Aston Villa: Unai Emery tactical shift emerges to stop Manchester City star Erling Haaland
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery won’t repeat the tactical mistake he made against Tottenham when they face Manchester City, according to Alan Hutton.
Villa make the trip to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday (3 April) knowing a win would see them strengthen their grip on a place in the Premier League top-four and massively boost their chances of qualifying for the Champions League.
Emery came in for some criticism following the Villans’ defeat to Spurs before the international break for moving to a back three to combat Ange Postecoglou’s side. The change of shape didn’t work out and Tottenham ran out 4-0 winners.
While Hutton doesn’t expect Villa to stray away from the style that has served them well this season, he believes Emery may adopt similar tactics from his win against Ajax to try and thwart Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne.
“I’d be very surprised if he went from playing the way that he does to having a low block just outside his box,” Hutton told Villa News.
“I just can’t see it. I think it was the Ajax game at home where the defence dropped from the halfway line about 10 or 15 yards and that was the first time I’d seen it. I didn’t think Ajax were much of a threat, but they had Brobbey who can run in behind.
“Whether they adopt that tactic and drop 10 yards from where they usually are to not leave as much space for the likes of Haaland and De Bruyne, that could be the way.
“But I don’t think they’ll play the way some teams do and just drop the edge of the box, it’s just not in their DNA. It’s interesting to see how he attacks it because they can rip you apart and that’s what they’re waiting for.
“They did have a really good result away at home, so they’ve shown that they can do it. It should be an interesting game.”
Will Aston Villa qualify for the Champions League under Unai Emery?
This is arguably Villa’s toughest test of the season as not only are they facing the Premier League champions away from home, but they’re doing it without their star man Ollie Watkins who has been ruled out with injury.
But as Hutton suggested, Emery’s side have already shown this season that they are more than capable of beating Pep Guardiola’s outfit. All they have to do is replicate that performance again to give them a chance to claim all three points.
Hopefully, the Villans will be able to produce another Premier League upset and pull off something special at the Etihad, but they need to be less tactically naive than they were against Tottenham.
In other Aston Villa news, Hutton believes Emery will listen to offers from Bayern Munich after Xabi Alonso’s latest announcement
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