Aston Villa orient their hips towards either sideline and always play forward

03 October 2024

Every Aston Villa player orients their hips towards either sideline, opening up the pitch and the pass forward on their first touch. With each attack, the ball always moves forward, and diagonals form. This should trouble every team they play against.

Figure 1.1 - Aston Villa's double pivot faces their own goal.

Aston Villa use a double pivot when they build up from the back, and last season the two midfielders in that pivot would face the goal when the goalkeeper or center-backs had the ball. Their hips would face their own goal.

Figure 2.1 - Aston Villa's double pivot faces the sidelines.

This season their double pivot try, whenever possible, to position their hips to face either sideline. They don’t want to have their back to the opponent.

Notice the difference between Figure 1.1 and Figure 2.1. The field feels more open in Figure 2.1 and more closed off in Figure 1.1.

The opponent can apply pressure, but if the ball is played to either player in the pivot in Figure 2.1, say Tielemans, he can get off a pass on his first touch to a winger, one of the forwards, or directly into Onana.

Figure 2.2 - Aston Villa work the ball up the left wing.

As the ball moves up the pitch, every player will orient their bodies to the side, facing the ball, and the sideline to open up that pass forward on their first touch. With each action, they only look forward because the timing of the runs off the ball depends on that pass forward.

If the ball doesn’t move forward either through a pass or a carry, they kick it long and start over.

If the timing gets thrown off even once, they will look to reset.

Figure 3.1 - Aston Villa play forward on a diagonal. Pau Torres passes to Youri Tielemans.

Figure 3.2 - Youri Tielemans turns and carries forward, and the players on the diagonal peel off, making runs forward.

They orient facing the sideline, and then once they break past the opponent’s second line, every player will run facing towards the opponent’s goal, running at and quickly overwhelming the opponent’s last line of defense.

The diagonals naturally form because of how they are now orienting their bodies. When that pivot faces their own goal, closing off the pitch, these diagonals won’t form.

Everything is open, but most importantly, every attack will end in an attempt. Maybe not an attempt on the goal but an attempt to enter the box through the air or on the ground.

Match: Aston Villa 1-0 Bayern Munich, 2 October 2024

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