Leody wrote:It doesn't take two men to mark a man (Carew) lying on the ground with injury. Kos was 100% ball watching. And Carew was like 4 yards off the endline and would have bee easily played offside. There is no way you're getting me to believe he needed two CBs to defend him.
And why is it excusable for them both to be marking somebody else, the same man, but not Clichy then?
That's my whole point mate, you're blaming Clichy for something that was a team breakdown.
I totally disagree. I have looked at again and delfunso was also there. So the two defenders were marking 2 strikers. Even if it was only Carew, when the ball is crossed aimed at him they both need to get in position to prevent him from heading the ball in. If you have only one defender trying to compete for the ball in the air with Carew then you are asking for trouble.
Kos was not ball watching he was Clichy watching. Everyone thought Clichy would go forward and close clark down. It was the most obvious thing to do, Clichy went forward a step and then started to back off at that point the defenders probably thought WTF and then went to close clark down but it was too late.
And why is it excusable for them both to be marking somebody else, the same man, but not Clichy then?
Dude you are missing my point. I am not saying they were right to not close down Clark because they were marking someone. I am not saying that at all. I am saying they were far back over there because they were occupied with two strikers and the ball was crossed in. It was natural for them to be there. And do you really expect Kosc to leave Squilli all alone to deal with Carew and Delfunso and go and pick up Clark who was all alone?? I am not saying I expected Clichy to do that either. But when someone is about to take a pop at goal from 20 yards it is inexcusable and inexplicable to just back off and let him have a go because you are worried he might slip it to the man you are suppose to mark.
Its really a big stretch of one imagination to try to pin some of the blame for this on the CB. I really cannot see what wrong they did. The only mistake they made was to assume Clichy, when they saw him take a step towards Clark, would close down Clark. Obviously, it is a big mistake to trust and rely on Clich and expect him to do the obvious thing.
Every manager sets his team out in such a way that if they follow his instructions then they will be able to snuff out 99% of the dangers. But every now and again something happens which no plan could have prevented but you need some luck to get away with it or you put your body on the line to ensure it doesnt end up in a goal. I believe the first goal was one of those moments. A ball was crossed in, it was a bad cross, one of our players tries to head it away from danger instead it finds the one man that was free and he shoots and scores. If Clichy had closed him down he still could have scored but this was a moment where an individual has a decision to make. It was an obvious decision to go and close the man down because he is about to take a shot. How stupid it is to just back off and let him take a shot and score?
For me the worry is that would our Defenders trust Clichy? After the howler against Donestk, this error and the mistake for Sunderland's goal (although I am being a bit harsh with this one on him and that was a collective mistake and some bad luck) you can see it is hard for them to trust him.
Its not just a co-incidence that all Villa attacks came from the left. Its not even about this game, just look at most of the goals we concede and most of the attacks on us they come from our left. It cant be just a co-incidence. Yeah you can say maybe it is because of Arshavin that is lazy which is true, but even when Arshavin is not in the team we look the most vunerable on the left.
And I am glad I am not the only one that thinks Clichy has not been good enough for us:
http://thegoonblog.com/2010/11/nasri-st ... ne-clichy/I have said enough so I will not say anymore on this topic until Clichy makes another howler which is inevitable.