Last week I was central and this week I was on the right. “We’re quite versatile in the way that we play, a lot of players can play different positions. The interchanging of positions under Emery has revolutionised that, as McGinn alludes to: The defenders defended, the midfielders roughly stayed in a line and therefore, when things weren’t going well, the strikers became frustrated by the lack of service. Moving on from that, in early season Villa were far too rigid tactically.

The key is not how much you have the ball, but what you do with it. In their first four games after Gerrard left, Villa never once had more than 45 per cent possession and they won three times against Brentford, Brighton and Manchester United. Their highest possession totals were against Bournemouth (lost), Nottingham Forest (drew) and West Ham (lost). Under Gerrard in those 11 games, Villa had more of the ball in six of them. One interesting aspect of Villa’s improvement, vs where it went wrong under Gerrard, is how they chose to dominate possession or otherwise.

Villa won only two of their first 11 league games of the season, and both of those were tight victories over struggling teams (Southampton and Everton).įootball Sport Analysis Aston Villa’s two leaders are firing as Unai Emery solves the puzzle Steven Gerrard couldn't Read More Pretty much all of the bad stuff happened pre-November, when Emery was appointed. It also coincided with a vast improvement in Villa’s defensive record: between the turn of the year and late April they kept nine clean sheets. The redemption of Mings under Emery (and back into the England squad) is a joy. Not only did Steven Gerrard’s side struggle to keep clean sheets – four in his final 22 league games – but he stripped Tyrone Mings of the captaincy and dropped him from the team. Ramsey has scored in four different league wins under Emery.Īnd then the defence. Not trying to crowbar both into the same team allowed John McGinn and/or Jacob Ramsey to push higher up the pitch. Emery chose to build the creativity around Emi Buendia, certainly the right call given Coutinho’s performances. Slightly further back, another difficult decision made quickly: Philippe Coutinho, signed on a four-year deal last summer, has started one league game under Emery (a 4-2 home defeat against Arsenal). Football Sport Analysis Europe calls for Aston Villa and Brighton, the disruptors who won't have it so easy again Read More

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