Aston Villa won their first game of the season away at the London Stadium, and it just had to be Jhon Duran, who scores the winner after being heavily pursued by the Hammers all summer. Looking at West Ham‘s performance under their new manager Julen Lopetegui it was definitely something to build on and they showed some promising signs. However, to concede in the manner they did will be disappointing. What went wrong for Duran’s winner? The Analysis.
The first frame I want to pick out is Pau Torres receiving the ball in a LCB (left centre back) position when Aston Villa form their back three to aid build-up. He is not pressured at all and can pick out a pass over the top to Maatsen who has pushed high from his starting left back position. Bowen started the game on the right wing for West Ham and spent the majority of the game tracking Digne’s attacking runs, almost forming a back five with the four defenders shifting across. Both managers made changes just minutes before the goal so it was Maatsen making the attacking run for Aston Villa and Mo Kudus being tasked to track it. Kudus however, wasn’t as aware as his captain and got caught somewhere in the middle between tracking the run and pressing Torres. He gets easily overplayed.
West Ham’s backline is in good shape at that moment. They stand very compact with little distances between each other. The defenders are marking their player as they have done all game.
Mistake #1: Kudus’ defensive positioning
Kudus (#14) is caught in the middle of nowhere. He should’ve tracked the left back’s run like Bowen did all game, stopping any ball being played over the top. Alternatively Soucek (#28) could’ve dropped in and pushed Coufal (#5) out wide to mark any attacking run made by Maatsen (#22). This would allow Kudus to press Torres, but leaves West Ham short in midfield as Ward-Prowse (#8) and Rodriguez (#24) would have to cover the three central midfielders of Aston Villa.
The second important frame is when Maatsen receives the ball over the top from Torres. Kudus has been overplayed so Coufal comes rushing out to close down Maatsen, leaving a big gap behind for Ramsey to underlap in. Neither Mavropanos nor Soucek are able to cover it in time. The three remaining defenders in West Ham’s back four still are still in good shape with little distances between each other and close to their opponents.
Mistake #2: Coufal rushing out
It’s a simple case of being too eager. Coufal (#5) wanted to close down any angle for Maatsen (#22) to play it on. However, it created a massive gap for Ramsey (#41) to receive the ball under little pressure. Coufal should’ve kept the shape slowly moving out to press Maatsen. That gives Mavropanos and the rest of the defence enough time to shuffle across and prevents the underlap.
In the third frame of this attacking sequence by Aston Villa, Jacob Ramsey lays it back to Jhon Duran who has made the run across Max Kilman and finishes it excellently. It’s also superb penalty-box-movement shown by the young Colombian striker as he nets his first goal of the season. There’s little blame to be put on Kilman or Areola as Duran’s movement and finish was just so good.
