{"id":592080,"date":"2025-11-25T04:13:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T04:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/592080\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T04:13:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T04:13:18","slug":"unai-emerys-genius-aston-villa-switch-to-beat-leeds-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/592080\/","title":{"rendered":"Unai Emery’s genius Aston Villa switch to beat Leeds United"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Leeds United<\/a> fans lament the lack of proactive changes made from the technical area, Unai Emery detailed a genius ploy to stage Aston Villa\u2019s<\/a> comeback on Sunday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many expected that the international break would be the ideal time for Leeds to pull the trigger and replace Daniel Farke.<\/p>\n

That decision didn\u2019t come, and the situation didn\u2019t exactly improve. United have since slipped into the bottom three for the first time, with their points-per-game ratio dropping below 1.00 too.<\/p>\n

Most Read on LeedsAllOver<\/p>\n

Daniel Farke again criticised for lack of proactive Leeds United changes<\/p>\n

An ongoing concern of Leeds fans is that Farke has struggled to make the right subs at the right times this season<\/a>. Nottingham Forest put United to the sword through a string of proactive changes to change the game for the better, only for Leeds to make their first subs once they were already behind.<\/p>\n

Leeds, though, started the game much the better side. They were deserving of their 1-0 lead at half-time as they started in a much more aggressive mood, snuffing out Villa attacks on the front foot and getting their reward from a dead ball.<\/p>\n

\"\"Daniel Farke under even more pressure as Leeds United lose to Aston Villa. (REUTERS\/Chris Radburn)<\/p>\n

Donyell Malen\u2019s introduction instantly paid dividends after half-time, however. He assisted Morgan Rogers\u2019 first of two to equalise. Then, Rogers put Villa in front from a free-kick that stemmed from a similar overload of Leeds\u2019 backline, producing an important three points to move the Villans up to fourth.<\/p>\n

Following Villa\u2019s 48th-minute equaliser, it took Leeds 23 further minutes to make a change of their own beyond the enforced withdrawal of Anton Stach in the first half. Whilst Leeds fans watched on as we lost control of the match, fans in the South Stand sang \u201cmake a sub\u201d aimed at the technical area<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unai Emery reveals genius Aston Villa tactical switch to cut through Leeds United<\/p>\n

Unai Emery had an ace up his sleeve during the interval that ultimately saw them through to victory from a goal down.<\/p>\n

In the first half, Villa were setting up in a traditional 4-4-2 with Rogers supporting Ollie Watkins as a secondary striker. Rogers and Watkins, in truth, had a poor half together and didn\u2019t make the ball stick as Villa tried to build attacks through the channels. Leeds\u2019 back four\u2019s job was made much easier by the lack of threat in behind from the two Villa men.<\/p>\n

\"\"Unai Emery\u2019s tactical decision flipped Aston Villa\u2019s performance against Leeds United. (REUTERS\/Chris Radburn)<\/p>\n

In hooking Lucas Digne and Buendia at half-time, Emery turned to Ian Maatsen and (more importantly) Donyell Malen to partner Ollie Watkins more closely and run the channels better, allowing Rogers to operate between Leeds\u2019 midfield and defence as a third attacking option.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Per WhoScored.com<\/a>, Rogers\u2019 four touches in Leeds third in the first half are massively outdone by Malen\u2019s influence in the second, including his assist for the former.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the game, Emery noted how he needed to ask a different question of Leeds\u2019 defence in the second half. This change was his solution \u2013 via Jacob Tanswell on X<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAsked Emery about Malen\u2019s sub. He had identified Leeds being 2v2 at the back & wanted Rogers in the first half to threaten in behind along with Watkins. Said Malen \u2018is better\u2019 at doing this, so brought him on to really focus on capitalising on the space down the sides,\u201d Tanswell reported.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Daniel Farke could never manipulate a Leeds United game in his favour to pick apart a side\u2019s weakness<\/p>\n

How brilliant must it feel for Villa to see their manager make a crucial tactical tweak to expose a growing weakness of Leeds\u2019.<\/p>\n

The flipside of that is this: are Leeds going to be able to pick apart any other side\u2019s shortcomings with a shrewd change of approach?<\/p>\n

Since we\u2019ve been promoted, we\u2019ve played in one formation from start to finish almost exclusively<\/a>. The only time we\u2019ve diverted is when we\u2019ve thrown attackers on in a frantic effort to equalise. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve built a squad that would benefit from pragmatism and a model that prides itself on trying to cope with different situations every week. Instead, we\u2019re playing largely the same with the same personnel, which becomes much easier to deal with for a tactician of Emery\u2019s standard.<\/p>\n

Read more: 49ers confirm Rangers sacking statement as Leeds United watch on.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Leeds United fans lament the lack of proactive changes made from the technical area, Unai Emery detailed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[102,748,1385,25764,393,4884,1860,2922,142361,142362,16,6543,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-592080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-aston-villa","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-daniel-farke","11":"tag-elland-road","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-leeds","15":"tag-leeds-united","16":"tag-lufc","17":"tag-the-whites","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-unai-emery","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115608396634835616","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}