View: Aston Villa must be braver when defending after defeat v Arsenal
Aston Villa suffered another Premier League defeat against table-topping Arsenal on Wednesday evening and Steven Gerrard will be ruing soft defending in the lead-up to the Gunners’ goals.
Goals from Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli were enough for Mikel Arteta’s side to secure all three points and Villa’s timid defending was a big contributor to Arsenal’s success.
The pressure is really starting to mount on the Villa boss with the club now 19th in the Premier League after three successive defeats.
The lead up to Arsenal’s first goal demonstrates how Villa’s defenders lack agression and confidence in their defending at present.
The image below shows Martinelli picking the ball up on the left wing.
He isn’t pressurised by Matty Cash at all, which allows the Brazilian winger to carry the ball towards the box unchallenged.
There are four Villa players behind the ball and Ezri Konsa (circled) should realise that he is able to shuffle over to enable Cash to engage Martinelli.
If the Brazilian goes round Cash Konsa could have easily cleared the ball had he been more proactive in his defending.
It’s a very similar scenario in the next phase of play with a number of Villa’s midfielders allowing Granit Xhaka to move into the box unmarked.
Konsa doesn’t get anwhere near tight enough to the Arsenal midfielder and allows him far too much space in the box.
Ultimately, Villa’s defenders need to be more alert and agressive when the ball is close to their goal.
Xhaka has time to turn, take a touch and shoot at Emi Martinez in the Villa net.
The image below displays the lack of defemnsive urgency in the Villa back line.
After Martinez’ mistake, three defenders don’t react and allow Jesus the easiest of finishes to put the Gunners 1-0 up.
Martinez must do better in this situation, with his save going staight to the in form Arsneal striker, but the build up to the goal is a prime example of what is going wrong for Gerrard and Villa at the moment.
They’re going through the motions defensively and not showing any leadership.
Diego Carlos’ injury has clearly had an impact, but allowing a top six side ample room and time is always going to make life hard.
Gerrard desperately needs for his players to start showing leadership, intelligence and agression, otherwise these poor results will keep on coming.
In other Aston Villa news, Paul Merson says the club have cup finals to come with Gerrard under pressure