The high line.

[Smithy]

There's a picture doing the rounds showing the defensive line for a free kick against Luton and it is incredible to see the coordination of the players, not just in making a solid line but also in the identical body positions at the same moment. The players are exceptionally well drilled, to a level I don't think I've ever seen from a Villa team before.

On the two occasions where it hasn't seemed to work (Newcastle and Liverpool) we'd lost a centre back to injury during the match with the replacements having had limited playing time with us in this system. It's fair to say those were mitigating circumstances. The counter argument would be that those were two teams from the top four last year and even Emery has acknowledged that we need to improve against teams of that level. It's going to be interesting to see how we get on defending against Man City and Arsenal having learned from those two games.

Hang it in the Louvre.

Thanks! The more I see it the more impressed I am.

For anyone skimming down and just seeing the thumbnail - you need to click it to see the full image which includes Digne...

[stevo_st]

Awesome stuff BE!

[Footy-Vill]

The greatest positive from the game against Forest was having them caught 9 times offside
They were baffled by Villa's defensive tenacity to hold the line, and I saw how Forest were caught offside time and again, even when the forest replacements came on
It's a risky game and have to be careful away from home in particular but have to give credit for how disciplined it was in general to play the high line.

[eamonn]

Dion Dublin wasn't too keen in it on MOTD. Don't think he watches us regularly.

[OCD]

One or two of them were a little close for comfort, to the point that VAR could have gone against us if they had gone on to score from them. It's the risk we take though.

[BC Villain]

Dion Dublin wasn't too keen in it on MOTD. Don't think he watches us regularly.

Claimed playing a high line means we'll lose more games than we win - after not losing for 2 months!

Think Dion's been looking at too many stairs leading up to bedrooms.  The goals we conceded had bugger all to do with it. 

[OCD]

This Angeball looks a lot like football to me.

[VillaTim]

Spurs trying to replicate our suicidal high line

[olaftab]

Spurs hi line tonight was a sight to see. When we do it we at least keep it just about in our half.

[john2710]

What the 'experts' fail to appreciate is that the high line is a major reason why we've been successful.

[Footy-Vill]

Son Vs the highline will be very interesting.
How will Emery address that next away game.

[VillaTim]

Son Vs the highline will be very interesting.
How will Emery address that next away game.

Son will get through it that's for sure. Over to the Sultan

[Nunkin1965]

Spurs trying to replicate our suicidal high line

How is it suicidal if we've won 12 home league games in a row?

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

Son Vs the highline will be very interesting.
How will Emery address that next away game.

Son will get through it that's for sure. Over to the Sultan

I’m sure he’ll swing into action.

[OCD]

The amount of times it took Chelsea to crack the high line probably shows how hard it can be to get it right for a lot of teams.

It will be interesting to see us come up against it. With the amount of times our forwards will have played against it in training, you would think they should be pretty good at it.