News Beat
How Aston Villa’s ‘express lane’ move can win the Premier League as they keep heat on Arsenal and Man City
ASTON VILLA’S “express lane” tactic has helped them surge into the title race and keep heat on Arsenal and Manchester City.
Morgan Rogers is in fine form with five goals this season and his rocket against West Ham giving Villa their latest three points.
But he is not the only one who has let fly from distance this season, and Villa lead the league in goals scored from outside the box this season.
Dean Scoggins, SunSport’s tactical guru, revealed on Tactics Exposed how the team’s ongoing success from distance is not a fluke but the result of specific, high-level tactical instructions.
Rogers’ Long-Range Artillery
The most immediate talking point is Aston Villa’s sensational ability to score from outside the box.
With ten goals from long range this season, Villa are drastically outperforming their expected goals (xG) statistics, a feat often dismissed as luck. But this is a deliberate strategy.
The instruction is clear: shoot on sight. This is made possible because Villa actively work to create space on the edge of the area.
They achieve this by using clever runs, often by players like Tielemans or Watkins, who run beyond the ball.
These decoy runs push the opposition defence backward, creating the crucial pocket of space that Premier League-quality shooters like Rogers, Matty Cash, and Boubacar Kamara then exploit.
Rogers’ standout goal against West Ham exemplified this, showcasing a technique akin to that of free-kick specialist Juninho.
BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS
Rogers hits the ball with an unusual, open-footed, almost floppy strike that generates unpredictable swerve and dip, throwing goalkeepers off.
Unai Emery is actively encouraging these shots, understanding that forcing the opposition to defend the long shot naturally drags defenders out of the low block, opening up space for other avenues of attack.
Emery’s Box of Cleverness
Central to Villa’s structure is Emery’s unique use of a box midfield – a system distinct from Chelsea’s interpretation.
Villa’s box is formed by the two centre-backs and the two central midfielders, typically Kamara and Amadou Onana.
These midfielders maintain a remarkable proximity, rarely more than ten yards from each other, providing a solid, four-man shield.
This defensive bedrock allows the full-backs to push forward and the nominally wide players, like Rogers and John McGinn, to drift inside into the Number 10 positions. The box structure is the platform that grants Villa the freedom to attack wide and through the half-spaces.
Offensively, the box is a decoy and a trigger. The two central midfielders (Onana and Kamara) move subtly to open up passing lanes, creating four potential ‘express lanes’ from the goalkeeper or centre-backs directly into the feet of the attacking midfielders or striker.
Pau Torres and the ‘Express lane’
Aston Villa are relentlessly committed to playing out from the back, often with the centre-backs and goalkeeper positioned right on the goal line.
This is a deliberate ploy to goad the opposition’s press and draw them out.
Pau Torres, even though he missed the West Ham game, is vital to this.
He is more than just a defender; he is a phenomenal ball player whose primary on-ball responsibility is to break the press by firing accurate, line-breaking passes directly into the feet of the front players—the ‘express lane’ passes.
This aggressive play-out is designed to create a numerical advantage higher up the pitch.
The build-up to Rogers’ goal against West Ham, which came from Victor Lindelof (Torres’ replacement) to the forward, confirmed this is an outright plan from the backline.
The Hi-Ho High Line
Finally, Villa employ a structured, flexible high line and press that operates as a cohesive unit.
Out of possession, they make the pitch compact by pushing the back four up toward the halfway line. This is not an all-out, risk-taking high line but a controlled press where the attackers stay slightly off the opposition, tempting them to play out before the entire unit presses.
This tactical discipline means whether in possession (where they make the pitch bigger) or out of possession (where they make it smaller), every player knows their job and their location.
Their success, including winning ten games in a row after European fixtures, is a testament to the depth of understanding and execution of Emery’s tactical plan.
