View: Unai Emery must get Aston Villa on the front foot
To say it’s been a hectic week at Aston Villa would be underplaying what has been a significant couple of days both on and off the pitch.
Villa fans finally saw the end of Steven Gerrard’s reign at the club, although they did have to watch their side get thumped by newly promoted Fulham at Craven Cottage. The 42-year-old’s sacking then allowed us to see just how much the players had downed tools with Villa dismantling Fulham 4-0 on Sunday afternoon in their next fixture.
Finally, to top off a mad five-day period, Unai Emery was confirmed as the club’s new manager late on Monday evening after a compensation package was agreed upon with Villarreal.
Emery clearly has unfinished business in the Premier League after being a real success in Spain after his sacking by Arsenal. He is probably looking at the opportunity to manage Villa as a no lose situation. He is either a success or he doesn’t turn the ship around and simply goes back to Spain or Italy where he will undoubtedly pick up another top job.
One thing the Spaniard must do is not let Villa revert back to the rigidness which they displayed under Gerrard. They lacked anything going forward, and when mistakes at the back started to come to the fore, Gerrard had nowhere to hide.
Aaron Danks caretaker reign got off to the perfect start against the Bees, and it did feel as if he had quite literally taken the breaks off.
One key area that was a massive difference from Villa under Gerrard was their pressing. Passes per defensive action (PPDA) is the average number of passes an opposition side makes before they lose possession. It’s often the best way of assessing how well a team press.
On average this season, Villa have allowed the opposition 11.76 (Wyscout) passes before winning the ball back. However, against Brentford, they averaged 7.78. To put this into some context, in Gerrard’s last game they averaged 13.08, which demonstrates the difference in how Villa attacked and harassed the opposition.
Danks allowing the players to play on the front foot caused the Bees plenty of problems and saw Villa rack up their highest expected goals figure of the season (3.38), which is over double what they have averaged so far in the 2022/23 campaign.
What is intriguing is Emery’s Villarreal have been a slightly more possession-based, low-pressing side this season, which is somewhat similar to Gerrard’s Villa. The 50-year-old may be wise to keep the hand break well and truly off, after Villa’s performance against Thomas Frank’s side.
In other Aston Villa news, Ally McCoist has been left unconvinced by the confirmed appointment of Unai Emery