Aston Villa’s Premier League matches frequently resemble a badly-constructed sandwich.
It was epitomised by Monday night’s 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion. For the majority of games — the sandwich filling — Villa are more than palatable. But what should hold it together, the footballing bread, lets the whole thing down.
To simplify the analogy, Villa are underperforming at both the start and end of games. The pattern is now unmistakable. Villa start hesitantly, particularly defensively. Brighton’s opening goal, 12 minutes in, felt so rudimentary yet so familiar. It stemmed from a simple long ball over the top and was the 11th time Villa’s opponents have scored with their first shot on target in 19 Premier League games this season.
No team has been as porous in the opening stages, with Ipswich Town the next highest (nine). Worryingly, given Unai Emery views Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth as fellow competitors in the quest for a European place of any kind, both of those teams have been the most solid in restricting opponents’ first shots on target to low-quality efforts (two goals).
Emery’s side continue to start and finish games poorly (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
To their credit, Villa fought back well as they tend to do at home. It has had to be an inherent strength of theirs, owing to the inability to stop leaking goals. Two clean sheets in the previous 23 league matches means Villa have grown accustomed to needing to find a response.
Villa attacked purposefully and when Morgan Rogers scored soon into the second half, they led 2-1.
But then some small but damaging quirks were allowed to take hold. Having been largely comfortable, momentum shifted. Just as they were guilty of in Nottingham a fortnight earlier, Villa were troubled by the attacking substitutions of Brighton, which brought greater pace and directness.
Tariq Lamptey equalised in the 82nd minute — the 11th goal Villa have conceded in the final 15 minutes of a league match this season and for the fourth game in succession.
No top-flight side has shipped more in this period of a game, with Villa conceding early and late through repeatable scenarios.
Brighton’s first, for example, came from a simple long ball forward. Diego Carlos stepped out to follow Julio Enciso.
In doing so, he vacated the space for Brighton’s forwards to run into and left Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa running back towards their own goal, defending two-against-two.
Simon Adringa then cut inside and scored. In one long pass, Villa were undone — just as they were at Fulham, in October, after five minutes. On that occasion, goalkeeper Bernd Leno launched a ball forward and Villa’s backline were left to chase.
Emery apportioned the blame for Brighton’s goal on defenders being too deep and consequently not catching attackers offside.
Frankly, though, Brighton’s formation preyed on Villa’s vulnerability at the start of games.
They began in a 4-2-4, with a front four all in one-v-ones against Villa’s backline. A lack of cover meant every defender had to win their duels or be immediately at risk. It is typically at the start of matches where defenders are least likely to read danger, illustrated in November by Crystal Palace’s goal against them less than four minutes in.
“It’s difficult,” said Emery after. “The first goal today we conceded was one example. I told the players we were starting lower (deeper) than we needed in the first twenty minutes. But I don’t know (why).”
An odd openness has been the root cause of conceding early. It had only been four days since Villa trailed in less than 90 seconds to Newcastle United. Boubacar Kamara lost the ball, with Newcastle somehow having an immediate route to goal. Joelinton offloaded a pass to Anthony Gordon who was invited to cut onto his right foot and score.
“At Newcastle we conceded in minute two. Why? I know why,” said Emery. “We have to continue analysing. We are conceding a lot of goals. This is one of the responsibilities I have to try and correct this.”
Both Villa and Brighton’s brittleness contributed to a fast but loose game. Each had several transition-based scenarios which lent itself to Villa’s attacking strengths. Leon Bailey has been void of confidence and quality of late but completed nine of ten dribbles, the highest success rate of any Premier League player with that number of attempts since Eberechi Eze in April 2023.
Although Villa have only lost once at home this season in the league, there was a sense of anxiety around the stadium. Frustration spilled out easily, quality on the pitch did not.
Lamptey’s goal was the exception to the norm, with a flowing, well-crafted move that took out six Villa players who had attempted to press Brighton’s backline. It was Lamptey who drove Brighton out of pressure and the one who rounded off the move inside Villa’s box.
In fairness, this was not the collapse Villa had been prone to. They did not retreat, with Emery insisting on the same intent throughout.
“We didn’t start defending lower,” he explained. “We continued to push them. For the second goal, we were pushing high and they broke our press, got into our box and scored a fantastic goal. This was because we were playing in the same game plan. “
You can be selective in deciding which matches should have been won. Missed opportunities against close competitors are proliferating, be it Bournemouth’s stoppage-time equaliser, Forest’s late winning brace or Brighton’s comeback — costing Villa seven points that would have propelled them to fourth in the table.
“We’ve been in that position a few times this season and we’ve failed to see it out,” said Ollie Watkins, speaking to the BBC’s Match of the Day after the game. “We didn’t lose but we should have taken all three points.
“We weren’t clinical in the end. We had a lot of attacks on transition and we weren’t clinical.”
It is a notably tight Premier League table and Villa are among a group contesting half a dozen positions in the top half. Yet had they navigated the start and end of contests just slightly better, their situation would be considerably stronger.
(Top photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
