Under Unai Emery's stewardship, Aston Villa has crafted a distinctive tactical approach worthy of closer examination. This article dissects Villa's defensive and offensive strategies, utilizing Footovision's proprietary tracking data. Emery cleverly utilizes his squad's diverse attributes, with Villa's midfield operating narrowly and fullbacks providing width. Furthermore, Bailey's unique role in the squad is explored, alongside their medium block defensive setup when out of possession.

Firstly, let’s take a snapshot at Aston Villa’s general tactical profile this season: (numbers = league ranking).

General defensive shape under Emery

• Strict Medium block, high line & vertical compactness:
• 1st for % Medium block during organised defence
• 3rd highest average defensive line height out of possession
• 4th highest vertical compactness during opposition build up

General offensive shape under Emery

• Width and compactness:
• 4th highest average horizontal distance between furthest left and furthest right players in attack but this width comes from fullbacks rather than players higher up the pitch, as seen below

The metrics above illustrate that Villa do maintain a high amount of width in build up compared to other teams in the league. But is it possible to better understand how this width is achieved?

Where does Villa's width come from during build-up phases?

• Aston Villa regularly play a 4-box-2 or 4-2-2-2
• McGinn, Zaniolo, Tielemans and Ramsey have different roles to Bailey, who plays wider, as more of a traditional winger.

• Aston Villa's distinct feature is the position of attacking midfielders during build-up phases
• During build-up phases, these midfielders operate in the pockets in the centre of the pitch
• Therefore, in Villa’s system the width highlighted above is provided by both Cash (right back) and Digne/Moreno (left back), who have enough space to progress and move high and wide

• Villa also make key tactical tweaks depending on different players, profiles and opposition (eg. A more conservative Konsa has been used at right back when Bailey starts ahead of him multiple times this season)

Using Footovision’s broadcast tracking data, we can provide unique visual insights into Villa’s shape during build up and progression phases in certain games this season:

With Zaniolo and McGinn as attacking midfielders:

With Tielmans and McGinn as attacking midfielders:

Now notice Bailey's distinct position:

• The visuals above highlight Bailey’s unique role in Villa’s XI– he suits a more traditional wide role due to his speed and 1v1 ability.

The visuals above from Footovision's Coachvision platform highlight Bailey's unique role in Villa's XI. As illustrated, Villa's lopsided system is most likely designed to maximise the strengths of the players available and in it, Diaby has a more unique role. While he is not the epicentre of Villa's final third ball possession (see Creation involvements below), when he is involved he is a major threat - mostly due to his speed, 1v1 ability and chance creation.

All of the above insights have been drawn from Footovision’s Coachvision platform. Coachvision uses broadcast tracking to provide unique tactical insights to affect decisions. Get in touch for more info.