Aston Villa secured their first win of the season, beating Club Brugge 3-2 in their Champions League opener.
It took the Villans just 11 minutes to take the lead, with John McGuinn opening the scoring after Pau Torres’ marauding run. Club Brugge fought back, equalising in the 19th minute through Hugo Vetlesen.
But Aston Villa struck back instantly, going 2-1 up three minutes later thanks to Emiliano Buendia. The Villans were 3-1 by half-time with Nicolas Jackson getting onto the end of another Torres assist.
Club Brugge got a goal back on the hour-mark from the penalty spot, converted by Nicolo Tresoldi. But they were unable to rescue a point.
In this article, we’ll cover
Villa build vs Club Brugge press
Unai Emery set his side out to build in their usual 4-2-4/4-2-2-2 structure, with the full-backs holding width in initial deep starting positions, and the front four more narrow.
Club Brugge were looking to press with Carlos Forbs jumping from a right-wing position to press Torres, triggering their right-sided jumps.
Kyriani Sabbe would jump onto Ian Maatsen and Han-Beom Lee would then shuffle across to manage George Hemmings. Meanwhile, Freddie Potts had a more man-oriented role on Buendia, following him across the pitch.
Torres was the key for breaking the press in this game, as was seen for the first goal. The Spaniard was able to advance the ball via a carry, before finding McGinn.
With Forbs having to leave Ian Maatsen to press Torres, there was a moment of indecision where the Spanish defender was able to drive inside Club Brugge’s pressing shape, with nobody then jumping to apply pressure.
This happened on a number of occasions, allowing Aston Villa to break the press and access their front line in advantageous positions.
Villa’s defensive approach
Off the ball, Emery set his side up in their usual 4-4-2 defensive shape, looking to apply initial pressure before falling into a more zonal midblock.
The pressing triggers for Aston Villa to step out and apply pressure saw McGinn jumping onto the right centre-back, while Joaquin Seys was inverted between the lines, looking to cause a tension down that side.
Boubacar Kamara was tasked with occupying this zone, while Aaron Wan-Bissaka had an initial narrow start position before ending up in one-on-one isolations against Virgili.
Hemmings started deeper on Aston Villa’s left, allowing Jackson and Buendia to manage the other two members of Club Brugge’s three at the back, which they formed via Sabbe tucking in.
This allowed them to double up on Forbs down the left-flank, but it did mean Sabbe could make dynamic runs to support from deep to try and trouble Aston Villa’s left side.
Aston Villa’s attacking relations
Villa went into the game still awaiting their first goal of the season, having lost 4-0 and 1-0, and drawn 0-0 in their opening three Premier League games.
But things seem to be slowly coming together, after losing some key players in the summer and looking to rebuild a new set of synergies.
This was evident for Villa’s second goal, as Wan-Bissaka received the ball against the touchline, with Club Brugge looking to step up and trap them against the side.
Wan-Bissaka was able to make a diagonal entry pass into Jackson, as Buendia dragged Potts away from that side.
Jackson was then able to do what he does best, take the ball under pressure, secure it and set Joao Gomes with a backheel to continue his run.
Gomes then found the cutback to Buendia, who slotted it home to make it 2-1, with this goal showing the moving pieces and synergy building between the new additions.
Club Brugge’s dynamic flanks
The biggest positives for Club Brugge was their danger in wide areas, despite losing Christian Tzolis in the summer, who joined Arsenal.
Virgili showed good signs down Club Brugge’s left-side, getting into one-on-one situations against Wan-Bissaka and constantly looking to disrupt his foot-work via a high volume of small touches, little feints and jabs to unsettle the defender.
While not looking to beat Maatsen as consistently in his 1v1 duels, Forbs did manage to continuously bring the ball forwards down that side for Club Brugge, getting his side into more dangerous areas and dragging Aston Villa backwards.
Pair the two wingers with the exciting full-backs Club Brugge possess, capable of making dynamic support runs from deep, and the Belgian side will give plenty of opponents a tough time in the Champions League this year.