With the number of passes per Premier League game having plummeted to a 15-year low, football has looked a bit different this season. Teams are more direct. Long throws are all the rage. And Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has an explanation.
“I think this is a consequence of how it is changing tactically overall in football,” Emery tells Sky Sports as he is shown a graphic highlighting these passing numbers in an office at the club’s training ground. “Football is becoming man-to-man all over the pitch.”
He explains: “With teams playing man-to-man, pressing against their direct opponent, even in a medium block, trying to jump man-to-man, we are seeing a lot more of this than last year. It is because teams in England, and in Italy are performing well doing it.
“Here, for example, one team that is being consistent, man-to-man marking all over the pitch, is Newcastle. But as well, others teams, they are adding it now. The result is more duels, less time to pass, and more opportunity to exploit the opponent in behind.”
Emery views this as a tactical trend across Europe. He points to Gian Piero Gasperini in Italy. “He was doing it for years with Atalanta and now with Roma. There are a lot of teams, in Italy and in Spain, who are trying to introduce this same idea to their game.”
It is the speed of it that is most pronounced in the Premier League. “Everything is quicker and more direct, less passing.” As for those long throw-ins, a tactic that once made teams outliers is now being adopted by many more. Even Arsenal, the title favourites.
“Set pieces are improving, the development is so quick. Brentford were one of the first. It was like a corner, six or seven players in the box. Now, there are more teams, maybe 10 in the Premier League, doing it, being more direct. Even we are doing it sometimes.”
Emery thinks the style of Premier League refereeing encourages it. “In England, you can disturb the goalkeeper, block the centre-backs. In other leagues, it is not like that. In Europe, it is a clear foul.” But the question of how much his Villa team must change is a tricky one.
“You have to be always updating tactically, learning quickly, using all your experience to change because football is progressing. We are updating our ideas.” More broadly, he intends to stick to his principles. “But we are only changing small details,” he reveals.
“We are trying to keep the same mentality, trying to add some tactical ideas to the collective, to the individuals, but not over the top.” Some of this change is necessary because the opposition have changed how they play against Emery’s Aston Villa now.
The sight of Emiliano Martinez, foot on the ball, has been a common one on Premier League pitches. In fact, since the start of last season, the Aston Villa goalkeeper has spent more time in possession of the ball than any other player in the competition.
The aim is to lure the opponent into pressing him and then playing through from there. But there has been a steady decrease in the number of pressures that Villa face in games, with opponents reluctant to play the game their way. Emery is shown the stats.
“Maybe part of it is the different circumstances,” he says. “We played against Sunderland and they were a player less and were not pressing. It depends on each match but we analyse deeply each opponent to try to get through them and improve.”
Take Tottenham, for example. Villa’s opponents on Sunday must be one of the more difficult to prepare for? “Frank is very creative,” says Emery. “He changes it, 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and he can press high or sometimes he can set the team in a middle or low block.”
Emery cites their performance against Paris Saint-Germain in the Super Cup in August as an example of the latter. “He is finding different ways, tactically. And that increases the demands on us. It is becoming more difficult against them. We have to be ready.”
Sunday 19th October 1:00pm
Kick off 2:00pm
His team were not ready at the start of this season, Emery knows that. He does not wish to revisit the reasons, the challenges of the transfer window are in the past. “We were poor because of some different circumstances. Now we are progressing, getting better.”
After enduring the longest wait of any team in England to score their first goal, Villa have won four matches in a row in all competitions. “Playing in Europe, as well? Wow,” says Emery. “Consistency is the priority now, trying to be always smart and competitive.”
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Aston Villa’s win over Burnley in the Premier League
Villa are chasing a fourth consecutive season of European football for the first time in their history. “To be in the top seven, to achieve it, that is our priority in the next months and the next years. I am confident because I believe in Aston Villa. But it is difficult.”
Difficult, indeed. But Emery would not want to be anywhere else. “I want to be here because for a coach like myself it is a real challenge to face each match in Premier League. It is very, very versatile tactically.” This is a game that is always asking new questions.
Unai Emery’s job is to keep finding the answers.
Watch Tottenham vs Aston Villa live on Sky Sports Premier League this Sunday; kick-off 2pm
