I can't believe he's getting abuse for his tactics,if we would started 442 we would have got overrun in the first half I thought he got it spot on
Completely agree. Anyone thinking '4-4-2 worked well in the last 20 mins so we should've played it from the start' is kidding their self. It was a brutal game, played at a really high tempo especially in the first half. Hecky had clearly done his homework, I really don't think Hourihane & Scowen could've played the full game against a midfield 3 of Grealish, Jedinak & Bacuna. Late on Grealish was knackered & Jedinak was carded so it was a lot easier for us to play 4-4-2 against them. That front 3 of theirs is pretty terrifying when they run at you with all the pace & with back up of Gestede & McCormack this will look a good point pretty soon. I think our back 4 deserves a massive amount of praise when you consider the talent we were up against & where our back 4 were playing not so long ago. Yiadom would've been close to man of the match for me if it wasn't for his part in the Villa goal. Roberts was superb. McDonald likewise apart from the one bad pass that nearly let them in. No doubt Kpekawa struggled a bit but we've got to remember he's a novice. He played 6 games for QPR if I remember right & not had many games on loan. Hopefully the late run that won the corner & the flick on for Winnall will boost his confidence. I think a point was a fair result & despite not seeing many chances I still thought it was a really good game.
Totally agree - we've shown our hand with 4-4-2. Any manager worth their salt, especially any with premiership experience, will expect it and know how to set up to counter it. At this level we will have to vary our own set up, especially for away games in my opinion. Great to see the switch to the more attacking formation with 20 to go. I don't think the Villa could respond at that stage so for me it adds up to great tactics from Hecky. I just hope Winnall and Watkins stay positive about the team, they worked minor miracles to get us here and are heroes but they will have to accept some rotation this season because of the options we now have.
Exactly, we've got the same result Newcastle, Hudders and Brentford got against them recently. In fact, if you look at Villa's results they've only actually lost twice this season! People just like a moan.
I thought Hecky got it wrong Bradshaw is a fox in the box type of player He isn't big enough to hold the ball up or fast enough to find space If Hecky is going 451 then the front player has to be Watkins - because Marley definitely isn't a winger but he can cause defences all types of problems with his aggression Alternatively it needs someone there that is very very quick Kent is that player - this young guy is an unbelievable player !!! But out wide he is not in the game as much as I'd like to see - would love to see him more centrally running directly in on goal - he would frighten defences to death