Emery, Arsenal, Injuries and More

Yesterday at 02:09 PM

Villa rescued a point at the Emirates Saturday evening in a match that looked beyond redemption after Arsenal went 2-0 to the good. The outrage-despair machine is running at full capacity, and it's fun to be part of the Gunners' problems for a second year running. Villa are 2-1-1 against Arteta over the last two seasons, and 2-1-2 under Emery overall.

The recent record is yet more proof of Emery's tactical acumen and the progress of the team in executing his vision.

While we've seen it before at times, one of the little tweaks of late has been getting Youri Tielemans further upfield again. Probably two parts to that, one being the budding (and stop-start) pairing of Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara in midfield for its own reasons, and the other about getting the playmaker closer to the attackers (and also John McGinn's absence). It worked a treat Saturday, with Youri pulling back the first for Villa, then hitting the post quickly thereafter. His awareness, calm, and quality on the ball allow him to find space and time, and we all know he has the requisite touch to put players in. In previous iterations going back to last season, he’s looked a bit isolated up there. These days, it’s much more fluid and he’s very involved.

On the day, that meant Rogers taking a role ostensibly wider right where he had less impact than in the matches where he plays in the withdrawn striker role. Villa are very different depending on who takes that slot. With Rogers, we see him driving and carrying. With Youri, it's more about linking, passing, playmaking. It also asks less of each defensively, though Rogers can safely be said to cover more ground more quickly.

When McGinn has been up there, I'd have to say that overall he's struggled a bit more. Given his dangerous left peg when on form, and his combative, ball-winning/retention qualities, it makes sense to put him there at times. It should still deliver balls into the box while providing a bit more defensive cover down the flank. But as we've all noted, he's not consistently been at top levels. His absence doesn't seem to have affected things that much, which is probably what we need to know. That said, I'm guessing the enforced rest might see a rejuvenated Super John down the run-in.

The Onana-Kamara partnership would seem to be multipart as well: Shield the back four, create a tougher midfield to work through, and get two of your best players on the pitch at the same time. And then, of course, Youri sort of has to play higher up. They have very different attributes, Onana and Kamara, and if both are healthy and in form, they should complement each other well. Onana's string of niggles has not helped the idea progress, and is yet another example of a big signing getting off to a rough start. Will be interesting to see whether Emery sticks to this if all the defensive reinforcements we’re hearing about are signed.

When we get to Villa's performance overall, there was good and bad: enough chances for a different outcome either way. Arsenal definitely showed the greater urgency and it stopped us playing as much as we would've liked. Seemed to me like there were notably more long balls to avoid the press and the errors leading to chances. There was also some clever playing out.

As usual, some suspect decisions at crucial moments also played a factor in the final result. I know players like Ramsey who've had a string of injuries are probably loathe to throw themselves into challenges, but for both he and Cash, I saw balls they let run by instead of charging to intercept. I'm not on the pitch, but going the other way, those were the kinds of free passes we weren't being given. I also don't know what the instructions are (ie, better to face a cross than let them line up for a set piece). With Trossard, he is a very slippery player, so you're either going to double or triple him up like teams do Bailey, or you're going to allow crosses. I did see Bouba and Ramsey aiding Cash and trying to cut out the overlap passes even if they weren't terribly aggressive closing down.

With Kosta a developmental project, I've no idea how aggressive Garcia is. Did see a lot of him going forward on video, and maybe Emery ultimately would like to play with WBs on either side.

Anyway, in the end it came down to individual quality. Digne and Youri connecting, then Cash and Ollie.Which isn’t to discount the work done by Kamara, Mings et al. We’ve seen Mings dominate in the air, make blocks, and track wingers wide stride for stride. Bouba has been doing the really hard work of being the six and also tucking into the back line to fill holes left by Cash or reinforce the right. He’s been very good positionally, is winning the ball, and making good decisions.

Observation: I've had a sneaking suspicion over these last three first halves that Villa are trying to pace themselves, consciously or not. Circumstances always dictate (early goals, pressure, opponent), but my impression is that we've only really seen full-speed intensity throughout the team in the last 30-40 minutes. May not be by design. May reflect Emery's and the player's belief they can go get goals without having to play all-out for 90 minutes. That's obviously a very risky way to approach things, so it might well be down to the players. But these certainly aren't the kinds of things that escape a manager's notice.

We know Villa are one of the teams who do the least high pressing, which is down to set up, tactics, and personnel. They aren’t a side that can man-mark up and down the pitch all day, and Emery wants them to keep shape and avoid the holes that lead to quick breaks. They pick their moments. I don’t think they’ve necessarily played poorly without their foot on the gas: it’s more about the quickness of play. When everyone’s really making runs and playing it quickly, we’re so much better. As is probably any team.

I will say Villa seemed much scrappier and combative from the start against Everton than West Ham or Arsenal. Some of that with Arsenal is simply down to their quality and ability to keep possession.

Not sure how this all plays into Monaco. It's a short turn, and the starters have played a lot of minutes in this stretch through the holidays up til now. I'm sure we could very well see Ollie get a rest for Duran and Malen make his debut. Perhaps Maatsen gets another start. But there's not a lot of rotation to be done elsewhere if you want a result. Not sure what the calculations are for Emery on this one and Celtic. I’m pretty sure he’d like to win them both.

In the end, what I liked besides throwing a spoke into things for Arsenal was once again seeing resilience and enough quality to go get goals. And the determination, however it came to pass, to stop the bleeding and not buckle at the end. Yes, they squandered chances, but so did we. Who knows how matches change if different chances are taken at different junctures. But the side doesn’t give up.

So in the end, a very solid point that feels like a loss for them. And I'm hoping that by the time the window's closed, we'll have added the reinforcements necessary to have a very strong run-in.

Over to you.