Possession doesn’t love Aston Villa as much as Aston Villa love possession
Aston Villa have scored one Premier League goal in 2025/26. Even five matches into the season, it could be argued they’re lucky to have that many.
Villa not scoring has become the popular trope of the season so far but only after the draw with ten-man Sunderland on Sunday has the mainstream caught up with the team’s lack of width, pedestrian style of play and near-total dearth of creativity.
It’s getting boring to say it but this is a team that beat Paris Saint-Germain in the middle of April. The decline in their performance levels is absurd and needed addressing weeks ago. That we’re still asking questions now, on the doorstep of the Europa League campaign, is disappointing to say the least.
Close your eyes and imagine Villa playing in the Premier League.
What do you see? I reckon there’s a better than evens chance you’ve just pictured Emiliano Martínez, Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa passing the ball between them while two opposition players look on from 15 yards away, having a nice breather.
There it is, writ large. The illusion of control. Villa are criticised for hoarding possession for the sake of possession but that’s not the aim. The aim is control. The flaw in the plan is that Villa don’t control the game by having the ball and possession is actively hurting them this season.
Let’s get this out of the way before sticking the boot in. Martínez, Mings and Konsa are quality footballers. They’re neither lazy nor incompetent and that vision of them nudging the ball around at the back is a systemic issue, not a talent one.
Villa have had a lot of the ball this season. In six matches in the Premier League and League Cup it’s yielded next to nothing. Their shots on target have been few and far between and they’ve come from low-quality chances.
| Opponent | Villa Possession (FBref) | Expected Goals (FBref) | Shots on Target (FBref) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle United | 41% | 0.2 | 3 |
| Brentford | 76% | 1.2 | 2 |
| Crystal Palace | 59% | 1.1 | 4 |
| Everton | 54% | 0.4 | 1 |
| Brentford (LC) | 51% | 0.7 (Fotmob) | 6 |
| Sunderland | 71% | 0.8 | 2 |
What’s stood out to me so far is that Villa crave control through possession but their fleeting moments of superiority this season – ten minutes here, ten minutes there – have come from not having the ball. That’s a subjective conclusion rather than a statistical truth but I stand by it.
Villa aren’t the possession team they think they are
What’s most interesting about that conclusion is why they look better without possession. I think it was most starkly demonstrated by the two matches away against Brentford.
Villa went to the Gtech Community Stadium in the league, had 76% possession and looked lost. They went back in the League Cup, had 54% possession and carved out some moments of attacking quality that got Brentford turned and in trouble. Again, the moments were fleeting, but they were there.
I think ceding a degree of possession in the cup game was deliberate, albeit experimental rather than a matter of tactical conviction.
Instead of Brentford happily sitting off while Villa obsessively tried to draw them into pressing, they gradually edged, emboldened, towards Villa’s goal. By giving up a bit of the ball, Villa opened up the very spaces they’ve failed to create by endlessly attempting to bait the press.
Passes into midfield were finding players with room to turn. Ball carriers were able to do their thing. Lines were broken and Villa, suddenly and oh so briefly, found some dynamism.
A spanner in the works at Sunderland?
The Sunderland game showed the contrast too, thanks to Reinildo’s red card. Sunderland won their home matches before playing Villa and wanted to take the game to Unai Emery‘s side.
Villa are suffering in other ways, certainly, and I wouldn’t say they played well against eleven men at the Stadium of Light, but I did think Sunderland were starting to play into Villa’s hands by seeking domination before they went down to ten.
I think and I hope that Emery planned to have a more even share of the ball informed by the few positives from last Tuesday. The red card changed that. Villa had the ball for the rest of the match, faced the same old problems against a solid defensive team and failed to kill the game off.
A team of Villa’s talent and experience should have ways to deal with that particular game state by now. Blaming the red card for two points dropped would be letting them off the hook too easily; they should have won on Sunday.
But it was another example of Villa struggling to make headway while having lots of possession and facing a determined low block without the intent, imagination or confidence to break it down.
Drawing the press isn’t working. That should now be obvious. It’s not catching the opposition out, it’s not turning possession into attacking incision, and it’s not exciting to watch. That might not matter when they’re winning but it sure doesn’t help when they’re not.
There’s another way to create the spaces Villa need to thrive. Emery won’t like it but it increasingly seems like he’s not going to have much choice but to try it.
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