Credit: Imago

Villa News Speaking to Ian Darke

Thu 27 February 2025 20:40, UK

Aston Villa were left stunned in midweek from their heavy defeat and second-half capitulation at Crystal Palace.

The 4-1 defeat for Aston Villa at Selhurst Park (25 February) left Unai Emery wondering where to turn next, having levelled through Morgan Rogers early in the second half but been defensively abject.

Emi Martinez was also forced off through injury at half-time with substitute goalkeeper Robin Olsen conceding three in his 45-minute appearance, none through any real fault of his own.

Aston Villa formation change backfires on Emery

Emery has a decision to make, seeing as he opted to change from the 4-2-3-1 formation he has set up in every Aston Villa game since using a 4-4-2 shape against Leicester City back in August.

The first differing shape for six months backfired not only through Palace’s increasing impact on the first half, but saw Emery panic and revert to a back four when the plan started going south.

Supporters may now be worried as Aston Villa slip to 10th in the Premier League table, with a lot of financial eggs in the basket of qualifying for the Champions League.

TV commentator Ian Darke, exclusively speaking to Villa News, was surprised at the change of shape, but says it is partly down to the mounting injury issues.

“He was pretty locked into his shape, Emery, with the 4-2-3-1. I didn’t think there would come a time anytime soon when he would change that, only maybe late in games,” Darke said.

“He’s got so many good options, though, that he can maybe sometimes afford to switch things up. Andres Garcia played pretty well in his first game, but it’ll be interesting to see how he turns out.

“Sometimes, Aston Villa are a bit more brittle than you might wish and there aren’t many clean sheets. They have one of the best goalkeepers in the world but then a few defensive injuries have plagued them.”

Villa likely to switch back to preferred shape

Emery has spoken this week about Aston Villa and their attempts to juggle commitments in the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.

It’s a baptism back into the big-time, whereby it is fully expected of clubs to be able to handle fighting on multiple fronts deep into the campaign.

The Villans do still remain competitive in the league such is the tightness of the race for Europe – alongside the very high likelihood that five English clubs will earn Champions League qualification from this year.

Attention turns very quickly to the FA Cup on Friday night (28 February) with Cardiff City the visitors to Villa Park, and a very realistic quarter-final path on offer for Emery’s side.

It will be unpredictable and intriguing which players he elects to start, while it could be anticipated the Spaniard reverts back to his often-committed 4-2-3-1 for the coming weeks.