Aston Villa and Unai Emery went into this Premier League matchup still chasing a first home win of the season, against a Brentford side that arrived fourth and unbeaten, and two teams so alike in how they build, press and break produced a 2-2 draw that was decided, in the end, by nothing more than who could finish the counter-attacks they kept creating for each other.

One Blueprint For Aston Villa & Brentford

Both sides were building with their centre-backs split and the goalkeeper as the plus-one, inviting a press into their own box, and both head coaches had their defenders going touch tight in their marking, or failing that, in their closing down. The same rule applied to the double pivots: one midfielder had to stay deep while the other followed the dropping midfielder from the opposite pivot, the idea being that the press could be followed by the dropping player, and the ball could be picked up unchallenged with time and space to turn and play forward.

The space in behind those pressers, although screened, was not protected against long clearances or direct balls, and so the area in front of each defence and behind the deepest pivot was targeted again and again to start fast breaks down the pitch. These were rehearsed patterns too, with at least four players involved and plenty of room to attack behind the mid-block.

Villa’s pressing had one notable twist. Emery’s side only engaged with Brentford’s build-up once the ball entered the middle third, with the first line of pressure more often on the edge of the away side’s defensive third, leaving roughly three-tenths of the pitch free for Brentford to play in, a false sense of security. The touch-tight traps were laid in the centre and the half-spaces, and with the block shifting ball-side, Emery was only focused on blocking progression into the spaces that matter. Brentford’s answer was the long switch of play, used often to cheat that hybrid trapping system.

Brentford’s set play build-up, with Aston Villa’s hybrid man-to-man, zonal mid-block shape, and Brentford’s decision making to directly bypass it.

Two Goals in Two Minutes, and the Jackson Factor

Brentford struck first on 10 minutes. Tyrone Mings tried to be progressive, carrying the ball into midfield, but his pass went astray straight to a Brentford foot, and when Igor Thiago’s cross from deep and wide wasn’t cleared, the ball fell for Yehor Yarmoliuk to volley home for 0-1, his first goal since January.

Villa needed just 88 seconds to reply. Emiliano Buendía’s through ball deflected off a defender and into the path of Nicolas Jackson, who had positioned himself well on the blind side to attack the bounce at the back post, and he finished sublimely for 1-1.

Jackson was the standout of the half for Villa, dropping into the half-spaces to support the build-up, and running from deeper, wider positions like a winger to drag his marker into areas he was not comfortable defending. His link-up with Johan Manzambi produced two big chances for either player to get on the scoresheet. With both teams so alike in their high press, mid-block and transition strategy, the only stark difference was who was at the top of the pitch, and the two centre-forwards were the players visibly shaping the game, Thiago half-creating the opener with his cross before Jackson scored at the other end minutes later.

Second Half: Artificial Transitions Take Over

After the break, the natural way to bypass both high presses was simply to manufacture artificial transitions, and that is exactly how the game played out, with both sides looking to exploit the space in behind each other’s mid-block. Villa were still building from the back to try to unlock the vertical space in midfield, but much less often than in the first half, and Emery admitted afterwards that it wasn’t the game he had planned for. “We could not have control in 90 minutes like we planned,” he said. “We expected to dominate more with the ball than we did.”

The changes came thick and fast without shifting the picture much. Aaron Wan-Bissaka replaced Matteo Ruggeri and Aaron Hickey came on for Jannik Schuster at half-time, Kevin Schade went off injured for Mamadou Sangaré seven minutes later with Keane Lewis-Potter moving out wide, and Ibrahim Mbaye replaced Buendía before Dango Ouattara and Mathias Jensen came on for Lewis-Potter and Yarmoliuk.

Villa grew the more dangerous side on the break, with Mbaye’s running through the middle giving them a new outlet, and on 77 minutes yet another transition did the damage. Aaron Hickey had to make a last-ditch challenge to stop Mbaye’s run, but Johan Manzambi collected the loose ball and found John McGinn, who curled it in off a deflection for 2-1, the Scot’s first league goal of the season.

The lead lasted barely two minutes. Straight from the restart Brentford went the other way, and Kristoffer Ajer, dribbling from the flank like a winger rather than a centre-back, played a one-two with Jaidon Anthony after a throw-in and fired low past Zion Suzuki from inside the six-yard box for 2-2.

Keith Andrews admitted afterwards that the disruption took its toll, with Schade’s injury and Schuster “not right” before he came off at the break, on top of a squad still finding its rhythm after three weeks away on international duty. “It was strange at times, trying to find the rhythm which can be difficult,” he said, before adding that “the effort and the endeavour was there in abundance and I felt we could’ve nicked it.”

Verdict on Aston Villa & Brentford

Tactically, the two sides were neck and neck from start to finish. Villa edged the numbers, 20 shots to 14, 52% of the ball and created a higher amount of chances to score, an xG of 1.76 to Brentford’s 1.25, but with two near-identical game models cancelling each other out, it came down to who was more clinical when the counter-attacks arrived, and neither side was clinical enough to win it. Even Emery conceded as much: “To draw at home is not a good result, but more or less I think the result is fair in 90 minutes.”

Brentford leave Villa Park still unbeaten after six games, their longest unbeaten start to a league campaign since 2006/07, while Emery’s wait for a first home win of the season goes on. With both sides this good at breaking the other’s press, can either find the finishing edge to turn these transitions into wins, or will the mirror keep producing draws like this?

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