Aspect Analysis: How Emery’s 6-2-2 nullified Tottenham #TOTAVL [THREAD]
2023 started with a surprising result as Aston Villa beat the Spurs by 2-0. Unai Emery’s team showcased a brilliant but unorthodox defensive performance, which kept Tottenham’s offensive efforts quiet.
Emery opted for a back six out of possession with both wingers nearly constantly staying deep besides the fullbacks. Therefore, Aston Villa had one man more in the last line (6v5), meaning there wasn’t an unmarked player, and they weren’t prone to switches.
Nevertheless, let’s have a deeper look on what made this setup so successful by breaking down each player’s task. The strikers first and foremast aimed to shut down Spurs’ double pivot. At times, they could press a centre back or track deep.
Aston Villa’s midfield two shifted horizontally and the ball side 6 situationally marked the ball-near 10 from Tottenham (especially when they occupied spaces in between the lines). As already mentioned, the wingers dropped deeper to either press Spurs’ wingback or 10.
Especially on the right side, Kamara usually stayed touch-tight on Son. This enabled Aston Villa to deal well with Tottenham’s left-wing dynamics/rotations, as Young was free and could potentially follow Davies’ under-/overlaps.
Furthermore, a 2v1 overload against Kane was created (due to the 6v5 in the last line), allowing one centre back to aggressively step up on the striker if he dropped deeper.
To conclude, Aston Villa’s outstanding defensive performance deserves a big praise. They were able to restrict the Spurs to only 0,42 xG (@OptaAnalyst). However, it should be mentioned as well that there were enough unused possibilities for Tottenham.
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