Clear Aston Villa problem emerges ahead of Juventus clash in Champions League | OneFootball

Unai Emery has confirmed a ‘deep’ analysis of Aston Villa’s defensive transition, but the Spaniard doesn’t seem to have fixed the issue ahead of next week’s Champions League game against Juventus.

Aston Villa were held to a 2-2 draw by Premier League strugglers Crystal Palace on Saturday, just four days before a home Champions League match against Serie A giants Juventus.

The Villans haven’t won any of the latest six matches across all competitions, and their drop in form has been evident over the last month, given that they had opened the 2024-25 campaign with eight wins in 11 games.

Sunday’s printed edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport* highlighted that Aston Villa’s most significant problem comes from opponents’ attacking transitions.

epa11736809 Juventus FC’s defender Federico Gatti in action against AC Milan’s midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek during the Italian Serie A soccer match AC Milan vs Juventus FC at Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan, Italy, 23 November 2024. EPA-EFE/ROBERTO BREGANI

Their home draw at Crystal Palace confirmed that Emery still hasn’t fixed the issue.

“We were deeply analysing the transition against Liverpool; today was different, but even like that, they did it,” the Spaniard said on Saturday, as quoted by Express.

“Against Liverpool, we had two around the box, and today, we had three around the box. But of course, the correction is how many players we can have in the balance and how we react and respond when they are running at us.

“Defensively, we didn’t fix the players as we prepared and the transition of the second goal from our corner.”

Emery added that Aston Villa are “working” on vulnerability to transitions and that “players are concerned as well.”

Aston Villa have nine points in the opening four Champions League matches, while Juventus collected seven so far.

The Bianconeri are still unbeaten in Serie A and have conceded just seven goals in 13 league matches.

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