The Unai Emery era at Aston Villa is off to an encouraging start, with Villa winning both of their league games under the new boss. More than just the six points, the victories over Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion marked the end of two unfortunate winless streaks.
Villa hadn’t beaten United at home in the league since 1995 before their 3-1 win, and the 2-1 triumph against Brighton was the club’s first away league win of the season.
Those two matches, as well as Villa’s 4-2 Carabao Cup defeat to Manchester United, have served as an evaluation period for Emery as he assesses his new squad. So, what will he have learned?
The players are buying in
It’s not unusual for a football team to instantly perform better when a new manager comes in, but Villa’s recent wins have been more due to the successful execution of a game plan than a simple increase in intensity.
It hasn’t been perfect and mistakes have been made, but it’s clear the players are understanding and buying in to whatever Emery asks them to do.
Despite limited training sessions to work with the players, Emery implemented a plan against Manchester United at Villa Park and away at Brighton which the players were able to carry out well enough to get results.
With more time on the grass, Villa’s players should only become more comfortable with Emery’s tactics and more adept at putting his plans into action.
He has quality attacking options
Villa’s attackers in particular look refreshed under Emery, showing the quality which was suppressed in Steven Gerrard’s ineffective system.
Leon Bailey, Ollie Watkins, Danny Ings, Jacob Ramsey and Emiliano Buendia all seem to have found new life and are looking like the talented players Villa fans knew they were.
Emery has found ways to get his playmakers in space and they’ve taken full advantage. It was especially pleasing to hear Emery discuss how he altered his game plan to suit Ings when Watkins was forced to miss the Brighton trip through illness.
The club will need to recruit another winger in January, with Bailey the only natural wide man in the squad at present, but Emery will have been pleased to find he has forward players with enough quality to succeed in his system.
He might need a new centre-back
At times, Emery demands a lot from his centre-backs. They need to be comfortable on the ball, and judging from the last few matches, Villa’s central defenders may not be up to the task.
Against Manchester United at Villa Park, they were able to play out from the back efficiently past a half-soaked press led by Cristiano Ronaldo, but when United pressed more aggressively in the cup tie and when Brighton did the same on Sunday, Villa struggled to cope at times.
During his time at Villarreal, Emery relied heavily on Pau Torres to help his team progress the ball, and Villa just don’t have that player right now.
Diego Carlos may be the answer, but will Villa be happy to sit on their hands and wait for him to recover from injury? Don’t be surprised to see a ball-playing centre-back prioritised in January.
The Villa Ramble 
Leave a comment