With Aston Villa in our best form since Unai Emery took charge, there have unsurprisingly been many positives to analyse alongside areas that still need improvement.
Villa are now unbeaten in our last four Premier League games, in which we’ve scored seven goals and conceded just one goal, while keeping three clean sheets.
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Further, that one goal that we did concede at West Ham came from the penalty spot, and so we’d have to go back to the 4-2 defeat at home to Arsenal on February 18 to when we last conceded from open play.
Unai Emery was understandably upset and disappointed after that game, which made it back-to-back 4-2 defeats at Villa Park having also suffered the same loss to Leicester City a fortnight prior, while a 3-1 defeat away at Man City was sandwiched in between.
Conceding 11 goals in three games evidently irked the Villa boss, but it was more so about the team not playing the way he wanted them to in terms of maintaining control and management of games over the course of 90 minutes to put ourselves in a stronger position to win.
Since Emery took charge, we’ve collected 26 points from our 14 league games, with eight wins, two draws and four defeats. We’ve scored in every single outing under the Spanish tactician, and we’ve come away with a +5 goal difference.
With that in mind, we’ve improved in just about every department while trying to develop and implement a new playing style that has needed time and patience for the players to adapt to and to successfully execute on a consistent basis in the way that Emery is demanding from them.
While we’re by no means perfect, in the last stretch of four games where we’ve gone unbeaten, we’re starting to really see that style and identity shine through. Villa have been more patient, composed and measured in possession to dictate the tempo of games and dominate the ball, while we’re able to speed up our passing as it progresses into the final third to create openings.
That has taken away the back-and-forth nature of games that would have infuriated Emery, and it’s perhaps fair to say he’s now seeing us as his team in terms of how he wants to prepare and approach games, but also how to execute a clear game-plan against different opposition.
We saw brief glimpses of what Emery was trying to establish with away wins at Tottenham and Southampton where we kept clean sheets in both games, but it was all too inconsistent at that stage as we leaked goals shortly after and had an afternoon to forget in the FA Cup.
However, now we’ve established defensive solidity and a hard-to-beat mentality that has been crucial to our progress in the past. With Emiliano Martinez keeping 33 clean sheets in 99 league appearances for the club, we know that when he and his backline are keeping clean sheets, it invariably gives our attacking players the foundation to go out and win games for us, and that’s what has been happening in recent weeks.
“First is to get the clean sheet and second is to win through the clean sheet, both are very important,” Emery said on Saturday, as per VillaTV. “Before the match against Crystal Palace, we conceded eight goals in two matches here, which was completely upsetting for us.
“We reacted very well. The last two matches, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, we achieved clean sheets and won. We played two very good matches and did it in a fantastic way.”
It starts from the front with the work ethic and commitment from Ollie Watkins, and it filters through to the midfield with the tenacity and awareness of the likes of John McGinn, Boubacar Kamara and Douglas Luiz.
However, we’ve now found an important balance in defence too with Matty Cash and Alex Moreno starting to cement their places in the full-back roles, either side of Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa and ahead of Martinez between the posts.
There’s a crucial mix of characteristics and strengths in that group, from aerial prowess and physicality to recovery speed and combativeness, and with the leadership, experience and reliability of Martinez, we’ve got a strong core to the group at the back.
Maintaining that between now and the end of the season is going to fundamental in our push to not only break into the top half of the Premier League table but perhaps even a European spot, and while we’re scoring goals and playing some great football under Emery which also provides entertainment, our defensive strength is a pillar on which we can build long-term success too.
