Aston Villa Must Adopt a More Direct, Fearless Approach to Maintain Early Form

You might be forgiven for thinking that a defensive, counter-attacking approach suits Aston Villa perfectly, given their perceived ability to absorb pressure and break with exceptional speed. The first four games of the new Premier League season were evidence of this, featuring generally superb defensive displays and truly clinical finishing.

But as was quite clear in the clash with Arsenal on Saturday, the new look claret-and-blue defence is far from invincible.

The bubble burst rather unceremoniously for Paul Lambert's men, particularly with a troublesome virus spreading through the team prior to kick-off against the Gunners. To concede three goals in four minutes is a pretty damning indictment of the fragility still very much apparent at Villa Park, particularly against the bigger teams.

This must be rectified if Villa are to build on their decent start to the season.

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Ordinarily, Villa are best suited to away days due to their tendency to position themselves on the back foot with the capacity to launch offensive movements with rapidity. This has worked particularly well for Lambert at Anfield over the last three seasons, with Villa achieving victory over Liverpool recently for the second time in three seasons.

This campaign has thus far been characterised by games in which Villa take the lead and then work fervently to protect it. In reality, this is not a sustainable tactic for the long term, particularly when teams come to Villa Park and the home side plays like the visitors.

Villa are in a precarious position between genuine progress and the unsatisfactory outcome of narrowly avoiding relegation.

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To gain an understanding of the situation in which Villa find themselves, it might be worth considering the common projection of newly promoted teams who survive and even thrive in their first year in the Premier League.

The fearlessness with which these teams often approach this unfamiliar, top-flight territory is initially admirable but ultimately integral to their survival. The bold nature of their performances not only galvanises the team but forces the opposition onto the back foot, as it stuns far more experienced opponents now confronted with a team of unknown quality.

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In opting to defend and counter-attack in almost every game, Villa find themselves in danger of suffering from symptoms of second-season syndrome in the coming months, as opponents will go into games with an understanding of how to play against this repetitive approach.

Leicester City demonstrated this weekend how important it is to show courage in the face of a bigger yet out-of-form team like Manchester United, and their direct attitude resulted in one of the finest victories in the club's history.

Strange though it may sound, Villa must draw inspiration from their Midlands neighbours and have the confidence to attack teams.

With the return of Christian Benteke imminent, striking options will be bolstered considerably and Villa must carve out more opportunities for the big Belgian than they have been managing to do so in the games up to this point. Clinical though they were in the opening four matches, that simply will not continue in the same way for the rest of the season. Villa must improve the odds of scoring.

It is far from doom and gloom at Villa Park, with the side currently residing in third place in the Premier League. Nevertheless, Lambert and Keane must fashion a more threatening style that maximises the pace and energy from Fabian Delph to Gabriel Agbonlahor in order to stave off the possibility that Villa could quite easily stagnate early on in this campaign.

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It is unrealistic to believe that Villa will be successful with a negative style in a division in which, to use an old cliche, anyone can beat anyone. Of course, it is equally unrealistic to expect them to approach every game with a blind sense of bravery.

The current style is effective away from home, but it would be greatly encouraging to see Villa Park become something of a fortress teams fear visiting due to the pressure that Villa exert. At present, Villa's home ground represents a ground where larger teams expect to dominate. This should not be the case, as was shown by Villa's excellent performance in the first 45 minutes against Hull City.

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Vital though it is that Lambert has strengthened his defence significantly, it is in attack where he must now place the emphasis.

Villa have some talented individuals with a remarkable physical presence in the final third of the pitch. The likes of Andreas Weimann, Agbonlahor, Benteke, Darren Bent and growing talents such as Jack Grealish all have a lot to offer. It is time that the team illustrates the confidence to play in a manner that would enable these individuals to flourish if Villa are to improve on last season's record of just six home victories.