There have been a lot of fantastic moments this year for Aston Villa. The club also did well in making it as far as they did in Champions League and the FA Cup. Finishing in sixth is a disappointment, but mostly because of how it ended up happening at the end.
There are still legitimate points of concern and areas that need to be improved at AVFC. Unai Emery and the players will both know that and actively work on areas that are currently limiting the potential success of Villa.
One aspect that needs to be looked at is how Villa deal with pressure.
Against PSG, Crystal Palace, and to a lesser extent during the last Premier League match of the season against Manchester United, supporters could see the stark difference between what Villa look like when teams send numbers forward in the defensive third versus allowing Villa to comfortably build from the back.
When sides elect to drop off and give Villa a certain degree of freedom to pass around the backline, the AVFC attack can often formulate into something quite positive. By contrast, others immediately being there when a defender receives a ball from Emiliano MartÃnez seems to give Villa trouble.
Granted, that can be said of all clubs to an extent. It is something that the Villans noticeably show more discomfort in compared to when they are given more of a license to comfortably build up.
Emery will know this, of course, and likely make this a point of emphasis during preseason camp. It does show the difference and can provide part of a possible reason as to why Villa have not done well in the big, need-to-have moments.
Needs to change for Aston Villa to win silverware
In the more important matches, it goes without saying that the competition tends to be better. Natural human tendency also makes it so that the opponents are often also more willing to go for a result.
Particularly for sides that are comfortable in the high press anyway, it only makes sense for them to try to speed up Villa and seek to dominate possession through this direct method.
How Emery, with this corps, elects to deal with this aspect specifically can have a variety of answers. In general, however, being slow in recognizing the press and then in giving and receiving passes has not allowed Villa to be as competitive as they could have otherwise been in these types of moments.
For any Villa supporters looking for a positive aspect, it is a relatively easy fix to make.