Unai Emery made first major tactical mistake as Aston Villa boss with selection of midfield duo v Wolves
Unai Emery has already proven himself a shrewd tactician in his early days as Aston Villa manager, but he might rue one particular selection decision he made in the loss to Wolves.
The Villans’ charge for European football ground to an alarming halt on Saturday (6 May) as the Spaniard’s side were edged out in a bitterly disappointing 1-0 defeat to Wolves at the Molineux Stadium.
Despite showing flashes of promise in defeat, they came few and far between, especially for a side who had lost just one match in their prior 11 Premier League outings.
A major factor for both the blunt attack and Villa’s vulnerability in defence was Emery’s decision to mix it up in the middle of the park, dropping Leander Dendoncker to the bench and playing John McGinn and Douglas Luiz as a two-man midfield.
Against a Wolves side who were battered 6-0 by Brighton last weekend, Villa offered up far too much freedom in the midfield, and gifted far too many chances to a side who were supposedly shot of confidence.
Over the course of the season, Villa have always set up with one defensively-minded midfielder – usually Dendoncker or Boubacar Kamara – and one more advanced player.
However, in the West Midlands derby, McGinn and Luiz were caught in two minds time and time again, with neither player seemingly knowing exactly what their roles were and who was going to take the bull by the horns in the final third.
During the game, McGinn managed to win just four of 11 duels and was dribbled past four times as Mario Lemina and Ruben Neves took control of the midfield battle.
Furthermore, the Scot struggled to offer any creativity going forward, accumulating an expected assists total of just 0.04, failing to make a single key pass or shot on goal.
Luiz’s numbers don’t read much better.
The Brazilian looked a little uncomfortable throughout his 85-minute showing, losing the ball 14 times, failing to chip in with a single tackle, interception or clearance and recording his second-worst WhoScored rating (6.08) since Emery arrived at Villa Park.
What is interesting to note is that this was the first time all season that Luiz failed to make a tackle or interception in a Premier League match, further hinting towards the dysfunction of Aston Villa’s midfield.
Although not a glaringly obvious error, Emery’s decision to drop Dendoncker from the starting lineup could be one he looks back on in anguish if the club miss out on European football.
In other Aston Villa news, here is how we rated the players for their performances in the 1-0 loss against Wolves.