David Villa
- Thread starter ammarfcb
- Start date
Tito didn't make a mistake, he said that Villa would be important in the second half of the season and that's exactly what's happening. The mistake was not varying the tactics enough(although there is a traditional viewpoint that players need consistency to achieve their best too).
CatalinR10
Senior Member
[video=vimeo;63822372]http://vimeo.com/63822372[/video]
I would buy the Tito was benching Villa to avoid injury theory if he did not play in the unimportant games early on in the season mostly with the backup players, against the weakest teams and in the early rounds of the Copa Del Rey etc. He was as likely to be injured in those games as a Real Madrid match IMO. Tito is playing Villa now because not playing Villa is resulting in losses against the better opponents and Tito's hand is being forced by that reality.
The fact of the matter is that Villa's goals per minute played was actually better in the first half of the season compared to the second half so the idea that his form recently improved and that is why he is getting more playing time does not hold water. Tito wrote Villa off and was commited to moving forward with Sanchez.
BerkeleyBernie
Senior Member
Was just joking bro.
Villa still had a 91% pass ratio last night, not bad for all those bad passes. Also made the most key passes of any player on the park, just ahead of Iniesta.
Don't think Villa had a great game but he was not as bad as made out, he set up the goal. Not to mention he set up Iniesta in the box with a great one-two and nearly put Cesc in with a delightful flick in the first half that Cesc failed to control. Held the ball up at times when it was punted. Above average but nothing great, but the service was off and so was his shooting.
Just re-watching the first half, Villa played well. He is so aware of his teammates' positioning (i.e. his put-through for Cesc, nearly identical to another earlier one), but the same can't be said for his teammates. He started one counter-attack, and was 1v1 with Maxwell on the right side of the field, but Pedro passed the ball backwards. Villa was exasperated, but still continued to draw Maxwell from right to left, until the entire right side was open, begging for a Barça player. Cesc kinda casually moved into that space eventually, but by then Maxwell shifted back with him, and PSG was set in defense. Can't blame Villa for his teammates not giving him service when he makes himself open, or not taking advantage of the space he creates when dragging defenders with his frequent runs.
darthvader7888
Banned
Maybe Tito wanted to play Villa in lower-intensity matches?
I do agree that he should have been used more though.
Not to mention the Iniesta on LW thing was working really well in the first half of the season when Cesc was on-form, and Villa's not as good on the right. Still think he should have been played over Sanchez though.
ThwiX
Best midfielder around
It didn't just happen one time, though.
abual3bed1
New member
Both times he stopped he was already in an offside position.
Stric
New member
Villa played 90 mins today. Pedro about 25, Alexis about 15. And this only 3 days ahead of the Bayern game. I was expecting to see Villa benched sometime in the second half for either of the two, then see him on Tuesday in Munich, but now it seems unlikely to me. I hope we're not playing Pedro - Messi - Sanchez against Bayern.
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