Unai Emery & Austin MacPhee Set-Piece Tactics At Aston Villa 2024/2025 – Set-Piece Analysis

The competition intensifies on all fronts in the Premier League over time as we gradually approach the finish line.

The competition were referring to is not only for the title or relegation but also for qualification to European competitions.

It’s enough to know that the gap between fourth place and eleventh place is only 10 points.

At this stage of the season, the importance of details becomes clear, as each team strives to outsmart its opponents by any means necessary.

One of the most notable details is set pieces.

Aston Villa occupies eighth place with 45 points, just four points behind Chelsea, who are in fourth place.

The Villans are one of the most impressive teams in the Premier League when it comes to set-pieces.

They sit in first place for the most goals scored from set-pieces this season, with 13 so far.

They hope to continue this approach as it could help them in the UEFA Champions League qualification battle.

You might say that this could be luck, but the statistics also confirm this excellence.

Aston Villa has the second-highest xG (expected goals) from set-pieces in the league, with 13.1 goals, just behind Arsenal, who have 13.24.

In addition, Aston Villa heavily rely on set-pieces in their attack, having scored 13 goals from a total of 41 from set-pieces, which accounts for nearly 32%.

This is unsurprising, as Aston Villa have a specialist in set-pieces in their coaching team, Austin MacPhee—one of the most renowned in his field, whose presence in Unai Emerys coaching team is highly evident during set-pieces.

In this tactical analysis, we will discuss Aston Villas tactics under MacPhee for corners, which are one of their key strengths.

We will also explain how they manipulate the opposition, always putting them in a situation where they must choose between two options.

Aston Villa Short Corners

When watching Aston Villas corners, you immediately get the sense that something unusual is happening as you notice hesitation in the defensive decisions of the opposition players.

Youre right; Villa do indeed put their opponents in multiple minds.

In this article, we will discuss how they position their opponents in a situation where they must choose between defending the short corners or the near post and the space ahead of it.

It is a common problem because many teams prefer to defend short corners by using one short-option defender to save players in the box.

To defend the cross, instructions are given to a specific player to help the short-option defender as the ball is passed, creating a 2v2 situation.

The problem is that the player who comes to support usually comes from the near post because it is the nearest point to the ball. Therefore, if the attacking team uses some short-corner manipulations, it will cause problems.

Lets clarify that!

As shown below, Chelsea defend with four-man markers (green), a short-option defender (blue), a rebound defender (orange), and four-man markers.

It is clear that Chelseas man-markers are dragged six yards away from the area around the penalty spot.

Three stand behind the zonal line, while the fourth stands on the edge of the six-yard line on the far post.

Hence, the rebound defender starts near the penalty spot, with Marco Asensio not leaving this huge area empty.

When the ball is played short, he will move to defend the edge of the box, leaving him vulnerable to scoring a goal.

Lets see how Aston Villa dealt with this defensive scheme.

As in the photo below, the short-option defender goes to defend the short corner, but he finds himself in a 2v1 situation.

You can see him pointing to the first zonal