View: Unai Emery should target new goalkeeper for his Aston Villa system

It’s been a perfect start to Unai Emery’s reign at Aston Villa with two Premier League wins on the spin to lead the Villans into the World Cup break in 12th position.

Victories over Manchester United and Brighton have raised expectation levels again after a poor start to the campaign under Steven Gerrard.

There are plenty of reasons to be happy at the moment, but there could well be one issue which has already begun to arise during the Spaniard’s time in charge.

Aston Villa

Villa have conceded six goals in Emery’s three games, and two of them have come from almost identical scenarios. The 51-year-old has clearly asked his side to be confident on the ball and build from the back.

However, Bruno Fernandes’ goal for Manchester United in the Carabao Cup was the first example of playing out from the back backfiring for Villa.

Robin Olsen receives the ball with enough time to either play the ball to Tyrone Mings or look to hit the long ball to the fullback. Instead, Olsen opts to play into Boubacar Kamara who is the close proximity to three Manchester United players.

As the image above shows, Olsen fails to play the simple pass to the midfielder, who is then pressed by the United players, who notice an opportunity could arise.

Villa end up relinquishing possession in a dangerous area before the ball eventually ends up in the back of their net after Fernandes’ clever finish.

What is concerning for Emery, is that a similar scenario happened at Brighton with Emi Martinez at fault at the Amex.

Within the first minute of the match, the Argentine finds himself in a similar position with three options to use whilst playing out from the back. Martinez unfortunately delays for too long, which means he should have gone long to a striker or a full-back.

However, instead of taking the risk-free option, Martinez opts to use Douglas Luiz who is under pressure from the Brighton midfielder. The pass into the Brazilian isn’t the best and leaves him with little chance when he is challenged from behind.

When Brighton eventually win the ball, there are four players all within 20 meters of each other in what is a relatively easy chance for them to take the lead.

If Emery wishes to play this way, he may well need to look at bringing in a goalkeeper who is able to distribute the ball better than Martinez and Olsen. Playing out from the back can be an excellent way to exploit gaps and it’s something the Spaniard should persist with.

But if Villa concede regularly from poor passes out from their goalkeepers, it could be damaging for the 51-year-old. It’s certainly something for him to consider in January.

In other Aston Villa news, Matty Cash is stunned by Danny Ings after his quick start under Unai Emery