Unai Emery haunted by same mistake Aston Villa keep making - but it will pay off eventually

Unai Emery is well aware of the mistakes Aston Villa are making but is confident his passing out from the back style will pay off in the long run. The Spaniard still believes in his mentality but understands he may need to mix things up after a collection of calamitous errors in Saturday’s 4-2 defeat to Leicester City.

The Foxes’ first goal of the afternoon, a 12th-minute equaliser to respond to Ollie Watkins’ speedy opener, came directly from a Villa error. Emi Martinez played a short goal kick to Boubacar Kamara, who was dispossessed easily in his own area. Some quick thinking from Leicester striker Kelechi Iheanacho later and the ball was played to James Maddison, the midfielder composed to pass it into an open net.

All the other goals had mistakes, too, as Tyrone Mings failed to clear a cross and then left Iheanacho unmarked for the Nigerian’s diving header at 2-2, Kamara lost possession again to allow a quick counter for new Leicester signing Tete to finish off for 3-2, and Alex Moreno was unable to deal with a long ball to Dennis Praet for the Foxes’ fourth.

“The other side have a very good coach and they were pressing well,” Emery admitted post-match. “We have to learn to play with the pressing because other teams will come here to press high. We could play long ball but I don’t want to do it. We can control better with the second action.

“We were confident with a good start to the match winning, and I want to continue building up trying to play with the goalkeeper, but we have to mix maybe sometimes [because of mistakes],” Emery continued.

With two consecutive Premier League wins and plenty of points picked up against tough oppositions over recent months, Villa were not exactly in a bad way before the disappointment on Saturday. It remains a positive start to the new era under Emery — there are just a few things to iron out, with key moments sticking in the Spaniard’s head.

“The mistake [Kamara for 1-1] was a picture in that moment for one player. For example in Brighton it was Luiz, against Stevenage it was Dendoncker, and today it was Kamara - a third midfielder making that mistake. They are the players in the position that have to try to be consistent, working, practicing.

“That is the way we want to play and that is my headache I want to propose for the players. We had moments today playing good, breaking their press and getting good chances. We have to analyse and practice to improve those actions, we are thinking about correcting the style. We will work for the next matches to keep on improving.”

The Villa Park faithful will be eager to see such improvements, but it could be tough to see them in the two matches to come. Villa face Manchester City away from home in their next outing, before welcoming Premier League table toppers Arsenal to B6.