Manchester United travel to Villa Park for what feels like Erik ten Hag's Ultimate game in charge of the Red Devils. The Dutchman will need something close to a miracle to avoid a looming sack, and so it will be very interesting to see how he sets his side up against a confident Villains side.
HOW VILLA LINE-UP
Under Unai Emery, Villa tend to start games in a 4-4-2. Their shape evolves as the game goes on though, taking whatever form Emery deems best to employ against the opposition. They look to build out from the back by circulating possession across their back line in order to lure the opposition into a press, effectively generating spaces to be exploited in between the lines. Villa then exploit those spaces in two main ways; They look to play splitting passes through the opposition press, seeking to find an inverted winger in the halfspaces who helps the team transition into attack. If the fullback decides to follow the inverting winger, One of the two Villa forwards will then look to move into the vacated space on the wing, ready to receive a lobbed pass and attack the space.
In their attacking phase, Villa looks to overload the opposition defensive line. Unai Emery likes to have five players on the opposition defense, with the ball-sided fullback maintaining width and occupying the space the inverted winger vacates. This ensures that Villa always has a man free, be it an option to switch the play or an unmarked runner looking for space in behind.
Defensively, Villa maintain the rigidity that is traditional of a 4-4-2 system. Their main goal is to stop the opponent from playing through them, minimizing the spaces in between the midfield and defense while still maintaining a high line, something that is imperative to the way Unai Emery wants to play.
So far this season villa have started all their games in a 4-2-3-1 formation. They have compensated for the loss of Moussa Diaby with new signing Morgan Rodgers, former Middlesbrough forward and Westbrom academy graduate. Like Diaby, Morgan plays as a sort of second striker, providing support and an alternative to Ollie Watkins. The second striker in an Emery team will attack space on the wings when necessary alongside providing an attacking threat in the opposition box.
KEY BATTLES
- Onana Vs Martinez: Emiliano Martinez managed to keep a clean sheet in Villa’s historic win over Bayern on Wednesday, snapping up the Man of the Match award in the process. The Argentine was in inspired form in midweek and will be pivotal for his side if they are to claim all three points at home against United. On the other hand, United’s draw at Porto means Onana has now conceded three goals in back-to-back games despite putting in a decent performance in both matches, the Ghanaian goalkeeper will surely be desperate to get his side back on track defensively.
- Wide spaces: Both United fullbacks really struggled in the Red Devils’ home loss to Tottenham last time out. Mazraoui was left chasing Timo Werner all game, Unable to cope with the movement of the pacey German. Dalot’s performance was widely criticized as well, with many supporters blaming his failure to track the run of Brennan Johnson as the reason for the opener. Villa place an emphasis on the wide spaces, consistently looking to feed the ball to players out wide in order to shift and disrupt the opposition's defense thereby creating space for attacking players. United will need their widemen well-prepped for the tie, and both fullbacks will want to prove themselves against a Champions League side come Sunday.
- A tiring Manchester United defense vs Jhon Duran: Jhon Duran is Villa’s highest goalscorer this season despite not starting a single match so far. The 20-year-old’s winner against Bayern has further cemented his ascent to a cult following amongst Villa supporters. His 79th-minute strike brought his total to 12 points earned for his team through his goals — impressive for someone his age. Manchester United will have to be aware of the Colombian’s threat from the bench and will need to travel to Villa with a plan to cope with it.
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