The midfield – in the middle of improvement

Having already examined the current situation as well as the options in the future for our goalkeepers and our defenders, it was an obvious choice for me to put today’s focus on our (central) midfielders. It seems the players put in absolutely outstanding performances against Chelsea, which has shown how far our team, and especially our midfield, has come and how far it could go if players continue to play at that level. However, in other recent games the limitations of this department were just as apparent. Our midfield is therefore in the middle of a development process. What have the midfielders developed and what is still needed from them? Let’s find out!

What do we have?

Quantity-wise, we are absolutely fine in this area of the team, a factor that should not be ignored when judging Lambert’s assembling of the squad. When one undertakes a complete squad overall it is not only quality that is needed but also man-power. However, if you have limited funds available it is very hard to keep both quality and quantity of players at a high level and in our case some sacrifices had to be made. That does not mean that our central midfield, consisting of Fabian Delph, Ashley Westwood, Karim El Ahmadi, Yacouba Sylla, Gary Gardner and Chris Herd, is completely lacking quality: some of them have just been really unlucky but there is always room for improvement and this is where our squad needs it the most.

Lambert has very often fielded a three man midfield, which suits our style of play the best and makes having six midfielders in our squad a necessity. Three of them – Westwood, Delph and El Ahmadi – are not lost at Premier League level now, as seen in the latest performances, yet inconsistency and sometimes a lack of creativity are what slow down our play and add to the reasons why we don’t seem to have any chance in matches that are there for the taking, with a prime example being the loss against Newcastle. Very often, two explanations are given by the fans: one being that the three main men are very similar to each other and the other being the shortage of alternatives. To some extent, both of these approaches are correct. In fact, all three of them are hard-working midfielders and from time to time it seems they are trying to do each other’s work, which leaves all three doing the exact same thing on the pitch. In my opinion, their individual roles need to be identified and stressed more in the future to avoid “confusion”. There is also the lack of options and with Gardner and Herd being injured or absent from the squad for unknown reasons there was only one option left: Yacouba Sylla. He has never been really exceptional in a Villa shirt so far but last season he showed promise and offered some solid performances. This season, he has failed to impress fans and manager alike so the manager was switching to a two man midfield whenever one of the three main players was not available. Of course, with that comes of course a change to the playing system and once more the whole team has to readjust, which again costs valuable time. With Gardner and Herd possibly leaving the team at the end of the season, something needs to be done.

Do the U21 and Academy squads offer alternatives?

They do but even their options are limited. Only two are close to being ready to make the step up at the moment – Samir Carruthers and Daniel Johnson – and even they have their problems. Carruthers, having played well in League One for MK Dons, has just picked up a nasty knee injury and it is unknown how long it will take him to fight his way back into the team. Johnson, on the other hand, has been fit but has not been around the first team very often and for some reason a loan to gain some professional match time never came off. With him turning twenty-two this year, it is very hard to tell if he will make the step up.

Other midfielders in the U18 team still need time to develop and it looks like they won’t be involved in the first team any time soon.

What do we need?

So, it looks like we need to invest in some new players if we want our midfield to improve further and to give us the option of varying our style of play to match our opponents. In my opinion, the midfield is the only area of the squad that really needs to be improved by new signings in the summer, apart from the left-back position. To be more precise, I would like us to opt for two types of midfielders: one defensive midfielder, a player to connect the defence with the players further up the pitch and to assist the back-line whenever needed, and one attacking midfielder, the often quoted “playmaker” to open up the opponents and to come up with brilliant ideas when every other approach is easily broken down. I am sure everyone has their own ideas of who could fill these two gaps that not only the fans but the manager, too, have identified.

My set-up for next season

As sad as it is, I am expecting the exits of both Chris Herd and Gary Gardner and so my personal suggestion for next season’s midfield would look like this:

Delph, Westwood, El Ahmadi, Sylla, Carruthers/Johnson + defensive midfielder + attacking midfielder

Should we be able to find some decent additions for the two spots available, this midfield could offer the quantity needed at this level but also the quality that so many fans are calling for.