Five key talking points as Villa salvage point after capitulation vs Brentford

Aston Villa rescued a point in a 3-3 draw with Brentford on Saturday, after throwing away a two-goal lead in the second half.

Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers put us in a strong position to go on and seal all three points, but the visitors struck back with three goals in nine minutes as we were nowhere near good enough defensively.

READ MORE: What Unai Emery said in assessment of Villa’s frustrating draw vs Brentford

Fortunately, Watkins scored his second of the game to ensure the spoils were shared, but that won’t mask the disappointment of Villa’s inability to hold on to the lead and ultimately ending up dropping two points.

At such a critical stage of the season, we simply can’t afford these types of collapses, and although the team deserve credit for battling back and getting a draw, it’s still a huge disappointment for all concerned that we squandered such a commanding position in the game.

Villa still lacking ruthlessness of a top side

While we’ve been clinical on many occasions this season and picked up excellent results, there have been a few games where we’ve lacked the ruthlessness and decisiveness at both ends of the pitch to really show we’re developing into a top team.

As Watkins emphasised in his post-match interviews, whether it’s a lack of maturity, game intelligence or big team mentality, if we want to kick on to the next level, these are games we simply can’t drop points in, especially given the commanding position we were in.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned, and Emery will hopefully get his solutions and ideas across to the players to address our issues and rectify them as soon as possible, as it will hold us back from reaching that next level.

Emery has work to do with defensive issues

That’s now seven goals conceded in our two league games this week, and some of the defending on Saturday afternoon was absolutely woeful.

All three goals came down our right side, while the marking in the box was shambolic as Brentford exposed our frailties time and time again over the course of nine minutes.

Villa have to get back to being defensively solid, as if we haven’t got that foundation to build on and go out and win games, we’ll continue to come unstuck against teams with talent up front. Injuries across the team are limiting what Emery can do, but Ezri Konsa looked increasingly exposed at right-back in the second half, while the marking from Diego Carlos, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne will certainly be reviewed during the week.

Watkins back in the team, back among the goals

That’s now 28 goal involvements for the Villa frontman this season, 18 goals and 10 assists, a tally that no other Villa player has ever managed previously.

It was a different challenge for Watkins in this one, as with Brentford sitting so deep and in numbers, he wasn’t able to exploit space in behind, and instead had to battle in the box.

He produced two fine headed finishes which provided to be critical, and it’s great to see him back in the side and scoring after his injury setback last week.

Midfield headache again next week

With his 97th minute caution, Douglas Luiz is now suspended for our next two league games, against Arsenal and Bournemouth respectively.

It was a silly booking in truth, and the Brazilian international knew it immediately based on his reaction.

Now, Emery has another decision to make with his midfield. He opted to play John McGinn in the advanced role this weekend, with Youri Tielemans continuing to partner Luiz in the middle. Although both McGinn and Tielemans registered an assist, there is something still off about the balance in the side when we don’t have that imposing, tenacious and physical figure to add a balance with the technical quality.

Ideally, we’ll see Tielemans and McGinn now form the midfield partnership, with Moussa Diaby perhaps well placed to come back into the side to provide support behind Watkins.

Rogers off the mark in a Villa shirt

Although the result leaves a bitter taste in mouths, there was a major positive and stand-out moment in the game, with Rogers getting his first goal for the club.

It was a brilliant touch and finish from the 21-year-old, who looks to be continuing to improve as he adapts to Emery’s structure and demands.

With Jacob Ramsey ruled out for the rest of the season, Rogers will likely have a more prominent role, and so it’s crucial we see him making consistent progress and developing his game to become a pivotal presence in the side.