John McGinn explained that Aston Villa had prepared to deal with Go Ahead Eagles’ creative set-pieces before Thursday’s shock defeat
Aston Villa fell to a shock defeat against Go Ahead Eagles on Thursday
Aston Villa fell to a shock defeat against Go Ahead Eagles on Thursday
View Image
Aston Villa have only conceded more than one goal in two of their opening 12 matches this season, but a worrying theme has still emerged.
Unai Emery’s side managed to shore up defensively towards the end of last season, keeping six clean sheets in their final 10 Premier League games, and have largely contained their opponents in the opening two-and-a-half months of the current campaign.
Only in the defeat against Crystal Palace have Villa been overrun - a team that has now beaten Emery’s men five times in 17 months, scoring 19 goals in the process.
Villa started the season slowly but managed to turn things around, winning five consecutive games before facing Go Ahead Eagles in their third Europa League fixture on Thursday night.
Evann Guessand put Villa ahead against the Eredivisie side, but complacency quickly set in as Watkins, Buendia, and Guessand all missed big chances to double the lead.
They were punished as Mathis Suray and Mats Deijl completed the comeback with goals either side of half-time. Buendia later missed a penalty, failing to at least salvage a point.
“The disappointing goal for us was especially the first,” John McGinn said after full-time. “I’ve not seen the second back, but we worked on the first one, we knew what they were trying to do and we didn’t adapt.
“That goal is on us as players and we can’t concede like that when we are in control of the game. We had chances to go two or three up, but we also had a chance to defend better and we didn’t.”
Indeed, after failing to defend a free-kick situation that allowed Go Ahead Eagles to equalise just before half-time, Villa’s long-standing vulnerability at set-pieces was once again exposed.
Of the 11 goals Villa have conceded across all competitions this season, six have come from set-pieces - or seven if you include, as some stat providers do, Jean-Philippe Mateta’s penalty in the defeat to Crystal Palace.
In each of Villa’s last three Premier League games, they have conceded a goal from a corner situation. The last team to concede from a corner in four consecutive league games were Newcastle United in April and May 2024, while Villa last did so in November and December 2010.
“We didn’t defend the set-pieces good,” Emery admitted after full-time on Thursday night. “The two chances they had in the first half came through it.
“The match was more through how we planned tactically. We dominated and got chances. Normally we could get the advantage in the match, but set-pieces are very important and we didn’t perform them well in the first half.”
Every day, the BirminghamLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Aston Villa content.
Our dedicated reporter John Townley - who you can follow on X by clicking here - follows Villa home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between.
So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur - that's why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you'll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. Sign up to the Villa newsletter here.
You can also get all your favourite content from BirminghamLive's Villa team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories in and around the club.
If you prefer reading our Villa stories on your phone, consider downloading the BirminghamLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Villa as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here.
Our weekly Aston Villa podcast, Claret And Blue, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here, while you can access the podcast on Spotify here and via Apple here.
Content Image
Content Image