---
title: "Journalist believes Villa should be worried about defensive record"
canonical: "https://readastonvilla.com/2020/02/18/journalist-believes-villa-should-be-worried-about-defensive-record/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Abdullah Mulla"
section: "Features & Analysis"
published: "2020-02-18T20:00:00Z"
modified: "2026-09-03T11:42:04Z"
---

# Journalist believes Villa should be worried about defensive record

[Birmingham Mail journalist Ashley Preece](https://twitter.com/PreeceObserver) believes that ‘alarm bells should be ringing’ at Aston Villa regarding their poor defensive record.

The Premier League side has now conceded [50 goals](https://www.premierleague.com/tables) in 26 top-flight matches this season after the 3-2 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday.

Dean Smith’s men have the[worst defensive record](https://www.premierleague.com/tables) in the league and when speaking on the[Claret and Blue Podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r7Cg7Vqxvc), Preece said:

> 50 goals conceded, alarm bells should be ringing.

> That’s two a game, Villa need to score three to win a football match, which is asking a lot of yourselves.

> It can’t carry on.

### READ ASTON VILLA VERDICT

The question which many people may want answering is why are Villa so leaky?

One reason could be the absence of Tyrone Mings. The centre-back has missed five league matches this season in which Villa have conceded 11 goals ([Transfermarkt](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/tyrone-mings/leistungsdaten/spieler/253677)).

Another reason could be the switch of formation to three at the back in recent matches.

With the wing-backs pushing forward, Villa seem to be pretty vulnerable to the counter-attack, as proven on [multiple occasions](https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/1229069363329847296) during the defeat to Spurs, with Steven Bergwijn and Heung-Min Son finding space in the final third many times.

We believe that Smith could look to set up his team in a more compact fashion because Villa matches are far too open, [proven by the fact](https://www.premierleague.com/tables) that they’ve scored the most goals from all the bottom ten teams, but also conceded the most.