00:00It's time to talk about Aston Villa because Unai Emery has spent a fair whack of money this summer
00:04on some seriously special talent but he has also lost a few too. Now they've not started brilliantly
00:11but to me it's pretty obvious that their big gamble is going to pay off in the long term
00:15and it's all down to one man. I'm Jacob Olds for 442's resident tactician and this
00:21is how Unai Emery's tactical genius has done it again.
00:31This is how their team looked in the Europa League final last season. Five of those players
00:36in that starting 11 are no longer at the club and when that happens a lot of people start
00:40to question the logic. Why have you sold all your best players? Well, stay with me because
00:45it makes sense. The average age of all their departures in the summer comes to 28 years
00:50old. Lots of players come to the end of their peak years. Now that's not to say the likes
00:55of Oli Watkins, Uri Tielemans, Esri Konza aren't still great players and players who couldn't
00:59have contributed for Villa this season but when you consider Villa have had a fair bit
01:03of financial constraints over the last few years, selling these players in their peak
01:07before their value depreciates massively is really smart and means they can get the maximum
01:13price and help themselves out with the FFP, PSR, yada yada yada. Because with the new
01:18lads, their average age comes to 22 years old whilst Villa have made a net profit of just
01:23over 60 million euros. Which long-term leaves them in a position where yes, the season hasn't
01:28been brilliant in this very short period but over the coming months or the coming years they're
01:34in a position where they've got a bunch of these young talented players who fit the Unai
01:37Emery mould and they've made a lot of money which gives them more room to go and spend more
01:42money as the seasons progress.
01:48Almost poetically, Aston Villa's first league win of this season came through two of their
01:52summer recruits combining and playing brilliantly. And what made it even better was that Tottenham,
01:57who had had a lot of praise especially at the start of the summer, were the ones who were
02:01on the receiving end of that Villa battering. Now they were able to do this because the likes
02:05of Jackson and Manzambi perfectly fit into the front four diamond that Unai Emery loves. Manzambi is a
02:11multi-faceted player so he fits into that three roaming ten rule, plugging gaps wherever they pop
02:16up, and Jackson fits the mode of that complete mobile striker, stretching defences. But also
02:22link in play to get those narrow wingers Buendia and McGinn heavily involved. So as much as yes,
02:28Villa lost a lot of big key players over the course of that summer window, they replaced them with
02:32younger players who all fit into the Unai Emery structure that he's relied upon throughout his time
02:38at Villa. When Villa are in possession, you see a central box connecting two of the more advanced
02:42attackers and the two defensive midfielders, but there's not necessarily fixed positioning.
02:47Manzambi and McGinn have alternated their positions, which sucks in the wide Spurs winger slightly,
02:52whilst also pinning all three of the Tottenham midfielders. So that leaves Buendia on the opposite
02:58side 2v1 against the opposition fullback because he has his partner in fullback holding the width,
03:04meaning when he darts into the space beyond the Spurs midfield, he's free to receive and play,
03:09because his marker is split between two players, so he doesn't want to commit out. And neither of
03:15the Tottenham centre-halves want to step out either, because then Jackson will be 1v1.
03:19Now this isn't new at all to Aston Villa. For the whole time that we've seen Unai Emery in the
03:23Premier
03:23League, Villa have constantly used these overloads to create numerical advantages on altering sides of the
03:29pitch. They'll have the ball out wide and surround that player with plenty of secure options, leaving
03:35the other side under-loaded, allowing them to play backwards to then pull the opposition out,
03:39and then instantly spring forward to that side of the pitch that they have a spare man against
03:43an isolated defender. In this case, they have a right-hand side box, as we mentioned previously,
03:48and in doing this they commit five Spurs defenders to that side of the pitch. They then look to play
03:53horizontally, which then triggers three Spurs players to step out and creates this 2v1 on the right
03:59hand side of the box. So, when Buendia plays forward first time, both of these defenders are
04:04reacting after just reshuffling to try and handle the right-hand side overload, which causes mistakes
04:09and leads to Villa ending up with the ball inside the box in a four versus five. This is only
04:16possible
04:17because of these players being fit for Unai Emery's brand of football and profile-wise being exactly what
04:22he needs. As we know, despite many tactical intricacies, these moments where Villa can fill their own
04:29box and look to spring forward are still a huge part of Unai Emery's football, and Nicholas Jackson
04:34has taken that element of their football to a new level. Here, he could easily hold his position with
04:39a great angle to receive from his teammate and turn. Jackson loves the ball to feet and is a great
04:43ball
04:43carrier, so why not? Well, because he's incredibly intelligent with his decision-making. Instead, he
04:49notices Club Rouge have committed really, really high to try to create the horseshoe around Villa's box,
04:54but when they don't effectively counter-press, they just leave tons of space behind them against a
04:59centre-forward who has clocked a top speed of 34.1 kilometers an hour this season. So, when he sets
05:04off
05:05on his bike, he's beating them to any half-decent ball, and with the goalkeeper being reckless, he gets
05:09a little bit of luck and can score what is a pretty simple tapping. Now, to sum, that may be
05:14really bland,
05:14a really bit of unspectacular centre-forward play from Nicholas Jackson, but it really, really isn't.
05:22Jackson, as this centre-forward, is required to do the link-up play for his support in three,
05:26but also relentlessly move to stretch the opposition's back line. And that's what makes
05:30that goal so good, because Jackson will make that exact same run 10-15 times per game in the Premier
05:36League. I mean, he sits fifth for centre-forwards in the division, four sprints per 90. But not all of
05:42those sprints will result in a goal or even result in him getting the ball. But, if you make enough
05:48of them runs, you tend to have a mental effect on the opposition centre-halves, causing them to drop
05:52off and then gaps open up for that supporting three that he has. Or, if you make enough good runs,
05:58eventually someone will give you the ball. And if you do that, you're going to score a lot of goals.
06:03Which, I mean, is what Nicholas Jackson has been doing loads, because he creates himself some big chances.
06:07But to be fair, Vela don't even need big chances. I think we all know that by now.
06:14Super hit from a player that we know is capable...
06:17This Buendia goal had an XG of 0.02. Well, if we look at it closely, it's actually a pretty
06:23big
06:23chance. And to explain how, we need to rewind and look at where the assist comes from. Here,
06:28Hemmins has just run into the box, committing to Nali, and then stepping across Van Hecker to occupy him too.
06:33We then have a man on the edge of the box, pinning back the Zone 14 protector, also known as
06:38the bloke
06:39that closes down anything on the outskirts of the 18-yard box, which means when McGinn cuts this back,
06:43Buendia has time to set himself before Madison has even been able to make an effort toward the ball.
06:48So, now Buendia has decent separation from the nearest defender, and a pretty straight route to either side
06:53of the goal. And obviously, he finishes it brilliantly. But, as much as it's a great finish, you will see
06:59that same finish from Villa so many times throughout the season, because they use those very, very fast,
07:04committed forward runs to then drop it back into an area that is commonly seen as one of the hardest
07:09areas of the pitch to actually score from. But they do it so consistently, and they score so consistently.
07:14If you shoot from this area against a set-up defense, it's very likely that someone will get
07:18a nick on the ball and stop it from going goal-ward. If you instead stretch that defense and pin
07:23them back
07:24so that this player is now arriving onto a pass with space in front of him, and gaps in the
07:28opposition's box,
07:29then there's a much higher chance of that ball finding the back of the net. Which feels like pretty simple
07:34logic.
07:35But things like XG, well, for the majority anyway, don't consider those sort of factors in their frameworks,
07:41so it doesn't really appear up on stat sheets, sadly for Villa.
07:46But, for you lot who may look to criticize Aston Villa this season, it's important to keep in mind when
07:51you look at them
07:53overperforming their XG like they always seem to do.
07:55And you should also be keeping in mind the 442 YouTube channel once you've subscribed.
07:59We'll be back next week. See you in a bit.
