Hull City 0-0 Aston Villa: Control Without Penetration

Villa’s first point of the season came from a performance that was calmer, cleaner and considerably more controlled than anything they produced at Brighton. They also had nearly three-quarters of the ball and managed one shot on target. Hull showed how far Emery has already taken the rebuild back towards order, and how much work remains once Villa reach the part of the pitch where order is no longer enough.

By Nico Valenti

For long stretches at Hull, Aston Villa had the game exactly where Unai Emery would have wanted it. Tyrone Mings and Victor Lindelöf spent most of the afternoon near the halfway line, Boubacar Kamara and Ross Barkley could receive without being hurried, Matty Cash and Ian Maatsen played high enough to keep Hull pinned back and the ball returned quickly whenever possession was lost. After the chaos at Brighton and the much more cautious performance against Arsenal, Villa looked like a side able to control where a match was being played again.

The numbers reflect that. Villa had 74 per cent possession, completed well over 600 passes and generated 1.74 xG. Jackson headed Maatsen’s early cross wide, Barkley arrived onto a cut-back and could not sort his feet, McGinn sent his chip over after a clever Jackson touch and Buendía missed the clearest chance when George Hemmings put the ball back into his path from the byline. This was not a match in which Villa produced nothing and waited for inspiration. They should have scored.

Yet one shot on target from all that possession still felt revealing. Villa completed 175 passes in the final third but managed only 20 touches in Hull’s penalty area. The ball spent an extraordinary amount of time near Hull’s goal without spending enough time threatening it.

Hull were happy with that arrangement. Their 5-4-1 kept the centre crowded, Jackson usually had three centre-backs within reach and the midfield four protected the space in front of them. There was little need to press Mings or Lindelöf aggressively when Villa’s possession remained outside the part of the pitch Hull most wanted to defend. Kamara could find Barkley, Barkley could move it towards Maatsen or Cash, the full-back could return it inside and Hull could shuffle across without anybody having to leave the line.

Villa were circulating the ball well. Hull were circulating themselves just as comfortably.

The difference came when somebody stopped playing the game at Hull’s speed.

George Hemmings did that more than anyone. His afternoon was not especially tidy, nor did it need to be. Villa already had plenty of players capable of keeping possession. Hemmings kept trying to alter the picture. He received on the outside of Coyle, moved inside to combine with Maatsen and, when the opportunity came, attacked the defender instead of waiting for the next rotation to develop.

The Buendía chance was the clearest example. One acceleration took Hemmings beyond the outside defender and immediately changed the direction in which Hull were facing. The midfield line that had spent most of the afternoon protecting the penalty area was suddenly behind the ball, the centre-backs were retreating towards their own goal and Buendía arrived free around ten yards out. The finish went over the bar, but Villa had finally done what most of their possession had failed to do: make Hull abandon their preferred shape.

It is beginning to make Hemmings an intriguing selection for Emery. Garnacho was available and Mbaye made the bench, yet Hemmings started again. When Garnacho eventually came on, Buendía went off and Hemmings remained. That no longer looks like an academy player borrowing a place until the summer signings are ready.

His value is partly in the spaces he chooses. Hemmings can begin on the left without living permanently on the touchline. Maatsen can go beyond him, Hemmings can receive inside and Jackson still has somebody making a movement beyond the ball. Garnacho would bring a more obvious one-against-one threat from the same flank, while Mbaye should eventually give Villa genuine width from the right.

That becomes important around Jackson, whose second league start looked very different from the first. Arsenal gave him room to run into; Hull gave him bodies. He still managed to influence Villa’s best moments. Maatsen found him almost immediately with an early cross, and later Jackson moved away from the centre-backs, took the ball into his feet and released McGinn into space.

Jackson is beginning to give Villa a centre-forward who can move without emptying the attack. He will come into a channel or drop towards the ball, but he does not spend every possession looking for touches in midfield. Villa already have enough players who want the ball there.

The problem at Hull was what happened to the space Jackson left behind. Too often nobody reached it quickly enough. Buendía came short, McGinn moved infield and Barkley advanced from deeper, but much of that movement took place in front of Hull’s midfield. The home side could watch the attack develop without having to turn around.

Barkley’s first-half chance hinted at a better route. He arrived late onto the cut-back, after Hull’s attention had shifted towards the players already involved in the move. His touch killed the opportunity, but the run itself had value. It came from outside the defensive picture.

Goretzka should eventually bring more of those movements. Against this kind of opponent Villa do not need another midfielder helping Kamara rack up possession. They need somebody entering the penalty area after the defence has already been occupied. Manzambi offers another way through the same problem. Villa passed around Hull’s midfield all afternoon; they rarely carried through it. A midfielder driving beyond the first challenge forces somebody from the back line to move forward, and the spaces behind that movement are usually more valuable than another pass across the front of the block.

At Hull, Villa had those ideas in isolation and the full-backs will become part of that calculation too. Cash and Maatsen were logical choices on Saturday because Villa expected to dominate the ball. Maatsen created Jackson’s early header and spent much of the afternoon high around Hemmings. Cash allowed McGinn to narrow and gave Villa another player outside Hull’s midfield. Their presence helped establish the territory, though Villa completed only one of 12 crosses, which says something about how little the width ultimately produced.

Emery now has much more variety there. Mbaye ahead of Wan-Bissaka could allow the winger to provide the width while the full-back remains underneath the attack. Put Cash behind Mbaye and Villa could create a completely different right side, with an overlap outside a winger moving towards goal. Maatsen and Garnacho would offer speed from two starting positions on the left; Ruggeri and Hemmings would give Emery a more controlled version of the same flank.

Hull was the sort of opponent that will make those choices important. They did not give Villa the spaces Arsenal left behind their press or the chaos Brighton found in transition. They gave them the ball and waited. Villa had to create the opening themselves.

For much of the afternoon, they moved the ball more effectively than they moved Hull.

The finishing has to improve. Ten shots from inside the area producing one effort on target is difficult to explain tactically, and Buendía’s chance in particular should have decided the game. But the more interesting work for Emery lies before the shot. Villa need fewer possessions that end with Hull still standing exactly where they began them. Villa already have the control back. What they are still searching for is the movement that turns control into pressure.