Unai Emery was rightfully in a strop following Aston Villa’s dramatic 4-4 draw against Manchester United on Sunday at Old Trafford.

Surrendering a two-goal lead twice, having initially stunned the home fans with two goals in under four minutes, only to concede in the 92nd and 96th minutes, is a devastating collapse that would test anyone’s sanity.

Aston Villa concede in stoppage-time AGAIN…

Old habits die hard, and Villa’s old habits this season are starting to bite them where the sun doesn’t shine, even during winning situations.

A number of months ago, Villa picked up their first league win of the season when they beat struggling Tottenham Hotspur 3-2.

At one point, Villa were leading 3-0, only to concede two late and pointless goals. It didn’t prove costly at the time, but it has now, because after the 80th minute this season, Emery’s side have conceded six times, and it proved costly at Old Trafford.

Why are Villa conceding so many goals?

The exit of Ezri Konsa is seriously hurting Villa. His calmness, one-v-one defending and relationship with Pau Torres are proving to be a huge miss.

Right now, he is sitting at the top of the Premier League table and is part of the best defence in the division, as Arsenal have only conceded five times this term compared to Villa’s 17.

Then you have the number of changes Emery is making to his backline due to injuries, suspensions, or for pure tactical reasons.

This chop-and-change isn’t helping matters, and that consistency, which used to include Konsa last season, is now being lost.

But there are also issues ahead of the backline, and the two players sitting in front of the defence, with Tielemans’ control and ability to take the ball from deep, are proving to be a huge miss.

Emery has mentioned on several occasions that Villa are lacking in that department, with the manager unable to find who should be sitting alongside regular Boubacar Kamara.

That’s where the absence of Tielemans is felt hard because he was a regular next to the Frenchman, as well as Amadou Onana, who suffered a season-ending injury at this summer’s World Cup.

All three are different types of players. Barkley is closer to Tielemans in terms of close control, dictating play, and making those line-breaking passes.

Whereas Gomes is more hard-hitting. A tackler. He is still learning to take the ball from the goalkeeper and build from deep, including making several mistakes in possession from deep.

And it could be argued that Goretzka is a bit of both, but he has only started playing since his return from the last international break because of injury.

And what’s interesting is that he has started the last two league matches. Perhaps he is one of the answers to bring calm to proceedings.

But just like the rest of his teammates, he is still adapting to new surroundings, and while Villa continue to drop valuable points, it’s a case of being patient and hoping that, in the coming months, there is great improvement.