Unai Emery must find solution as shocking Aston Villa record emerges after Go Ahead Eagles loss
Aston Villa were handed their first loss in regular time since the end of August by Go Ahead Eagles on Thursday.
Despite Evann Guessand‘s early goal, Villa lost 2-1 to Go Ahead Eagles, putting an end to what had been a perfect Europa League record so far.
Mathis Suray and Mats Deijl scored either side of half-time for the home side, who now join Villa on six points out of nine already.
Unai Emery had made seven changes against Go Ahead Eagles, with Harvey Elliott once again left out of the team.
Jadon Sancho impressed on against Go Ahead Eagles, and was among the few players to walk off the pitch with any reason to be positive.
Emi Buendia continues shocking Villa run
It had been a dismal display from Villa, who allowed Go Ahead Eagles back into the game despite a dominant opening period.
Guessand, Ollie Watkins and Emi Buendia had all enjoyed superb chances to add a second in the first 30 minutes, but a lapse in concentration allowed Suray to equalise.
Aston Villa dominated the stats like possession, expected goals, shots, big chances and corners by a mile, but were made the pay in Deventer.
| Go Ahead Eagles | Match stats | Aston Villa |
| 30% | Possession | 70% |
| 0.83 | Expected goals (xG) | 2.4 |
| 5 | Shots | 18 |
| 3 | Shots on target | 7 |
| 2 | Big chances | 5 |
| 1 | Corners | 10 |
Into the second half, and the home side’s response only grew. Deijl charged through the Villa back-line to get on the end of a long ball and put Go Ahead Eagles into the lead.
But in the 79th minute, Villa were offered a lifeline. Matty Cash refused to give up on a wayward cross, and volleyed the ball back into the outstretched arms of Dean James.
The referee pointed to the spot, and Buendia stepped up before firing a terrible effort well over the bar.
Emery held his head in his hands, but the Spaniard may well have known what was coming. Of Villa’s last thirteen penalties, the first of those coming last year, an appalling seven have failed to find the net.
Just two of the spot kicks that did go in were taken by players still at Villa – Marcus Rashford scored two last season, while Marco Asensio and Jhon Duran also found the net from the spot.
Either way, it’s a shocking stat at this level.
- Read more: Martin Keown raves about ‘Wonderful’ Aston Villa midfield star after what he did vs Go Ahead Eagles
Do Aston Villa have any good penalty takers?
It is difficult to suggest a solution to Villa’s penalty problem, because Emery has little choice.
Buendia was selected to take the penalty against Go Ahead Eagles despite scoring just one in his career, for Norwich City in the 2020-21 season.
Watkins took the Villans’ last penalty, against Bologna, and also missed, with Youri Tielemans the only other player in Emery’s squad to have taken one recently (he also missed).
Sancho may well have taken the penalty, had he still been on the pitch. The winger has taken 11 throughout his career, including at the youth level, according to Transfermarkt, scoring 10 times.
Famously, however, his most infamous penalty came at Wembley, when the forward was one of the three England takers to miss their penalties in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.
Nevertheless, Villa have a problem. And even if Emery must conduct days’ worth of penalty training, it will be worth it.
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