Aston Villa’s defence proved to be an issue once again following their 2-2 draw against Ipswich Town on Sunday.
Unai Emery‘s side are yet to keep a clean sheet in the Premier League this season and their showing at Portman Road proved why.
Aston Villa weren’t even settled when Liam Delap opened the scoring after eight minutes, but that’s when the away team showcased their attacking might.
Morgan Rogers scored his first Premier League goal of the season when he punished an Ipswich error, before Ollie Watkins headed the team ahead after 32 minutes.
At that point, you would have expected some sort of control from the Champions League side and perhaps more goals.
But the only team that looked like scoring again were Kieran McKenna’s men, who continued to play on the front foot and cause Villa’s backline problems.
Whilst many questioned if Emi Martinez should have saved Delap’s opening goal, given that he got a hand to it, he was the one keeping his team in it, in the end.
Martinez is renowned for his one-v-one saving capability after his heroics at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, well, he was at it again, but this time in Suffolk.
Delap must be thinking about how he didn’t score a hat trick, especially when he was put through one-v-one, only for Martinez to deny him.
Michael Owen labelled that save, which occurred in the first half, as ‘unbelievable’ because it proved to be match-saving given that Ipswich would equalise in the second half.
Tim Sherwood also shared his thoughts on that moment and how Martinez was the one in control, even though he shouldn’t have been, as he told Premier League Productions (29/09/24 at 3:00 pm).
Emi Martinez’s one-v-one save against Ipswich
“Delap goes through, you think ‘you have the composure to score’ and he does almost everything right, but look at the celebration from Martinez, he makes a great save,” said Sherwood. “He stands up. He is in control there, Martinez. But he shouldn’t be. The centre forward has to be in control there.”
Owen added: “He (Delap) did everything right. Great off-the-ball run. Frees it up. A lovely first touch and prepares it perfectly.
“Do you know what? When you see from that camera shot (from the other goalkeeper’s viewpoint). He doesn’t do much wrong. It’s an unbelievable save. In hindsight, you think, could he have dinked him? Martinez goes down quite early. But he didn’t do much wrong. A brilliant save.”
Aston Villa’s defensive woes
There is the small matter of Villa facing Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday night and you worry about the defence.
Bayern scored nine goals in their opening Champions League win and they have one of the best attacks in Europe at their disposal.
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It remains to be seen if Harry Kane will be fit for the Villa Park trip, but even without the England captain, they are as lethal and powerful as anyone.
Villa need to dig deep here and re-produce the magic they once showcased against Manchester City and Arsenal last season because it’s going to be needed.
