Aston Villa's worrying habit strikes again in Manchester United collapse
Aston Villa surrendered a two-goal lead twice on Sunday as they drew 4-4 with Manchester United, and no Villa fans will have been surprised to see an implosion at Old Trafford based on the club’s terrible record there.
Beyond another case of the Old Trafford hoodoo, Villa’s double capitulation was a continuation of a concerning trend early in the season.
In their last five Premier League games, Unai Emery’s side have now lost a lead five times: twice against Man United and once against Fulham, Manchester City and Brentford.
They were able to recover to beat Man City, but have dropped six points due to not being able to hold onto a lead. Had Villa held on in all three of those games, they would be sitting on 19 points instead of 13 and would be 4th in the table instead of 10th.
It feels very un-Villa in Emery’s tenure, as they have historically done a good job of shutting the door once they have taken the lead, especially at home. It will therefore be concerning that two of the three instances of dropping points from a winning position have come at Villa Park.
Emery spoke recently about the fact he is encouraged by the team’s progress after so much squad turnover in the summer, but that he was still worried because they had lost opportunities for points early in the season which they cannot get back.
For a team which hopes to qualify for the Champions League, every point could matter at the end of the season, and these victories that turned into draws could be critically damaging. It is a trend Emery has to find a way to reverse moving forward.
There have been some really insightful conversations online this week about how Emery becomes more conservative once his teams take the lead, which arguably invites opponents back into the game.
The strategy has worked just fine for Villa in recent years, but as everyone knows, a lot has changed in terms of personnel. Ezri Konsa and Lucas Digne are gone from the back line, while Youri Tielemans was also sold and Amadou Onana is out injured in midfield.
Villa have certainly made errors leading to goals this season, but it does not feel like their defensive issues are necessarily tied to individual players. It feels more of a structural issue.
This team seems more built to play in transition and create dangerous attacks quickly than last year’s side, which was often stodgy in the final third.
Leaning into this identity can make matches feel like a basketball game, which is the opposite of what Emery wants, as he seeks to dictate games rather than make them chaotic, sitting in a deeper block out of possession rather than pressing high.
Right now though, his attempts to control matches are not working as Villa are surrendering a tremendous amount of quality chances on a weekly basis despite being passive defensively.
Either the players simply need time to adapt and improve, or Emery needs to tweak his philosophy to some extent. At this point it is difficult to say if the first strategy will work out, or if Emery is willing to entertain the second idea.
However they do it, Villa must find a way to be more solid defensively if they are going to achieve their goals this season, and that will surely be the focus of Emery’s mind during the international break.
