Ty Bracey exclusive: Emi Buendia and Ollie Watkins to be boosted most by Unai Emery to Aston Villa
We’re delighted to welcome Villa View host Ty Bracey as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Emi Buendia should “excel massively” at Aston Villa after the arrival of Unai Emery in place of Steven Gerrard, according to Ty Bracey.
The Argentine had to routinely play second fiddle to Philippe Coutinho while the former boss was in place and was only able to show flashes of his best in recent months.
But the weight looked lifted in the win over Brentford (23 October) and Bracey feels he will suit the Spanish coach’s game, while he also hopes that the goal in the 4-0 win for Ollie Watkins can put him in position to do well under the new arrival.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News Bracey said: “I think Emi Buendia will be someone who excels massively under Unai Emery.
“He plays that high pressure, hard to break down kind of football, and Buendia works his socks off.
“I really do think he’s going to excel under Emery.
“And I’d like to see Ollie Watkins find the form that we know is in there, that he’s capable of.
“It took him three attempts to get that goal but he didn’t give up and I hope he can just instil that going forward.
“If we’re going to be shaping up in a 4-2-3-1 it’s either going to be a rotation between Watkins and [Danny] Ings or Watkins out wide, which I’m happy with either way because I thought he had a good game.
“But even getting that goal in it was almost as if the poor lad was cursed, it just didn’t want to go in.
“But he never gave up and he got the goal and he got the confidence that he’s probably needed in himself.
“When you’re brought in as a goalscorer and there’s a bit of a drought there’s a lot of pressure, and clouds over your head.
“So I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Ultimately change should be a positive on various levels, and if one of those is getting the best out of the record signing at long last it would be a major boost.
Coutinho should ultimately benefit if it pushes him to reconsider how he was going about things, since repeated faith from former teammate Gerrard wasn’t getting him anywhere.
Watkins needed a goal however he could get, and once he had the opportunity he wasn’t going to let it pass, even if the luck that has been evading him would do so twice more before hand.
Buendia and Watkins close to their best could be worth two or three places in the Premier League alone, so if others can all be boosted so heavily it will be a major improvement on performances and results.
In other Aston Villa news, Gary Lineker has reacted to the new manager arriving.