Stan Collymore makes ‘Desperate’ Emery admission during Aston Villa v Brighton
Stan Collymore has urged Unai Emery to make his Aston Villa side focus on clean sheets after they conceded an early goal against Brighton.
Villa got off to a poor start as they conceded after just 12 minutes on Monday (30 December) night at Villa Park with the game finishing 2-2.
The defending was poor from the Villans and not the only time this season that they have been caught conceding at a difficult time in the game.
Collymore feels this is something that needs to be addressed urgently by Emery as he posted on X: “Whatever happens tonight, Unai needs to come out and address early and late goals.
“If other clubs can talk with pride about clean sheets, defending properly and having as part of the philosophy, a desperate need to keep a clean sheet, so can a manager who’s won a lot of silverwear.
“We shouldn’t want to be lauded for 5-3’s every week, we should be more than happy to have 4 clean sheets on the bounce and still win. Zero wrong with aspiring for that.
“Too many managers think a clean sheet is some sort of luxury when if you get one you simple cannot lose a match.”
Aston Villa need to tighten up defensively
Although they have seen their form wobble a bit of late, Emery still has an extremely talented Villa side competiting well, even if the additional strain of the Champions League means their domestic form has sometimes been patchy.
However, it was a moment of poor defending to gift their opponents the lead on Monday and the time of the goal certainly highlighted a wider problem the Villans are facing this season.
Too many times, the West Midlands side are finding themselves conceding at difficult times in the game either putting them behind too early or giving them little time to get anything back.
Furthermore, Emery’s side have become synonymous with high-scoring games this term and while that is entertaining, it also highlights a lack of discipline at the back.
This Villa side are not the first to deploy this style of play but with an increased number of games this season, the boss should be looking at how his side can be tighter at the back and at times, prioritise a clean sheet and his side knicking a goal instead.
An early goal and a late goal against Villa tonight meant they came away with just a point despite leading going into the 80th minute which highlights the problem extent of the problem Collymore was speaking about.
In other Aston Villa news, the Villans are facing FA action after what Damian Vidagany did.
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