Unai Emery has been in post for over a year now and has overseen 51 matches in all competitions. He has not only changed the fortunes of this historic club, but also the way every Villa fan watches games.
Supporters know that patient passing moves around the back can become incisive, intrusive attacks in the blink of an eye, whilst the sight of an opposing player bearing down on goal is no longer a worry, as the inevitable flag will soon come from the Assistant Referee. But most of all, supporters know that they will turn up to matches safe in the knowledge that entertainment is guaranteed.
For all the patience and support that the team has been afforded, they have repaid it and more with a year of scintillating football and goals galore. In fact, they have scored a scarcely believable 98 goals under the man known as Mister.
Let’s delve into just a couple of the Villa goal scoring blueprints and reminisce on some memorable moments from the last year.
Words by: Joey Millington
Poetry in Motion
Cut-backs and low crosses are amongst the most aesthetic and simple looking goals in football. It has often been a go-to for the likes of Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Marcelo Bielsa, and Emery’s use of this manoeuvre has left Villa fans, including Ryan and the UTV team, purring at the artistry, the majesty, the tapestry.
It can look like a fairly straightforward goal to score, but the beauty is in the detail. Think McGinn versus Arsenal at the weekend, Coutinho against the same opponent in February or Ollie Watkins’ double against Newcastle at the back end of last season. Cash away at Burnley, Ramsey at the North Stand against Spurs and Luiz against the Cherries.
Are you starting to see a pattern?
After hypnotising opponents and pulling them around with intricate short passing, Villa’s full-backs and wide midfielders, including Cash, Moreno, Digne, Bailey and Diaby make darting runs down the side of their opponents defence.
With the precision of Luiz, Tielemans, Kamara and Torres who are capable of breaking the lines and finding an incisive pass, the wide players are found with what looks like unerring ease. Once the ball is out wide, Villa’s forward players swarm the box from all angles, picking up positions centrally on the six yard box, near the penalty spot and near the back post. All it needs is one of these to have half a yard and a simple finish presents itself.
And to add the cherry on top of the cake? When it does not reach a Villa player, a desperate defender may yet turn the ball into their own net. This was the unfortunate fate of Palace’s Joachim Andersen, Brighton’s Pervis Estupiñán and Luton’s Tom Lockyer. This has been one of Villa’s most important sources of goals, and when the timing is right, there are not many defences who can stop it.
Austin’s Powers
Under Dean Smith and Steven Gerrard, pundits, rival fans and even a handful of those of claret and blue persuasion had set about questioning the work of set-piece extraordinaire Austin MacPhee.
But those days are long gone after a series of innovative free kicks and corners have brought Villa back into tight matches and won some important points.
When he’s not watching Wayne’s World or cranking up Pearl Jam, the likeable Scottish coach spends hours trawling through data and videos to find weaknesses in leaky opposition defences and ways of exploiting less feeble rivals. On matchday, it is all worth it.
Whether it be subtle tactics like blockers, the sneaky use of decoy runners, or the more blatant and blunt move of sending John McGinn to go and bother the goalkeeper in the build-up, MacPhee has all the tricks in his book, and of course on his tablet too.
Villa were struggling against Spurs and Wolves before Torres found the net, albeit the latter of those was in the second phase of a set-piece, whilst Mings, Carlos and Moreno scored crucial goals in matches with Fulham, AZ and Legia respectively. The pick of the bunch may well be the clever routine that found McGinn unmarked on the edge of the box to open the scoring against Luton and he has even threatened to recreate the legendary swerving Roberto Carlos free kick of 1997. Watkins also has a handful, whilst Bailey found the net this year from a quickly taken throw in.
It has got to a point now where even MacPhee’s presence in the technical area has opponents quaking in their boots.
Direct free kicks are marginally better than they were, with Digne and Luiz efforts hitting the net last season. Before Digne’s delightful Man United dipper last November the most recent successful effort in the Premier League had come from Benteke in 2015. It was also the first in the league since Hourihane put the Rams to the sword in 2019.
If there is still a little bit of room for improvement with direct free kicks, the same cannot be said with penalties.
In Douglas Luiz, Villa have a calm head and an immaculate striker of the ball. It is a small sample size of four, but the roaming Rio man looks to have sorted any spot kick concerns after Watkins’ struggled to dispatch them with the required regularity.
Slick Counter-attacking
Experts often talk about the importance of team’s being a triple threat. Any side that is capable of creating after sustained possession, from a set-piece or from a quick counter-attack is one that you can never afford to lower your guard against.
One hundred percent of concentration is required one hundred percent of the time. Under Emery, this street-smart Villa side know when to press hard together to force an error and when to be patient and wait for a mistake. When the ball is won back, the Lions often have it in the net within two or three passes.
It may be a case of winning the ball in opposition territory like when Luiz and Watkins combined at the Etihad, or in the build-up to the Brazilian maestro’s flicked finish at Tottenham on New Year’s Day where only a quick pass or two are required. It may also be from far deeper, like Bailey’s exceptional ball carrying from deep in his own half before Watkins put Fulham to bed, or Kamara’s lengthy dash and clever pick out that saw Bailey provide the finish against Leeds.
Wherever Villa win the ball back, and they do win the ball back so well and so often, they can punish a team within seconds with electric dribbling, laser-guided passing and sharp finishing. It takes a brilliantly coached team to know not only how and when to set traps on opponents, but also find a way to quickly exploit that. Such ability means Villa are just as much of a threat in games that they dominate possession, as in ones where they have to cede control of the ball to their opponents.
No options? No problem!
What happens if full-backs block off your crossing channel? What happens if there are no options in the box? What do you do when you’re outnumbered by defenders? Well if you’re a wide forward at Villa, you drop the shoulder, cut inside and fire a shot at goal.
Of course the preferred method of scoring seems to be a ball across from out wide, but the likes of Leon Bailey and his former Bayer Leverkusen colleague Moussa Diaby are capable of deadly moments on the inside. The Jamaican has done so against the full-backs of Hibs, West Ham, Bournemouth and Man City, whilst Diaby did so against Legia and has threatened to do so again on a number of occasions.
Acquiring and correctly utilising wide men who can deliver with both feet, move from standing to sprinting in an instant and recognise when to pass and when to shoot has enhanced Villa dramatically as a varied and unpredictable attacking threat.
Exploiting Space
No team in the world likes to defend when the ball is played into acres of space behind with jet-heeled forwards running onto it. Well, no team except for Aston Villa, perhaps. With speedy forwards, willing runners and one of the most intelligent strikers in the league, Villa can always offer a threat in behind.
Unsurprisingly, Watkins has been the main beneficiary of such chances. His movement, timing and acceleration create a cocktail of nightmares for the Premier League’s less mobile central defenders, and he has found the net in such circumstances against Leicester away and both Brighton and West Ham at home. Ings against Wolves and Duran versus Hibs were also found in behind, with the former found well by Mings and the latter picked out superbly by Pau Torres.
Incisive passing at the right time is at the core to Unai Emery’s success and short intricate passes, dangerous pull backs and accurate direct balls are all equally important.
To have the likes of Torres, Kamara and Luiz playing the quarterback role when getting on the ball in deep areas, Villa do not have any shame in going in behind when an opportunity presents itself. Even Robin Olsen got in on the act at home to Legia Warsaw, when he picked out the onrushing Leon Bailey, who agonisingly found the underside of the bar with a deft chip.
Long may the punishing of high lines and sluggish defending continue! And long may our offside trap continue to flourish at the other end!
The Moment of Magic
For some managers, relying on individual brilliance is a central pillar of their philosophy.
For more, shall we say, studious managers it is just a happy by-product of happy players who know their importance to a team, play regularly in their natural position and work together towards a common goal.
Nevertheless, the irony will not be lost on many that the infamous ‘moments of magic’ have occurred far more regularly under the current incumbent who so frequently talks of the importance of the collective, than it did with the man who coined the term in the first place.
Villa have a squad littered with supreme quality and game changers. Whilst Moussa Diaby has been added in recent years, the majority of the squad have been there under a number of managers. It is in the last year that Bailey, McGinn, Luiz and Watkins have played their best football as individuals. Traoré popped up with a screamer late on against the Foxes, Digne has had his moments, including a delicious strike in Poland, whilst Duran scored a goal of the season contender when his side needed him to keep the home streak going against Palace.
Whilst the game plan is always clear and well thought out, the sprinkling of worldies in amongst the many carefully crafted team goals are a joy to behold and a testament to the morale and quality throughout the Villa dressing room.
What Villa fans are now witnessing, is a team capable of scoring from any position, and it is little wonder then that Emery is yet to oversee a 0-0 in his time as manager at Villa Park, whilst his troops have only failed to find the net in four of the 51 matches he has taken charge of.
Can you help support us?
Our non-profit and ad-free website, UTVPODCAST | The Website, is now accepting small donations to help support its continuous evolution and operating costs. We love creating this content for you and want it to be as successful as possible. If you can help; treat us to a coffee. Thank you.
Before you go, can I ask a quick favour?
We love producing content for you on our website, and we want to share it with as many Villa fans as possible. Consider mentioning our website next time you’re talking Villa with your friends, or better still, It’s free to subscribe to our profit-free site; you’ll receive instant email notifications of all released articles.
Plus, as with the website, no adverts or spam mail will be delivered to your mailbox; only our content. Thanks.
MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR: JOEY MILLINGTON
“Thank you for reading: any likes, retweets, or shares on the social media post where you found this article would be highly appreciated“.
“Are you on Twitter? Drop me a follow; all released articles will be posted to my feed”.
Click the icon below…
Author’s UTV PODCAST archive Joey Millington – UTV Podcast | An Aston Villa Blog
HUGE SAVINGS ON ASTON VILLA MERCHANDISE @ KITBAG
UTVPODCAST | The Website is pleased to partner with Official AVFC Store, Fanatics, and Kitbag. Throughout the season, we will bring you exclusive offers and discount codes.
