The Athletic’s Aston Villa correspondent Gregg Evans believes that they have to solve one issue if they are to stay up: the amount of individual errors in the team, per the 1874 podcast (March 12th, 08:35).
What’s the word?
Villa are currently marooned in the bottom three, having lost four of their last five games in the Premier League.
Indeed, they lost 4-0 to Leicester City on Monday evening and are now two points behind 17th-placed Watford.
And Evans believes that individual errors are sinking Dean Smith’s side in their bid to remain in the top-flight.
He said: “That's the most worrying part about this team at the moment. As you say, 10 individual errors.
“That's just what Opta have recorded but I'm sure there's a lot more than that to be honest, leading to goals. The problem is, you're just wondering who's going to do it next.
“They've all pretty much taken a turn. Bjorn Engels has had one, Tyrone Mings has had one, Tom Heaton had one, (Ezri) Konza, (Danny) Drinkwater against Man City. There's only so much a coaching team can do to stop individual errors.”
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Responsibility
Evans is spot on to say that this isn’t about the coaching at the club.
Villa have conceded more goals than any other team in the top-flight but one cannot legislate for individual errors.
Think of Harvey Barnes’ first of two strikes for Leicester on Monday; Pepe Reina came sprinting out of his goal and got nowhere near the winger, who then rounded him, a defender, and scored.
That certainly won’t have been worked on in training and it ultimately led to something of a collapse, as the former Liverpool man went on to concede three more.
If Villa are to progress and take the required points to remain in the top-flight, they need to ensure they aren’t gifting the opposition simple strikes, just like that Barnes goal earlier this week.
With games against Chelsea, Wolves, Liverpool, and Manchester United to come, they can ill-afford any more such errors.