What a win and what a performance from Aston Villa!
Three points in the bag, closer to Champions League football and finally beating Wolves on home patch.
Given the injuries and suspensions to players, Unai Emery went into attack mode on Saturday evening, with only one defensive-minded player starting beyond Aston Villa’s back four – Douglas Luiz.
All of that then puts extra pressure on the backline and extra work is required from those ahead of them.
Emery is always pretty honest in his post-match thoughts and he did exactly that when discussing Alex Moreno’s performance against Wolves, as The Athletic writer Jacob Tanswell posted on Twitter.
In truth, it was a surprise he started because Lucas Digne has been one of Villa’s top performers this term and is the one who is the sharpest out of the two.
But you could clearly see, from the get-go that Gary O’Neil’s side were targeting the wide areas, especially Moreno and Morgan Rogers’ side.
Emery admitted that the duo ‘struggled’, with the Spanish star failing to make his mark in both boxes.
Moreno was rightfully subbed in the second half for Digne, with Nicolo Zaniolo also coming on for Rogers and making a huge difference.
Alex Moreno against Wolves
“He (Moreno) got in the box but the crosses weren’t finding good solutions,” admitted Emery.
“But I appreciate how he played getting higher & getting the performances he had before. Defensively, with Morgan, they struggled a bit. When we changed with Digne and Zaniolo, we did better.”
Lucas Digne to start v Manchester City
Look, there needs to be a sense of perspective here.
Moreno didn’t have a pre-season and has also been out for months and months.
That is showing in the £13 million star‘s performances because the sharpness simply isn’t there.
Every Villa fan knows his qualities and how, on his day, he can be one of our best players. Plus, he is missing his partner in crime down that left flank, Jacob Ramsey.
Either way, you suspect that, for the trip to Manchester City next week, Digne will come back into the XI because that is going to be a huge, huge game.
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