Former Aston Villa defender Stephen Warnock has now been discussing the passing prowess of one of the side’s current players.
Unai Emery’s side didn’t play particularly well against West Ham United yesterday, even if they did improve in the second half.
West Ham suffocated Villa early on, not allowing them to play out from the back, blocking the path to the likes of Douglas Luiz.
Both Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa are normally very authoritative on the ball, but were afforded no time to pick a pass yesterday.
That being said, things did improve once Konsa was reinstated centrally after half-time, and Aston Villa had their first-choice centre-back partnership back in place.
It’s been a long time since both Torres and Konsa were available, and results will definitely improve if that remains the case moving forward.
That being said, Stephen Warnock was praising the pair on the BBC’s Match of the Day 2 and agreed they were the strongest combination.
And when discussing their positive attributes, the former Aston Villa called Pau Torres’ passing ‘exceptional’.
Stephen Warnock praises Aston Villa defender Pau Torres’ excellent passing
Warnock said that Konsa was no slouch on the ball either, but credited his pace as his most important attribute.
He explained: “I think, personally what I feel, his best centre-back pairing available is Pau Torres and [Ezri] Konsa.
“Because you’ve got speed in Konsa, he’s good on the ball as well. Torres is exceptional on the ball, might not have that speed and physicality but there’s the pairing together.”
Pau Torres really has been missed by Villa during his injury, and data from FBref supports Warnock’s claims about the defender’s passing.
Torres is only behind John McGinn (166) and Douglas Luiz (145) for total progressive passes at Villa this season.
The Spaniard has completed 104 despite his injury absence, slightly ahead of Konsa’s 98.
The £33m-move that brought Torres to Aston Villa does now seem a well-advised one, a player who was needed almost immediately when Tyrone Mings suffered his unfortunate injury.
And at 27-years-old, there’s every reason to believe that Torres can continue to improve as he adapts to the Premier League more and more.
All that being said, there has recently been an update on Douglas Luiz’s future who is attracting a lot of interest as a result of his passing range.
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