Jonty Banks

Sat 14 January 2023 12:30, UK

Aston Villa continued their fine start to life under Unai Emery as they clung on for an unconvincing 2-1 win against Leeds United at Villa Park.

Leon Bailey gave the hosts the ideal start when he finished off a well-worked counter-attack after three minutes with a curling left-footed strike from the edge of the area, before assisting Emi Buendia’s tap-in with a fixing strike from range.

Patrick Bamford put a dampener on proceedings with a late goal ten minutes from time, but Villa held on under a late barrage of pressure to nick a crucial three points and move level on points with Chelsea in tenth.

The win made it 13 points won from Emery’s first six league games since taking the reins from Steven Gerrard in the Villa dugout – a record that cannot be bettered by a single team in the Premier League.

Here Villa News takes a look at three things we learnt from the win against Jesse Marsch’s side.

All-action Moreno

Alex Moreno wouldn’t have expected to play such a large chunk of the fixture against the Whites, but after Lucas Digne was sidelined with a shoulder injury, he was thrown straight into the spotlight.

He faced a tough examination from Marsch’s side – that’s for sure – as they looked to expose any weaknesses or nerves on his Premier League debut, but the former Real Betis left-back thrived on the big stage.

Despite missing the first ten minutes of the match, Moreno still had the most touches of any Aston Villa player (80), produced one key pass and had two shots from within the Leeds penalty area. [Sofascore]

Emery was certainly right when he labelled the 29-year-old as a player capable of playing anywhere on the left-hand side, and it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see him deployed in more advanced positions once he adapts to Premier League life.

The Spaniard was happy to do his defensive duties but enjoyed bombing forward when the home side looked to counter in the second half. He came close to opening his Villa account when he lashed a shot inches wide of Illan Meslier’s near post after a rapid break of Emery’s front four, showing his ability not just to attack but have the whereabouts to pick his moments wisely.

This was a thoroughly impressive debut from Moreno, and Villa fans will be excited to see what is to come.

Soaking up the pressure

There seems to have been a distinct shift in Villa’s style of play since the arrival of Emery in December, with his side happy to soak up pressure for large periods of play before hitting their opponents on the counter-attack.

After taking the lead after three minutes in this exact style, the home side sat back and invited pressure onto themselves for large portions of the first half. Sky Sports’ graphic of the average positions of both sides in the first-half highlights just how defensively-minded Emery is.

Only centre-forward Danny Ings averaged a position outside his own half during the opening 45 minutes, while Leeds had eight players taking up positions inside the Villa half. This tactic paid dividends in the second half as Villa once again caught their opponents on the break and doubled their lead through Emi Buendia.

It is almost as if Emery want his opponents to lure themselves into a false sense of security by punching, punching and punching again to little resistance – much like Muhammad Ali famously did to George Foreman in The Rumble in the Jungle – before his side sting them on the break.

He set up like this in the 2-0 win over Spurs recently, allowing Antonio Conte’s side to have the bulk of possession before taking their two major chances through Douglas Luiz and Emi Buendia.

It might not be the prettiest tactic, but boy, is it proving effective.

The Governor

Kamara was quite simply brilliant in the middle of the park for Villa on Friday night.

The 23-year-old holds the lock and keys to all of Aston Villa’s best traits and has quickly made himself indispensable to Emery at the base of the midfield. His knack for snapping into tackles and regaining possession is something that goes massively under the radar.

Throughout his 90-minute masterclass, the Frenchman won six out of his seven ground duels, 100% of his aerial duels and made three successful tackles. Alongside doing the dirty work in defence, Kamara was extremely calm under pressure to maintain possession. [Sofascore]

This was personified in the opening two minutes of the game, as he received the ball from Ashley Young in his own half and proceeded to gallop his way through the Leeds defence. After running up to the edge of the Whites’ penalty area, he checked his run, sidestepped past Marc Roca and teed up Bailey to strike the ball home.

He completed his classy performance with a stoppage-time clearance from Leeds’ last-ditch corner, to which he was mobbed by his teammates. Oozed class and was a cut above the Leeds midfield all night long.

In other Aston Villa news, Dan Bardell believes Unai Emery must make the most out of a favourable run of fixtures if he hopes to climb up the Premier League table.