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Plus / Minus - Villa 0-1 Swans : The Soccer Gods Piss on Sinclair (and hate Sanchez) Edition

Okay. A player gets a plus for an above average play and a minus for a below average play. In general, the team had a lot of positive play today, but much more, mostly based on the play of Fabian Delph, in the second half. But there were some problems, some of which were caused by the opposition, but some of which were caused by the massive swing in performance that comes from substituting a very positive Cleverly for a very negative Sanchez.

Between Sanchez and selfish-boy himself, Scott Sinclair, we had just enough mistakes in defense and attack respectively that the edge went to the Swans.

Sinclair seemed to be wanting, given the press reports, to do damage to the Swans given his less than rosy departure from there. And it was clear by his play that he placed his own need to rub their noses in it that we did not score. He had his back to the goal and had Benteke looking at a virtual tap in and he instead turned into the defender and shot ineffectually wide. Guys like that need their legs broken and their head examined. Sinclair should have been subbed for Gil at that very moment. Selfish-Scotty had himself plenty of other opportunities to be the hero but - you know what? The Soccer Gods will punish you when you put yourself above the right way of playing. When you put yourself above your team, the Soccer Gods will FIX YOU.

Here's the Plus / Minus

Team +44 (a really good number) -9 +35

In the First Half we were +18 / - 5 for a +13 (Not Good Enough and with 39% possession)

Second Half: + 25 / - 4 for a decent +21 (Enough - Normally - to score.)

Delph +7 / - 0 +7

Benteke + 5 / - 0 +5

Hutton +5 / -0 +5

Clark +4 / - 0 + 4

N'Zogbia +4 / - 0 + 4

Okore + 3 / - 0 + 3

---------------------------------(generally speaking a +3 or better indicates a good overall game for a player---------------------------

Agbonlahore +2 / - 0 + 2

Bacuna + 4 / - 2 +2

Cleverly + 1 / - 0 +1

Weimann (74) + 1 / - 0 +1

Westwood (67) +1 / - 0 + 1

Sinclair + 3 / - 2 + 1

Guzan + 4 / - 3 + 1

Sanchez (24) + 0 / - 2 - 2

WHAT WE LEARNED:

THE RIGHT SIDE CHEMISTRY SUFFERED A GROIN INJURY! As has been noted, the right side chemistry between N'Zogbia and Bacuna in recent weeks has a quiet something to do with the workmanship of Tom Cleverly. Cleverly, in the Sherwood Era at least, has been a quietly positive player who does not make mistakes. Sanchez, as Plus / Minus has told you OVER and OVER again makes key mistakes. SO. If you're gonna run Bacuna around N'Zogbia to get on the front foot, Sanchez has to be dependable. Otherwise you put immense pressure on Okore to be PERFECT. The game winning goal came from the midway line where Sanchez contested and lost the ball. The resultant pass gave Montero the edge on Bacuna, who was edging up the field. Montero had enough room for the cross and that was all she wrote.

IF YOU ARE A GOOD DEFENDER you resort to tackle battles only when you must. And then, you MUST win them or foul. Sanchez lost that battle and the race was on. I saw many good opportunities when Bacuna got the ball up high today, but many of them were balls that went OVER Sanchez and not THROUGH him. Okore made several nice ones, chipping the ball softly over the midfield to Leandro or Charles. I saw Delph spray more than one overhead to this area. I think I saw Sanchez make one such pass - so he wasn't hopeless, but damn near it.

SCOTT SINCLAIR'S WARTS HAVE NOW BECOME APPARENT! Plus / Minus sees Sinclair getting into good areas but his negative plays are almost all inside the six or thereabouts. This case is screaming out for a little Carles Gil competition, if'n you ask me. Now that Sinclair has shown his good side and his warts as well, I think he's going to be a good player for us on balance. Doesn't mean he can't have a rest. Nothing makes the play sharper than being denied an opportunity to play.

HUTTON WAS OKAY ON THE LEFT, BUT NOT DISCERNABLY BETTER THAN MATT LOWTON. Plus / Minus really thinks that Bacuna is misused as a right back. He's good there, but Hutton and he work really well together. While Lowton was not a smashing success, he was better than Cissokho over on the left. Meaning, Lowton allows you to move Bacuna up into the wing areas of the midfield, if you want. You can spell N'Zogbia. You can spell Sinclair. And all this flexibility is brought to you by Matt Lowton.

IF SANCHEZ IS IN THE STARTING XI, WE'RE GETTING BEATEN. Sanchez is death. He was far better in his spell at center back, because the game comes to him. When he's in an area and has to think in 360 degrees, bad things happen. If Sanchez is going to play again, it has to be in a place where the game is always IN FRONT of him. Center back would be a proper use for the man. But if Vlaar is better and Clark picks up his 10th yellow, well, then you use Vlaar.

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