Four points from two games. Two clean sheets. Alan Hutton and Aly Cissokho transformed into formidable defensive presences. This has been by any measure a pretty successful start to the season, largely due to the transformation of the obvious weakness in defence from least season. But the murmuring at the back of the Holte End and Villa fans minds is not likely to end until Villa look capable of being an effective attacking force at home and questions remain if Paul Lambert has what it takes to achieve that. Almost all of Villa's truly effective performances in the past few seasons - think the 3-1 win over Liverpool - have been counter-attacking displays, which have won us a few truly memorable upset wins against the top sides but more often poor defending has been unable to cope with the pressure such tactics inevitably invite.
Villa's failure to create a really fluid or dominant attacking unit has been blamed, and is now again being blamed, on Gabby Abgonlahor and Andi Weimann whose stature and playing style lends itself to swift counter-attacks but not to breaking down sides. Christian Benteke's return is being touted as the solution to all our problems, providing a focal point to the attack, a recipient for the crosses that Cissokho and Richardson were putting on to the box on Saturday against Newcastle. Someone for Gabby or Andi to play off, and even Guzan's wayward distribution might finally acquire some focus
OK, I admit it will be nice to have him back.
However it's not clear that this will solve all of Villa's attacking issues. Even at Benteke's best, Villa were playing a prominently counter-attacking style, always racing to provide the Beast with enough goal-scoring opportunities to cancel out the comedy of errors at the back. A solid defence might see Villa come back as a better counter-attacking side than they ever were before, but the basic dynamics would remain the same as can be seen in the above video, goals depending on swift breaks, early crosses and moments of individual brilliance. This is fine as far as it goes but a truly dominant attacking side relies on much more certain goals than this - the constant creation of chances at close range . For those who have been converted to the Advanced Statistics revolution, the improvement of our 'Expected Goals' statistics.
Translating that back into more typical tactical terms, we need to be dominating possession, getting the ball into the box regularly and getting players and touches in the box. That means creating a fluid attacking unit who can effectively recycle the ball and interchange positions. Benteke is an improvement over Gabby and Andi in that respect less because his hold-up play is so much better, but the task to transition from a counter-attacking side to a dominant attacking force is bigger than just him.
For me, Lambert has the key to that now in Carlos Sanchez - not because he is an attacking midfielder but because his presence should finally allow for the reorganization and freedom of the midfield players. Delph and Westwood are two players who should naturally form parts of an attacking unit. Delph is a a box-to-box midfielder, able to bring the ball out and play it to the strikers or ghost in and pick up the ball on the edge of the box and pose a shooting threat. Westwood should be the man recycling the ball, the pivot inside the opponent´s half who keeps the attacking movement flowing. They have long been hampered in those roles by the need to hold back and defend the weak back four. And even against Stoke and Newcastle, they were forced to do that until the introduction of Sanchez finally released Delph who instantly became our most dangerous player which up until that point had belonged as a title to our full-backs. With that freedom Gabby and Andi will finally stop having to drop deep and potentially ruining attacks with poor decision making, and be able to play where they should, on the shoulder of the last man. One of N'Zogbia, Cole or Grealish will hopefully add extra menace and presence in midfield.
The final take-away should be that Villa do not have to wait until Benteke or Kozak return to begin to make the leap to being a truly attacking side. The match against Hull would be the perfect time to begin staking a claim to being a top-half side, which can dominate at home.