The one vital factor that lets Aston Villa boss Unai Emery 'achieve his ambitions'
Villa have lofty Champions League ambitions and Emery believes he's the man to deliver on them
Without an FA Cup final to look forward to, the retrospective timbre of Aston Villa’s 2024/25 season will be defined by the last two games of the Premier League season.
Unai Emery is beloved at Villa Park and will remain so irrespective of the outcomes against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. Win them both and there’s every chance of a second consecutive season in the Champions League.
But there’s a difference between an impressive season with spectacular highs and a solidly excellent season in which a team competes on several fronts at once. For Aston Villa, that now comes down to six points.
Emery knows his strengths better than anybody and backs his approach wholeheartedly.
On Wednesday, Sky Sports published an exclusive interview with the always fabulous Adam Bate in which the Villa boss came across as thoroughly confident in his process but aware that they need specific circumstances to fully pay off.
The Villa boss told Bate that his entire body of managerial work proves that he has “been able to achieve his ambitions” when equipped with the personnel numbers and tactical flexibility required to have the two players for every position that he sees as adequate depth.
“I have enough players now,” said a confident Emery at Bodymoor Heath.
Eight wins in the last ten Premier League fixtures and a very pronounced clawing back of the deficit to the Champions League places would suggest he’s right.
Let’s have a quick and dirty look at the depth of the Villa squad in terms of tactical flexibility and the ability to deploy two players for any one position.
Goalkeepers
Ah. Villa have one player for one position here. We can debate whether Emiliano Martínez is the best goalkeeper in the world (he’s not) but he is light years ahead of Robin Olsen.
20-year-old Oli Zych is untested at senior level and Villa have Joe Gauci and two young goalkeepers, Filip Marschall and James Wright, out on loan.
Martínez has had better seasons but he’s Villa’s one and only. Fortunately, he’s been able to start 35 out of their 36 league matches.
Defenders
Villa started the season without central defender Tyrone Mings but with Diego Carlos, later sold.
Injuries to defenders have left Villa threadbare at the back at times but the ideal of defensive depth is being realised. Ezri Konsa, while not exactly the most natural full back, has embodied the tactical flexibility element.
With Mings back, Pau Torres fit again and Konsa returned to the middle by the availability of Matty Cash on the right, Villa have three centre backs plus Lamare Bogarde, and full back depth outside them.
Andrés García can deputise for Cash. Ian Maatsen and Lucas Digne can deputise for one another. Chelsea loanee Axel Disasi adds to the numbers and adaptability too.
Midfielders
In squad number order: Ross Barkley, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans, Amadou Onana, Jacob Ramsey, Boubacar Kamara. There’s no hiding the fact that Villa have amassed an elite midfield group. Absolutely silly business going on in the middle of the park.
They’ve all missed games with injury this season. Onana and Kamara have both had a couple of spells on the sidelines and Barkley’s calf injury in the second half of the season means we’re yet to consistently see the player who made Luton Town look half-capable last year.
Even McGinn has been ruled out of a handful of matches. Tielemans missed the last one after being practically ever-present up to that point. Emery has weathered it all by sheer weight of quality in numbers.
Villa’s depth in the centre of midfield probably puts it top of the list when it comes to PSR sales in the early part of the transfer window. Ramsey is pure profit. Say it ain’t so, Monchi!
Forwards
If there’s one position where Villa have flown by the seat of their pants, it’s centre forward.
Coming into the season with Ollie Watkins showing all the physical signs of not having a proper pre-season and madcap understudy Jhon Durán yet to walk his extraordinary path from hammers-throwing turncoat to goal-happy wildcard was a risk.
Selling one of them in January was necessary in the grand scheme of things but pulling in a big fee for Durán before getting a tune out of now-injured Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford for a few glorious weeks was a masterstroke.
Morgan Rogers has been exceptional, Leon Bailey largely invisible. The January additions of Marco Asensio on loan and Donyell Malen for a fee bolstered the (slightly) wider positions very nicely indeed.
It certainly seems like enough players, enough depth, and, frankly, enough quality to hit the club’s targets.
Right here, right now, those targets amount to one goal: qualify for the Champions League again.
Longer term, though?
“The most important thing for us and for me, and how we can really progress, is by being consistent through the Premier League over 38 games, getting the points needed to always be in the European positions,” Emery informed Sky Sports.
“We are trying to have a clear identity, trying to connect with our supporters how we are playing, with our style, our intensity, our skills. This is very important because I think we need to achieve the heart of the supporters to get the energy that we need.”