By Gabriel Agbonlahor

7th Sep, 2023 | 7:00am

Aston Villa expert slams 'naive' Unai Emery after what he saw - 'you can't do that'

Gabby Agbonlahor has slammed Unai Emery’s “naive” tactics away from home with Aston Villa on the end of “comfortable beatings” against Newcastle and Liverpool so far this season.

The former Aston Villa striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, urged the “outstanding” Spaniard to utilise his squad’s pace and play on the counter against the Premier League’s biggest sides.

Villa lost 3-0 away at Liverpool on Sunday (3 September) and have now picked up six points from a possible 12 to start the 2023-24 campaign.

The Spaniard arrived at Villa Park in November 2022 and led the Midlands giants to Europa Conference League qualification.

Emery won 15 of a possible 25 league games in the 2022-23 campaign to earn a nomination for the Premier League Manager of the Season Award.

But following a mixed start to the new season, Agbonlahor told Football Insider’s Ewan Kingsbury: “You can’t go toe-to-toe with every team, especially away from home.

“Newcastle away, Liverpool away – and you go with the high line.

“You can’t do that against teams with bags of pace. Especially when you’ve lost Mings.

“Torres isn’t the quickest, Digne isn’t the quickest and Cash isn’t the quickest.

“You’ve got to adjust to the teams you’re playing against. You see teams getting results against the biggest sides when they sit back and play on the counter.

“You can’t just go gung-ho in every game.

“It’s naive, and it shows a lack of a plan B.

“We’ve got Bailey, Watkins, Diaby and Jacob Ramsey coming back. Emery has the players to play on the counter.

“Emery has got to learn from that. He’s been outstanding since coming in, but these are comfortable beatings we’re getting away from home.”

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