For various reasons, Unai Emery made a host of changes for Aston Villa’s 4-1 defeat at Manchester City on Wednesday night.
One of the names to come into the XI was on-loan star, Nicolo Zaniolo, with the likes of Youri Tielemans and Leon Bailey benched.
Going by the 24-year-old’s recent performances from the bench for Aston Villa, you can’t argue against him starting because he has been showing signs of improvement.
For large parts of the game against Manchester City, you would have been happy with what Nicolo Zaniolo was trying to do, especially when Jhon Duran levelled the scores in the first half.
But, just before the break, Zaniolo made a costly error that changed the tide of the game when he left a big gaping hole in the wall for Phil Foden to score his first goal of the night and ensure Man City went in at half-time with a 2-1 lead.
As soon as the ball hit the back of the net, the Italian threw his arms up in the air and looked in the direction of Ezri Konsa.
Ian Wright was critical of the player for doing that and ‘trying to blame’ his teammate for his error, as he told Premier League Productions (03/04/24 at 10:25 pm).
Yes, in the end, the scoreline was comfortable for Pep Guardiola’s side, but the team talk is a lot different if the scores are level at the break.
Nicolo Zaniolo for Phil Foden’s free-kick
“I think he is trying to blame Ezri Konsa,” said Wright.
“Ezri Konsa is saying ‘why are you looking at me for?’ He has moved out of the way! That’s one of those you watch on a Monday morning in the video room and you are actually saying ‘you cost us’.
“That was just before half-time. They could have gone in there at 1-1 and put a little bit more pressure on Man City. Come out with a strategy to see if we can hold on and nick something because they looked pretty dangerous on the break. It was a very poor goal to give away.”
Back to the bench for Nicolo Zaniolo
This just further proves that Zaniolo shouldn’t be starting games for Villa and his chaotic nature should be left from the subs bench.
Has he shown signs of improvement? Yes. But that reliability, over 90 minutes, just isn’t there.
Even if Zaniolo had performed well and the team had beaten Man City, he probably still would have been rotated for the home clash against Brentford on Saturday.
This is now a must-win. Tottenham are breathing down our necks in the race for fourth and we simply can’t drop points against teams we should be beating.
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