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Unai Emery's two solutions to solve big problem as Ange Postecoglou makes bizarre Aston Villa suggestion
Aston Villa shipped four goals in a half of a Premier League match for the first time since January 2020 on Sunday afternoon as Tottenham came from behind to inflict a heavy defeat on Unai Emery's side.
Morgan Rogers' goal put Villa in the lead in the 32nd minute, but Spurs came out for the second half a totally different proposition and eventually overwhelmed their visitors. Brennan Johnson equalised shortly after the restart, converting Son Heung-min's pinpoint cross, before Dominic Solanke scored a brace in four minutes to take the game away from Villa before the 80th minute.
As 10 minutes were added on at the end of the second half, there was enough time for James Maddison to score from a free-kick. It was an afternoon to forget for Villa, who have now conceded eight goals in their last two meetings against Ange Postecoglou's side.
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Here are the talking points from Villa's defeat...
LACK OF CONTROL HURTING VILLA
It was against Manchester City nearly four years ago when Villa conceded four goals in the first half of their 6-1 defeat at Villa Park. Since then, the club has made enormous progress and the days of not being able to compete with the 'big six' are far behind them.
On Sunday, Villa performed well in the first half and were in front by one goal, but it could've been more after Ollie Watkins passed up on the chance to double his side's tally after being fed through by Rogers. Down the other end, Emi Martinez was hardly worked as Villa nullified the hosts.
Villa weren't playing free-flowing football, but up until half-time it was a textbook away performance against a Spurs side who finished two points behind them in the league last term. Indeed, after winning at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the last two seasons, Villa were looking to claim a third consecutive victory away at Spurs for the first time in 100 years.
But they were unable to build on what was a positive first half after conceding early on. Matty Cash was forced off with a calf injury on the hour mark, which didn't help Villa's cause as Ezri Konsa then shuffled across to right-back and Diego Carlos came on. They were two alterations which were forced on Emery.
Villa dropped two points in the previous league match against Bournemouth after losing control late on and then conceding, and while their defeat at Spurs wasn't as dramatic, they failed to manage the final 30 minutes of the game.
Spurs are capable of dismantling teams because of how they play and the energy they bring to the game late on. After Solanke put them in front, a mistake from Pau Torres then allowed Spurs to add a third, before Maddison bagged after coming off the bench.
EMERY: SPURS STRONG IN TRANSITION
Emery said after full-time that his side's performance was in line with his expectations before kick-off. Villa impressed in the first half and were comfortable, but it is a concern that they have lost control at critical moments in recent matches.
"We won two times here and we knew how to win here but they are a good team," Emery said to Sky Sports. "We had to keep going and try to focus again on our way [after conceding] because in the league the most important thing is to keep the position we are in.
"They scored so quick in the second half. When they scored the second goal it is difficult because their transition is so, so strong. Winning was more difficult. If we score the second goal maybe it is a possibility to win here.
"When you are losing you have to try and get one step forward to try and change the result. But we know how difficult it is against Tottenham. 4-1 is a tough result but the match we played was more or less in line with the expectation I had before the match.
"We are disappointed, frustrated but we are accepting it. We know our way, it is 38 matches, the league is very tight."
MINGS AND KAMARA'S TIMELY RETURNS
Villa were well on their way to keeping their fourth clean sheet in five matches before conceding late against Bournemouth, so there was an initial improvement from a defensive point of view after keeping one clean sheet in the first eight games of the season in all competitions.
But considering Villa's struggles against Tottenham and the returns of Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings, Emery could have a rethink given the amount of options at his disposal. Torres made a bad mistake to allow Spurs to score a third, but he will continue to play a key role for Villa.
The question is, will Emery be inclined to play Mings and Torres as a partnership? Villa have missed Mings' presence at the back and you get the feeling that once he returns to the side, it could be hard to take him back out.
A back three of Mings, Torres and Konsa certainly sounds strong on paper, but how that impacts the structure of the team will be what Emery shall be considering. Add Kamara into that, Villa have a base to build from there with the world's best goalkeeper behind them.
Both Mings and Kamara were excellent against Crystal Palace considering the nature of the injuries they have recovered from. They'll both need time to fully get back up to speed, but those two players could be crucial to helping Villa firm up and control games better than they have been until this point.
BIZARRE POSTECOGLOU TAKE
Villa's goal came after Amadou Onana hit the post with a header following Lucas Digne's cross into the box. Spurs 'keeper Guglielmo Vicario managed to push the ball wide for another set-piece, from which Villa then broke the deadlock.
Digne's delivery was flicked on by Pedro Porro at the front post, before Rodrigo Bentancur and Vicario both failed to clear the danger, allowing Rogers to score from just yards out.
Villa have now scored five goals from set-pieces in the Premier League this season, with no team scoring more than Emery’s side. Arsenal have also bagged five, one of which was scored in their 1-0 win at Tottenham earlier in the season.
In his press conference, Postecoglou was asked if he took extra time to prepare for set-pieces in the lead up to the match. He said: "No, because I think then you fall into the trap of preparing differently. And I've always said that we prepare the same for every game. There's obviously the strengths and areas where they could hurt us.
"Yeah look we conceded from a set piece. I know I'm on my own on this, I don't like them. To me, I think I mentioned in the TV interview, it looks like a scrum. I just don't think that's what football's about. But it's part of football these days, where you can just drop the ball in the box and people can fight over it.
"So disappointing for us to concede from that. but in general I thought we handled their set pieces really well. They are very good at set pieces. I thought we handled it really well. It was great for us to score another one again from an attacking set piece, we're scoring goals from different areas, that's important."
It's a bizarre take from the Spurs boss that set-pieces aren't "what football's about". If his players defended corners better and their 'keeper was more commanding in his box then Postecoglou wouldn't have anything to moan about.
His team deserved to beat Villa, but taking a swipe that Villa's goal was "a scrum" and not a calculated ploy to take advantage of a weakness in his team, was odd. There is no right or wrong way to play football. The objective is to score goals to win games.
VILLA'S VALENCIA TRIBUTE
Before kick-off on Sunday afternoon, Villa showed their support for the people of Valencia after the horrific flash flooding in that region of Spain which has killed over 200 people, with more missing.
The tragedy is already Europe’s worst flood-related disaster since 1967 when at least 500 people died in Portugal.
Villa players wore training shirts with the words 'FUERZA VALENCIA' on the front during their warm-up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Before he began taking questions from the media in his pre-match press conference, Emery said: "I want to send my condolences. We had a tragedy in Valencia. I am very sad and all of my condolences to the people affected. To the families of victims and hopefully we can recover quickly what happened there."
CLARET & BLUE VERDICT
