As the first half of our FA Cup tie with West Ham played out, it felt as though there was a growing sense of deja-vu for Aston Villa, particularly when playing at home.
The Hammers were organised and disciplined in the opening 45 minutes, as they came with a clear gameplan in Graham Potter’s first game in charge.
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To their credit, they executed that gameplan very effectively, but from a Villa perspective, it was hugely frustrating to watch such a dire first half play out as we not only fell behind, but showed very little sign of being able to find a breakthrough to get back into the game.
Just as we have done on many occasions this season, especially at home, we ultimately found the answers to turn it around and secure the win, but with more and more teams playing against us with a similar approach and set-up of defending deeper in numbers with players packing the middle of the pitch to cut off our passing lanes, we must continue to evolve and add different dynamics to our system and personnel.
Everything from Villa in the first half was played in front of West Ham. We couldn’t pick holes in their defensive shape and with a lack of movement and penetrative runs in behind, we also made it easy for them to deal with us.
The ball would consistently find its way back to Tyrone Mings, and with our midfield pivot being marked closely and unable to free themselves of the shackles in that scrap, it was painful viewing at times with Ian Maatsen emerging as our only out ball, only for it to find its way back to Mings and our backline time and time again.
On one hand, Emery will rightly say that we were controlling tempo and possession, and we were forced to be patient as we probed and looked for an opening.
However, combine that with a lack of tempo, intensity, urgency and creativity, it puts us in a dangerous position where we leave ourselves vulnerable to conceding on the counter attack with the game still finely balanced, and especially with our porous defence continuing to leak soft goals, it’s not a good combination.
Emery’s tactical influence was immediate in the second half, with Boubacar Kamara dropping in as a right-sided defender in a back three when we had possession, and that in turn created space and freedom for Villa to get down the right side and not only threaten, but also stretch the pitch.
A key knock-on effect of that was space through the middle that we could exploit, as seen in the second goal, which was the quintessential Emery goal with the way we played through the lines with tempo and precision to cut through West Ham at speed, and ultimately finish the game.
There was a similar aspect in that goal and our opener against Leicester with Ollie Watkins peeling off into the channel and stretching the opposition defence in the lead-up, and so when we play with tempo and have movement off the ball with players either showing for it or making a run in behind to force the opposition to shift their position on the pitch, we have a significantly higher chance of finding breakthroughs.
Emery has shown through countless tweaks that he has made over the past two years that he is a master of in-game management, whether that’s through our tactical set-up or making personnel changes and getting the timing just right.
It’s hoped that continues, but it would certainly also help if we stopped conceding soft goals, particularly early in games to fall behind, as that ties in with the points made above with teams then prepared to sit back and defend in numbers, leading to our frustration as we search for a way through.
Scoring the first goal in games is critical for Villa as it then opens up the opposition who have to come out and play to get back into it, that then leaves spaces we can exploit and allows Emery to weave his unquestionable magic.
