Unai Emery must learn from glaring issue in Brentford loss, it could cost Aston Villa
Aston Villa’s loss on Saturday exposed a clear problem for Unai Emery’s side against deep-set defences.
Villa were beaten 1-0 by Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, with Dango Ouattara’s early goal enough to separate the sides.
The home side looked to have taken a two-goal lead just before half-time before the goal was disallowed, with an official statement from the Premier League confirming Emi Martinez was fouled.
Emery elected to continue with John McGinn on the right over Donyell Malen, which prompted some confusion among Villa fans.
Aston Villa struggle to break down Brentford defence
Last season, many of Villa’s goals came from efficient work in the transition, with the pace of Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins proving difficult to stop.
But Brentford looked to prevent that by sitting deep and hitting Emery’s side on the counter-attack, which worked to great effect.
It was just one long ball from the goalkeeper that created the home side’s opener, with Ouattara racing onto Igor Thiago’s flick-on.
Martinez made a good save from the forward’s initial effort, but was powerless to prevent the follow-up effort.
| Brentford | Match stats | Aston Villa |
| 9 | Shots | 17 |
| 2 | On target | 2 |
| 2 | Goalkeeper saves | 1 |
| 1.27 | Expected goals | 1.23 |
And once ahead, Brentford looked to stop anything coming their way from the visitors.
Unbelievably, Villa ended the game having enjoyed 76 per cent possession, generating 17 shots from over 500 passes – in comparison, Brentford completed 126.
But for all their apparent domination, the Villans could not create a single big chance, building up just 1.23 expected goals over the 90 minutes.
In fact, just 0.84 of Villa’s expected goals came from open play, with Emery’s side going close on just a couple of their nine corners.
Unai Emery must abandon narrow system
Often the greatest way to break down a deep-set defence, is to stretch the defenders out wide.
Such systems are deployed to keep the middle of the pitch congested, with centre-backs and defensive midfielders crowding around the edge of the box and preventing direct entry.
In that sense, Emery’s set-up was found lacking. The Spaniard opted for McGinn and Rogers on the right and left, with both players spending the bulk of their time on the pitch on the inside.
This left Villa lacking very little in the wider areas, with Brentford free to sit on the edge of their box and welcome the pressure.
Emery brought on wider players late in the game but the damage was already done, and the Spaniard must learn from it.
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