Matt Maher analysis: Aston Villa’s leaky defence costs them a share of top spot

At some point, the annoying habit was always likely to catch up with them.

Having dug themselves out of trouble in stirring fashion to beat both Everton and Wolves on consecutive weekends, Unai Emery’s men were unable to make it three in a row as they failed to hold a lead of their own at Portman Road.

There was still a comeback, Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins scoring to put Villa ahead after Liam Delap had fired the newly-promoted Tractor Boys, still hungry for their first win since returning to the Premier League, into the lead.

Yet this time, it was the opposition who had the final word, Delap taking advantage of some distinctly average defending to race from the left wing and into the box before hammering a finish beyond Emi Martinez and into the bottom corner.

It was Villa who were probably happier to hear the final whistle. The draw was by no means a disaster, albeit Emery’s men missed the chance to move level with Liverpool at the top of the table.

Yet the concern is what is to come. Villa’s fixture list over the opening month and a half has not been overly testing, with five of their six opponents currently occupying the bottom half.

Bayern Munich, who visit B6 on Wednesday evening for one of the club’s most anticipated fixtures in years, will be nowhere near so forgiving if presented with the kind of chances Ipswich were. One suspects Harry Kane, an injury doubt after taking a big kick to his ankle in a 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday night, will be working even harder to be fit should he have witnessed any of yesterday’s action.

In six league matches so far, Villa have conceded twice in three of them. They haven’t kept a clean sheet in the league since the 2-0 win at Arsenal in April, a run which now sits at 11 matches. No matter how good your attacking players might be or how alluring the football you play, it becomes much harder to win when you need to score three.

The issue is in the right-hand side of the backline, the final area of the team Emery wanted to upgrade in the summer but was unable to due to those pesky profit and sustainability restrictions, which put a move for Dutch defender Lutsharel Geertruida financially out of reach.

Yesterday, both Ipswich goals came down that flank, the first when Ezri Konsa failed to convincingly clear and Delap exchanged passes with Jack Clarke before squeezing a shot under the right glove of Emi Martinez.

Konsa, who appears considerably less convinced by Emery of his potential to be a top class right-back, was also involved in Delap’s second of the game though, having ventured forward as Villa hunted the goal which would likely have killed the game, he would have expected Diego Carlos to do rather better in dealing with the danger. Instead, the Brazilian was guilty of playing Delap onside and then compounded the error by being beaten too easily as the Ipswich man turned past him on the edge of the box, before beating Martinez with a low drive.

Martinez was perhaps guilty of showing Delap too much of the goal to aim at, completing a curious day in which he also denied the same player with a fantastic save, sticking out a leg to divert a shot round the post at point-blank range.

The simple point is Villa need to tighten up. Ipswich entered the game having scored only three goals in their first five top flight matches, registering just 14 efforts on target.

They managed five shots on target against Villa, while Jack Clarke was also guilty of missing a golden chance when he headed over at close range.

Villa are far more reliable in attack, though this performance could hardly be described as vintage.

They were gifted an equaliser, just seven minutes after Delap had fired the home side in front, when Jacob Greaves inexplicably tried to clear the ball across his own goalmouth.

Rogers showed great poise to exchange passes with Watkins before shooting into the bottom corner.

When Watkins then escaped the attentions of two defenders to head home Leon Bailey’s cross just past the half-hour mark it looked as though the visitors would cruise to victory but they were never comfortable.

Their next serious attempt on goal did not come until after Delap had levelled matters with 18 minutes remaining, Jacob Ramsey blazing an effort over the bar. It wasn’t the only time in the second half Ramsey was wasteful after getting into a great position and his performance, promising without ever quite delivering, summed up Villa’s day.

A further worry was the sight of Rogers leaving the field, the second half still not at the midway point, holding the back of his hamstring.

Matty Cash’s return from injury this week should help improve Villa’s defensive balance and a return of 13 points from a possible 18 to start the season is more than acceptable.

Yet the problems are obvious and the bigger tests still to come. Emery has some thinking to do.