improve? We’ve conceded some late goals this season and I can see a few disaster moments like Southampton at OT last year if we carry on like this.

What do we do? Buy a calm head at the back? Buy a midfielder who keeps the ball? Or give Rashford, James and Pogba a head wobble? Will we get better at this if we get more used to winning? Thoughts...
 
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cyberman

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Na, we have a great record now. We see out games as good as anybody. The qualitiy of the league is such that youll always come under pressure when a top side throws everyone forward.
 

AshRK

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It also comes with experience. Wins like today will help. This season will be a learning experience for this young side.
 

adexkola

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Na, we have a great record now. We see out games as good as anybody. The qualitiy of the league is such that youll always come under pressure when a top side throws everyone forward.
Then no one can see out games well.

We blame our defense for leaking goals but our midfield is useless at absorbing pressure and keeping the ball.
 

Dan_F

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Having a World Cup winning, experienced midfielder on the ball at the end?

We needed the third goal to kill it, without that it’s always going to be difficult.
 

Offside

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Na, we have a great record now. We see out games as good as anybody. The qualitiy of the league is such that youll always come under pressure when a top side throws everyone forward.
Nightmares from the Southampton game last year.
 

adexkola

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Here's from the post match thread

Happy with the result. Villa are a great team and pushed us.

One thing we need to be better at is taking the sting out of games. It's silly things like Pogba not taking the ball to the corner in the last minute. It's also our midfield shitting the bed in the last 20 minutes and being a sieve allowing every Villa attack through. Bailly was outstanding but for that last minute block we could have ended up with another Leicester which wouldn't be the defense's fault. It would be our inability to use the ball to cool the game down. Limit the chances to the opposition. If we want to score more, build attacks in a more methodological manner. This will burn us down the line if we keep on playing with fire.

Great taken goal by Martial. Pogba was very good so was Bruno. Rashford runs into blind alleys too much and doesn't find the open man. Not much complaints about the back 5. Another win for Ole. Level on points with Liverpool, and most wins in the league. Good stuff.
 

cyberman

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Then no one can see out games well.

We blame our defense for leaking goals but our midfield is useless at absorbing pressure and keeping the ball.
What late goals do we really concede though? Its a problem that doesnt exist.
We score first, we win 99 percent of the time.
 

sullydnl

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Any stats on this? How often have we been in a winning position in the final part of a game and failed to see it out, as compared to other teams? Should be a very provable thing if we're bad at it.
 

2cents

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We are absolutely crying out for a deep-lying CM who can retain and recycle possession calmly.
 

el3mel

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I thought we did really well after the second goal in seeing this out. Villa was actually pretty knackered by the end of the game.

It was just a tense match so we felt that. Watch it again with clear head and no tension and you'll realize that we managed to contain them better after our penalty. We were struggling in the period they scored the goal but not after that.
 

Gibb11

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It's not about changing personal, it's giving pogba and arm around the shoulder praising his good performance but pointing out that moment very nearly cost the team and needed a huge intervention from bailly and nearly all our good work
 

NinjaFletch

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Pogba's decision making with I think 10 seconds to go to play a low percentage pass into the box rather than head to the corner was criminal.
 

PlayerOne

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The players do give the ball away far too often too and just allows the other teak to keep coming back at us. More controlled ball possession would make a huge difference.

Ole was just talking about the need to improve the game control when we're winning.
 

Offside

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Any stats on this? How often have we been in a winning position in the final part of a game and failed to see it out, as compared to other teams? Should be a very provable thing if we're bad at it.
Palace home last year
Liverpool home last year
Southampton home in the Summer
Brighton away this year (we scored again but they equalised 95th min)
Leicester away last week

All those are games we’ve thrown away in the last 10 minutes in recent times. Not many, but some quite crucial games.
 

adexkola

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What late goals do we really concede though? Its a problem that doesnt exist.
We score first, we win 99 percent of the time.
To be fair this is a problem going back to last season IMO. This season the Leicester game comes to mind, I'll have to check and see for others. But surely you see an issue with how generous we are at gifting chances to the opposition? We don't need to be 2005 Chelsea, but neither should we be 2014 Liverpool
 

Santoryo

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I think the commentators said it best, people think that teams that win titles just go in these champagne football every games and blow teams out but grinding performances like these happen a lot, especially during packed schedules like right now.

Aston Villa is a good team and tough to beat this season. We showed the mentality needed to grind a very tough game which is good.
 

Siorac

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Our overall ball retention is simply not up to scratch. That's why every mid-table team can easily go toe-to-toe with us: we give them the ball freely and generously. And yes, we absolutely have to improve at strangling other teams with possession.
 

cyberman

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To be fair this is a problem going back to last season IMO. This season the Leicester game comes to mind, I'll have to check and see for others. But surely you see an issue with how generous we are at gifting chances to the opposition? We don't need to be 2005 Chelsea, but neither should we be 2014 Liverpool
To be fair, we give away chances at any stage of the game. Its seeing games in that gets us!
I just dont think we can change the fabric of this too much. We found something going forward and I dont want to see us trying to play safe because we arent very good at it. When we try to play overly tactically in terms of controlling games we tend to feck it up.
We are monsters at beating non top 6 sides now, we are on a serious roll and if we try to alter it, im worried we will lose what gives us that edge
 

Siorac

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I think the commentators said it best, people think that teams that win titles just go in these champagne football every games and blow teams out but grinding performances like these happen a lot, especially during packed schedules like right now.

Aston Villa is a good team and tough to beat this season. We showed the mentality needed to grind a very tough game which is good.
Our goal difference is +9 after 16 games - let's face it, we never really play champagne football. As all our games are so close, it's all the more important to become a bit better at actually taking the sting out of them, to not rely on desperate last-ditch blocks to salvage wins.
 

Offside

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Our overall ball retention is simply not up to scratch. That's why every mid-table team can easily go toe-to-toe with us: we give them the ball freely and generously. And yes, we absolutely have to improve at strangling other teams with possession.
We need a Carrick type player I think. Someone very calm who is an excellent passer and knows when to keep things simple.
 

MrSingh2002

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Personally I would've brought Tuanzebe on for Martial or Rashford as soon as they brought the extra striker on.

The midfield then just have to try keep ball abit til the end with the odd counter attack.
 

TMDaines

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https://understat.com/match/14596

I think we did well there. In the period of the game after their goal, we accelerated away and could have well scored a third and killed the game off. We didn’t give too much away either. Villa are a good side.
 

VidaRed

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Ole said so after the game and hinted pogba should have gone to the corner flag instead of finding a risky killer pace.
 

Josep Dowling

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To me this is when we should be at our most dangerous. We have Rashford and Martial on the counter. What I find is everyone from defence to attack panic and basic passing goes out the window. Defenders start booting it away from the back, whilst Martial and Rashford become really sloppy. We just need to slow down and control the tempo.
 

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Pogba's decision making with I think 10 seconds to go to play a low percentage pass into the box rather than head to the corner was criminal.
Yeah I was going to break my TV watching that, brain dead. Also we shouldn’t be forcing an issue if the opponents just happy to drop off, just have few passes around and draw them in no need to go for the risky stuff if the opposition just happy to sit back and take a breather.
 

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Ole tried to help with this by bringing Dan James on to stop their full back pushing forward so much. We need to hold on to the ball better in the dying minutes though, some silly antics from Pogab at the end then...
 

VP89

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We saw out the game, I think there was naivety when Rashford/Pogba continued to try and attack rather than go into the corner for the last 30 seconds. But we saw out the game nonetheless, have to be careful going forward.

I'd rather we got more goals so we aren't in this position, but prior to today Villa only conceded 3 goals away all season (2 of which were headers in the same game). So it was always going to be a tough match.
 

adexkola

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To be fair, we give away chances at any stage of the game. Its seeing games in that gets us!
I just dont think we can change the fabric of this too much. We found something going forward and I dont want to see us trying to play safe because we arent very good at it. When we try to play overly tactically in terms of controlling games we tend to feck it up.
We are monsters at beating non top 6 sides now, we are on a serious roll and if we try to alter it, im worried we will lose what gives us that edge
I can't argue too much with this, we have a really good thing in terms of putting this sort of pressure on teams (haven't seen this since Fergie days pre zombie football). The fear is that the amount of chances we concede is unsustainable but I think Ole and co are aware of it and will be looking to mitigate somewhat while maintaining our potency
 

Offside

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Ole tried to help with this by bringing Dan James on to stop their full back pushing forward so much. We need to hold on to the ball better in the dying minutes though, some silly antics from Pogab at the end then...
That change was strange though. It was almost a change to get them on the break and score again rather than see out the 2-1. James got the ball twice late on and rushed a shit shot and then a shit cross when all he needed to do was stay calm and wait for a simple option.

He was more of a problem when he came on IMO. At one point he was running away with it and turned inside where there was a crowd of Villa players, to try and take them on or feed Rashford, when it would have been perfectly fine running down to the corner flag.
 

Betson

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Ole was right in his post match comments when he said he was not happy with how we saw it out and need to close out games better than that , we need far more composure and not rely so much on wonder saves or last gasp defending . Sooner rather than later that is going to catch you out.