It is no secret how Aston Villa want to attack under Unai Emery.
Since his first game in charge — a 3-1 victory against Manchester United in November 2022 — Villa have been playing with two attacking midfielders behind Ollie Watkins while constantly evolving and perfecting their attacking patterns.
The variety of the patterns provides Villa’s players with different solutions against opponents’ defensive blocks, whether that means using wide combinations down the right wing, Watkins’ ability to link the play in the central spaces, or an advancing left-back.
When Villa are trying to break down teams, they will push their left-back forward (in the below example, that’s Ian Maatsen) to form a 3-2-4-1 shape on the ball to overload the last line.
Yet, it’s also about the timing of the movement and the positioning of the left-sided attacking midfielder and the advancing full-back.
In this example, from Villa’s 2-1 victory at Brentford last December, Alex Moreno is occupying the left flank and Jacob Ramsey is in a narrower position when John McGinn plays the ball to Leon Bailey down the right wing.
Theoretically, Brentford’s back five should match up against Villa’s attacking five, but Watkins and Ramsey smartly position themselves towards the far post to occupy Brentford’s right centre-back and right wing-back, Mathias Jorgensen and Mads Roerslev, to prevent the latter from marking Moreno.
Bailey then crosses the ball towards Villa’s advancing left-back…
… who comfortably heads it into the net, with Roerslev busy marking Ramsey.
The timing of the movement is another important factor. Here’s another switch of play towards the left side from the 3-2 victory against Everton last Saturday, where Lucas Digne attacks the space after Ramsey drags James Garner inside the pitch.
Initially, Digne doesn’t run into space but waits until Youri Tielemans plays the ball to Amadou Onana…
… and then starts his forward run while Ramsey simultaneously drops. The timing of Digne and Ramsey’s movement is key because they wait until the switch of play is on — when Onana receives the ball — rather than moving earlier when the passing angle into the left attacking midfielder or full-back is narrower.
This puts Everton’s Garner in a difficult situation. If he moves up with Ramsey, Onana can find Villa’s advancing left-back, and if he moves across towards Digne before the pass is played, then the Belgium midfielder can play the ball to Ramsey and the latter can dribble into the vacated space.
Garner tries to retreat but the damage has already been done and Onana plays the ball into the path of Digne…
… who crosses it towards the far post, where Watkins heads in to start Villa’s comeback.
Even when Villa are starting an attack from the left side, the timing of their movement is impeccable.
In another example, at Burnley last season, Digne is marked by the opponent’s right-winger, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, and is stationary when Pau Torres is looking for a passing option. McGinn, who is playing as the left No 10, drops to offer that option…
… and Gudmundsson presses Digne in case Torres plays the ball to his left-back. However, Digne knows the sequence and immediately bursts forward in the opposite direction of his marker’s momentum when Torres plays the ball to McGinn…
… who receives it with his left foot and rolls away from Burnley’s Ameen Al-Dakhil…
… before finding the Villa left-back in space.
Digne then plays the cutback to Villa’s right-sided attacking midfielder, Moussa Diaby, with Watkins’ movement forcing the defensive line to drop deeper…
… and the French forward finishes into the bottom corner to seal the victory — a perfect illustration of the team’s special attacking move, a cutback to the far midfielder.
Another way Villa try to use left-sided overload is by playing direct balls over the defensive line before the opponent can adjust their positioning.
In this example, against West Ham United last month, Torres plays a lofted pass into the path of Maatsen. Meanwhile, Ramsey dashes forward…
… because he knows that West Ham’s right-back, Vladimir Coufal, will move towards the ball and there will be a gap in the defensive line.
Ramsey attacks the vacant space and Maatsen finds him with a one-touch pass…
… before the midfielder plays the cutback to Jhon Duran, who scores the winner.
In another example, against Fulham last November, Digne tries to provide Douglas Luiz with a passing option behind the defence but Tielemans — Villa’s left-sided attacking midfielder — isn’t in a position to take advantage of that run, which forces Timothy Castagne to drop and track Villa’s left-back.
While Douglas Luiz is waiting on the ball, Digne moves back to drag Castagne forward and Watkins shifts to Calvin Bassey’s other side, which creates a bigger space for Tielemans to attack after he adjusts his positioning.
Douglas Luiz finds Tielemans’ run with a curled pass around the defence…
… and the Belgium midfielder’s cross is deflected into the net by Fulham’s left-back, Antonee Robinson.
Finally, the most basic approach still comes in handy at times. A one-two pass between Villa’s left-back and No 10 is a simple but effective tool to play through the opposition.
In Villa’s 2-1 victory away to Leicester City this August, Digne combined with Ramsey down the left wing before the left-back crossed the ball into the penalty area and Duran headed it into the far corner.
Villa frequently attack down the left side through Digne or Maatsen but varying their approach makes them unpredictable and difficult to stop.
Opponents might know Villa’s attacking shape in the final third but how they will try to break them down is another important question. Even knowing the answer is not enough — secret or not, Villa’s timing and coordination make their left flank unstoppable at times.
