It will of course be frustrating to not have had Aston Villa win their preseason friendly against Eintracht Frankfurt. It was a more honest look at what supporters will potentially see from Unai Emery this upcoming campaign.
Although the fixture ended in a draw, it gave the squad a good look at one of the areas that they need to be better at, particularly if Villa are going to achieve their ultimate goal of hoisting a trophy.
Good teams, as was seen, for example, against PSG, know how to press and not even allow for the attack to begin to formulate.
There were certainly a lot of positives to take away from the U.S.-based match. At times, Frankfurt was able to make it quite difficult for Villa to build from the back. To Emery's side's credit, they continued to attempt to play possession out of the back and did not resort to playing long. For a couple of parts of the game, when they were able to break the initial pressure, fans saw Villa able to produce some quality chances and look at times like a side in midseason form.
Needed area for Aston Villa to improve in
The goals, however, that the Bundesliga side scored directly came from mistakes, off the inability in the moment to break the pressure. Something like that can be particularly demoralizing, especially when most other facets of the match are going relatively well. It is better to get these types of mistakes out of the way now, allowing for Emery and the squad to review the specific scenarios and how to better deal with a similar look moving forward.
One aspect is for certain: Emery is not looking like he will allow for someone else to take him out of his game plan heading into a game. Continuing to build from the back and play to feet directly through the midfield is something that, once mastered, will give Villa a tremendous advantage moving forward. This aspect in particular will be something worth monitoring during the next friendly against St. Louis City SC on July 30.