So far so good for Aston Villa this season, with Unai Emery having guided the Midlands-based side to a hugely respectable fifth place in the Premier League at present.
Just five points off of new leaders Man City, if Villa can continue to be consistent across the vast majority of what’s left of the 2023/24 campaign, there’s no reason why European qualification will be beyond them.
A surprise loss to strugglers, Nottingham Forest, last time out has not only dented pride but denied them the chance to end week 11 in third place in the English top-flight.
It appears that the loss had much to do with the high line that Emery insists on playing, a decision that former Villa ace, Dion Dublin, blasted as “absolutely ridiculous” on the BBC’s Match of the Day 2 programme.
“Villa’s high line, for me, is absolutely ridiculous,” he said.
“They have been brilliant of late, let’s get it right – one of the form teams and Unai Emery has done great – however, when you play a high line one yard away from the halfway line, you’re going to be in trouble more often than not.”
That prompted a swift response from another Villa legend, and CaughtOffside columnist, Stan Collymore.
Collymore, who also famously played for Forest, took Dublin to task via X (formerly Twitter):
The high line is a challenging watch when the team aren't playing well. As a former striker, yesterday I'd have sat on any of the Villa central defenders at the City Ground and would have backed myself to have 3 or 4 chances by half time just by balls played into space.
But..… https://t.co/341oeyf8uH
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) November 6, 2023
‘The high line is a challenging watch when the team aren’t playing well. As a former striker, yesterday I’d have sat on any of the Villa central defenders at the City Ground and would have backed myself to have 3 or 4 chances by half time just by balls played into space,’ he wrote.
‘But.. Where Dion is wrong is this. The higher you press, the more you condense space in the opponent’s half, the more you can dominate an opponent in their own half. And that’s almost universally the philosophy of many progressive coaches.
‘A lot of ex pros ( I found the weirdest example ironically was Liverpool doing it when they lost 7-2 at VP, and not once, despite being done every other minute in behind, did they change philosophy ) can’t wrap their head around teams doing it “come hell or high water”, and when it goes wrong (5-1 at Newcastle), it goes wrong big time, but Emery and staff will only look at the big picture over a season. And that says the rewards are greater than the risks.’
Ultimately, Emery will be judged at the end of the season.
If Villa have either won the Europa Conference League (or gone close), done well in the FA Cup or finished in the European places, there can be little argument that he’s improved the squad and results.
That would then be a tacit acknowledgment of his methods being correct regardless of how ridiculous Dublin believes them to be.