‘So costly…’ Unai Emery urged to make key change at Aston Villa after latest showing

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Aston Villa have lost that winning feeling.

There has been so much praise that has come Unai Emery’s way since he replaced Steven Gerrard in the Villa Park dugout.

But this is now his biggest test because Villa are winless in six matches in all competitions and they recently ended four Premier League defeats in a row.

That happened by Villa drawing 2-2 against Crystal Palace, but once again, the same problems were rearing their ugly heads.

Before the international break, Liverpool punished Villa on the break with two rapid goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah on either side of the half.

And before fans could get into their seats for the weekend, Ismaila Sarr was racing through on goal and opening the scoring.

There have been many debates as to what needs to change for Aston Villa to click again.

Unai Emery told Aston Villa’s high line proving to be ‘quite costly’

Villa’s high line has been a common theme of Emery’s tenure so far and a key reason why the club have progressed so much under his stewardship.

But there are times when your strength becomes your weakness and Tony Cascarino feels that is now the case here.

The Midlands outfit have conceded 19 Premier League goals this term and they have only kept one clean sheet – at home to Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United.

And Tony Cascarino feels it’s time Emery made some changes to their ‘quite costly’ high line, as he told talkSPORT.

“If you are talking about the achilles heel of Villa, it is their high line,” said Cascarino. “Someone like Sarr, who scored the first goal, what he wants is space to run into and get behind the backline.

“So, when you play a high line against very quick players, now you can compound that by saying, no Konsa, no Tyrone Mings, so you are changing the centre-halves. You might argue these two might be first-choice on any given day anyway.

“That continual high line, it has been quite costly for Villa. They do so many good things and they are a dangerous side. They have lots of flair in their team with Morgan Rogers and we can talk about McGinn. They can create problems. Bailey, as well you can throw in there. Just that high line as well feels very costly to me, for Villa. Not always. There are games when Villa can do it when the opposition doesn’t have ridiculous speed. As good as Villa have been under Unai Emery, they have been fantastic and it has got them a long way, in Champions League football and what they have done in the Premier League. Are there certain teams you shouldn’t be playing a high line against?!”

Aston Villa’s woes since the clean sheet against Manchester United

Ironically enough, in Europe’s elite competition, things are going pretty well and many are satisfied with the current eighth spot.

That bizarre Tyrone Mings handball penalty is the only goal Villa have conceded, with three clean sheets previously against Young Boys, Bayern Munich and Bologna.

But ever since Villa recorded a 0-0 draw against Manchester United – a potential platform for the defence to kick on – the team hasn’t stopped shipping goals, including four against Tottenham at the start of the month.