Emery’s Record Against Glasner
It was well spoken about ahead of this game, that one of the reasons to be optimistic ahead of the trip to Villa Park, was the fact Oliver Glasner has a tremendous record against Emery. We just weren’t sure if that would outweigh the poor record Forest have had in this stadium or not.
This in, Glasner’s 6th in 8 contests against Emery, was fully deserved, and followed the trend we’d seen since Glasner joined Crystal Palace. 21 goals for, 5 conceded, and 4 clean sheets. If only the Austrian was here 4 and a bit months earlier!
Although Emery’s record against Glasner specifically is poor, it’s a trend that followed Villa last season whenever they faced up against variations of a back 3 system. In just under 500 minutes of Premier League football against this system, Emery’s Villa side were only in the lead for 12.84% (62 minutes). This is a huge reduction on the 27.29% figure they had against any other tactical set up.
This also reflects in the goals being scored at both ends too - against a back 3 last season Emery’s team scored just 3 goals, conceding 6, resulting in a goal difference of -3. This again compares poorly to when they faced any other system, where their goal difference was +10.
So perhaps it’s not just Glasner’s record that was working in Forest’s favour, but also Emery’s poorer record in general when he goes up against this kind of system.
How Forest Made Villa Struggle
It’s not a new thing to see this Forest side (under any of the recent managers) to try and make it difficult for opponents to play through the middle. But Glasner is getting his side to execute the same plan but in a slightly different fashion.
Firstly, concentrate on how often Schlager (and to a degree McAtee as well) is checking his shoulder for Buendia’s positioning. If the Argentinian shuffles one way, Schlager follows, but he stays on a similar vertical line to his midfield partner.
With Forest’s relatively narrow front 3 ahead of them, Villa’s deeper midfield two will always struggle to receive the ball off the centre backs. The clever thing here though, is who triggers the press.