Aston Villa have been told that Unai Emery is playing one of his strongest players in the wrong decision, as journalist Gregg Evans discussed after Villa’s 3-3 draw with Brentford.
All attention at Aston Villa will be on Thursday night’s Europa Conference League quarter-final against LOSC Lille.
The Villans will want to utilise having the first leg at home before travelling to France for the decisive second leg, with the two games having the potential to see Unai Emery’s side edge closer to winning some European silverware.
First, the Midlands club will want to improve their form of late, having won just one of their previous five Premier League games, in which they have conceded a concerning 12 goals.
Still, Villa have shown time and time again that their progression under Emery mustn’t be ignored, although, the manager has been warned that he is not getting the best out of one player for one key reason.
Unai Emery now told he is playing one Aston Villa star in the wrong position
There has been a lot of debate over what Aston Villa’s best back four is this season, as Emery has been forced to test the adaptability of his backline due to successive injuries.
Losing Tyrone Mings on the first game of the season was a significant blow, leaving new signing Pau Torres in at the deep end to partner the likes of Ezri Konsa, Diego Carlos and Clement Lenglet.
Each of the centre-backs has suffered their injury concerns this term, seeing the manager often mix his back four around in terms of the duo in the centre.
Despite having Konsa available for the majority of the time in Mings’ absence to pair Torres, the Spaniard has opted to field the Englishman on the right side of defence on numerous occasions.
While it has worked for the most part, journalist Gregg Evans has questioned the boss’ decision to play Konsa away from central defence, relaying his belief that the 26-year-old is best at centre-back.
Speaking on the 1874 Podcast, Evans said on Konsa:
“Yes, he can play at right-back and has played there a fair few times this season but we know he’s much more comfortable at centre-back.”
“It’s just those slight nuances in the change of his position that might just make things a bit harder for him.”
“Three of the goals came from that area and I’m not solely blaming Konsa because you need to look at the whole defensive unit because there were so many errors.”
Aston Villa’s draw with Brentford highlighted where Ezri Konsa is best played
As highlighted by Evans, all of Brentford’s goals in their quick-fire nine-minute bullying of Villa came from the right side, seeing Sergio Reguilon have a field day against Konsa.
While the fact that the passages of play came from the right side was concerning, it wasn’t Konsa’s fault that they resulted in goals however, could play have been avoided if an experienced full-back was on that side?
The 26-year-old is an innate central defender, rising to prominence at Villa Park for his performances in central defence, making the manager’s decision to field him on the right side rather confusing.
With Matty Cash out injured, it’s unlikely that we will see a change in the set-up at the back however, the boss will certainly have some thought to the right side after the collapse against Brentford.
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