Aston Villa have become experts at catching the opposition offside since Unai Emery's arrival at the club in November; they will book a Europa Conference League place with win over Brighton at Villa Park on Sunday; watch the game live on Sky Sports Football, kick-off 4.30pm.
Saturday 27 May 2023 17:04, UK
Unai Emery has been a revelation at Aston Villa. In this marathon season, it seems so long ago when he was appointed in November with the club just three points off the relegation places.
The club floundered under Steven Gerrard and though Dean Smith's work in getting them promoted to the Premier League and then keeping them up was admirable, Emery has transformed the sleeping giant into European contenders.
It is the season for excellent European coaches to grab clubs by the scruff of the neck, instil their philosophy and get them punching above their weight. Just look at Mikel Arteta and Roberto De Zerbi.
A fascinating cornerstone of Villa's resurgence has been their high defensive line - a tactical ploy to push up the pitch and catch teams offside as much as they can.
Villa have caught the opposition offside 63 times in their last 14 games. In every league game since Emery's arrival bar two (Arsenal, Manchester City) Villa have won more offsides than the opposition. This isn't by accident.
Three weeks ago, Aston Villa caught Tottenham Hotspur offside nine times.
The function of a high defensive line allows you to not rely on defensive actions as the ball gets closer to goal. You eliminate the need for last-ditch tackles, blocks and headers when you can stop an attack by the defence being positioned correctly.
Villa's well-drilled backline steps up a couple of yards using judgement and timing to fool opponents. When a ball is played into a forward in behind, defenders don't have to worry about recovering or closing them down because they have already drifted offside.
Next time you see Villa play, pay attention to the number of times the defence wave their hands up to appeal for offside. They know what they're doing.
Baiting attacks into playing the ball in behind, then, just as the ball is played, adjusting their body positioning to catch a forward offside.
Look at Ezri Konsa's position in the images, he is judging when the ball is immediately played to arch his body and stop, but the timing is crucial and must be precise. That's why, it's just as the ball is leaving a player's foot that the Englishman stops in his tracks and hunches his body to be as small as possible as Harry Kane and Richarlison think they are in.
When the pass comes, Konsa is looking across the line to step in front of the forwards. On either side of the centre-backs, Ashley Young pushes up on Heung-Min Son to make sure he's level and Alex Moreno jumps up in conjunction with the pass played.
Villa's line must be in sync to push up together or players can capitalise. Timing is everything.
At times Villa drop into a back six with the central midfielders doubling up on the wings to cover the wide options.
It's a testament to Emery's organisational skills that Villa implemented such a risky defensive tactic in such a short span of time.
Each of the defenders and at times two midfielders must keep concentration. Six players coordinating one line. One lapse and the opposition can exploit them.
Normally, it's Tyrone Mings who keeps the line in check. When teams are building up, Mings stretches his arms wide orchestrating his defence to push up.
Within two seconds, the back six are in front of Harvey Barnes and Jamie Vardy just as the ball reaches another Leicester player in case they tried to exploit the space created by Villa pushing up.
Mings is crucial in commanding the line, ensuring they are where they should be at all times.
The tactic also allows Villa to be aggressive from the front and press the opposition.
Against Newcastle, Villa surprisingly pressed Eddie Howe's side up the pitch, forcing them into opting to play the ball long, springing the offside trap purposefully planted.
Under Emery, Villa are an adaptable side. The best teams and managers have to be in a rapidly evolving Premier League. The Spaniard likes to keep teams on their toes and surprise them as John McGinn mentioned in an interview. "We're making it hard for teams to see what we're good at," he said.
In reference to how Villa had astutely played out from the back at Anfield, handling Liverpool's press, McGinn further backed up Emery's versatility: "He can adapt well. It's not just a system that is predictable. We had some changes that spooked Liverpool."
This may go some way to explaining how, despite the offside trap, Villa have the second deepest line at 39.43m based on the average distance of where passing sequences start (from their own goal) since the former Villarreal manager took charge.
If they need to defend their penalty area in a back six, they can do or they can catch teams offside, relying on Emi Martinez's sweeping.
The method changes depending on the attack faced.
Noticeably, sides that possess the fastest strikers are the ones Villa catch offside the most, as they are looking to latch onto balls: Marcus Rashford's Manchester United - seven, Son's Tottenham - nine, Ivan Toney's Brentford - six, Vardy's Leicester City - eight.
Teams coming into the game would normally fancy their forwards against that high line, but the amount they were caught offside is symbolic of the successful strategy.
The high line does come with risk. Erik ten Hag said after the 1-0 victory at Old Trafford: "It was definitely one of our ideas for this game, to play the ball in behind."
United are deadly in transition when it comes to rapidly releasing their pacy forwards, benefitting from the creativity of Bruno Fernandes.
Villa did catch them offside many times but the risk you run is that eventually a striker will time his run correctly. It's no coincidence a large portion of United goals have come from this method this season.
Perhaps Villa were tired, but startlingly they didn't press Manchester United, allowing the defence to constantly ping progressive passes over the top.
This was even more confusing when you think of how difficult United find it to play out from the back under pressure.
The time and space for Victor Lindelof to play a pass is enormous.
Ripple effects in football are always damaging both on and off the pitch. One part of the machine breaking down affects the rest.
With the press less intense on whoever is playing the ball it allows more time to pick out an accurate pass.
Forwards can also start to pin the defensive line back and gain numerical superiority high up the pitch finding gaps in between Villa's back four.
Having a forward line that occupies the last line of defence is always problematic as players must track attackers closest to them near to their own goal.
In this case, it leaves space wide for Jadon Sancho as the spare man opening gaps as Young is occupied by Fernandes.
One quick ball wide vs Leicester City left Young one versus one with Barnes running into swathes of space. Konsa and Mings attempted to play the offside trap but when Barnes received the ball onside, it was difficult for either to come across and cover as they were so far up the pitch.
Emery himself acknowledges the risk and reward. "With our high back line, sometimes we are feeling good and take more risks. Sometimes they were offside and sometimes not. We are doing more times well than bad."
It would be hard to disagree. Villa's high line has been an effective tool in surprising teams and a fascinating tactic to dissect that is paying dividends for their transformational coach.
