Aston Villa secured a 2-1 win over Leicester City this weekend as we started the new year with three points at home.
Ross Barkley eventually found a breakthrough in what was a scrappy, battling encounter just before the hour mark, but Villa’s lead lasted just five minutes as Stephy Mavididi drew the visitors level.
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Despite our struggles, we were able to find another goal as Leon Bailey sealed the victory, and so the win keeps us in amongst the group tightly stacked together in the top half of the Premier League table.
Villa’s focus switches to the FA Cup on Friday night, but hopefully we can build momentum after this result as well as making improvements to our performance.
Lack of creative spark root of Villa’s problems in first half
While we were content with being patient and biding our time in the opening stages, we ultimately didn’t create enough or threaten Leicester’s goal with any sustained pressure or quality play.
That in turn led to a drop in our tempo and intensity halfway through the first half, and that’s usually when negative things happen and we end up conceding a soft goal.
Fortunately on this occasion we didn’t, but against a side defending well in their structure and shape with numbers and congesting the middle of the pitch, we struggled to create any clear-cut opportunities and that is something that Emery will look to find solutions for.
Frustratingly, when we did eventually start creating openings, we once again lacked a ruthlessness about our play to kill the game off, and that will cost us in the future.
Barkley continues to make important contribution
That’s now four goals and two assists in 23 appearances for the 31-year-old, as he continues to make a vital contribution this season when called upon.
He was one of the few Villa players who was able to add fluidity to our play with his technical ability and quick release when distributing, and he capped that off with a wonderful strike to break the deadlock.
With John McGinn now sidelined by injury, it will be interesting to see if that opens the door for Barkley to feature more regularly, as he has certainly staked his claim for a bigger role once again.
No clean sheet yet again as Villa’s defensive issues continue
The wait for that elusive clean sheet goes on as Villa couldn’t shut Leicester out as we conceded in disappointing fashion again just minutes after taking the lead.
From Ollie Watkins losing possession cheaply to Villa players getting back into the box and outnumbering Leicester’s attackers, but not being able to deal with the threat, it was a poor goal to concede.
Overall, there was an improvement in our discipline and organisation with Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa back in the heart of the defence, but in a game where we struggled to get going in attack, we can’t afford to concede straight after scoring and subsequently force everyone to start from scratch again.
Maatsen makes crucial impact off the bench
The game was screaming out for more width from Villa as everything was so tightly packed in the middle of the pitch and we were struggling to play through Leicester.
While Lucas Digne gave us an outlet on the left and defended well, he didn’t really attack with conviction or positive intent enough, while he was unable to pick out a teammate with one of his many crosses.
Maatsen was eventually introduced, and within seconds of coming on, he showed great intensity to force the mistake by applying pressure high up the pitch, before exchanging passes with Jacob Ramsey and producing the assist for Bailey’s winner. Hopefully, the Dutchman has made his point in getting more minutes now.
Hugely important goal, moment for Bailey
This was a real struggle for the Jamaican international, as it was visible how the confidence was just being drained out of him again as he couldn’t get anything going.
He lost possession cheaply, the weight of his passes was off, he was dribbling to nowhere and in a game where width and an attacking dynamic down the flanks was fundamental to find a breakthrough, he wasn’t delivering.
Emery kept faith in him though when many other coaches would perhaps have replaced him, and that was rewarded with the winner. That now has to be a catalyst for Bailey to get his confidence and form back, as we can’t continue to see him struggle when he’s so important to how we play and create goalscoring opportunities.
