Aston Villa Academy: Under-21s will tweak playing style to match Unai Emery philosophy – Tony Carss
Aston Villa Under-21’s side will “tweak” their training regime and playing style to match the philosophy of new manager Unai Emery, according to Tony Carss.
The Young Lions have had a stop-start season, currently sitting eighth in the PL2 Division 2 table, but have picked up two wins in their last three outings, while also competing in the EFL Trophy and Premier League Cup.
Several of Villa’s brightest talents have been promoted to the first-team squad in the last 18 months, with Cameron Archer, Aaron Ramsey and Louie Barry all having trained with the senior team on a regular basis.
And with four-time Europa League winner Unai Emery now manager of the first-team, the academy – and more notably the Under-21s – are set to alter their playing style in order to make the step up through Villa’s ranks that bit easier.
As the season reached its halfway stage, Senior Professional Development Phase Coach Tony Carss spoke with Aston Villa’s official site – and outlined the steps the Under-21s are making to adjust to Emery’s needs.
He said: “It’s an opportunity for us to look closely at the philosophy of the new head coach and his playing style and tweak ours to align with that.
“The challenge for us as a coaching staff is to look at the depth of detail around how the first team play and how he (Unai Emery) wants the team to play. We’ll align ourselves with that.
“It’s another opportunity for the players to learn something new and slightly different to what they’re used to.”
Players set for chances
Aston Villa’s academy is renowned for creating some of the brightest talents in the country, and the number of young stars coming through their ranks now will have come as a welcome surprise to Emery when he arrived at Bodymore Heath training ground.
With the likes of Cameron Archer, Kain Kesler-Hayden and Aaron Ramsey all bursting onto the scene at respective youth levels, Villa’s academy seems to be brimming with talent – but managing these youngsters must be the club’s next major priority.
Adjusting their playing philosophy at the grass routes level will surely come as a huge benefit to these youngsters, and make that transitional step to the first team far smaller than otherwise would have been.
This astute thinking is another sign of Villa’s growth as a club since its promotion back to the Premier League in 2019, with a solid infrastructure now evident to see to all fans and rivals alike.
In other Aston Villa academy news, Josh Feeney predicted to have a ‘huge future’ after signing new Nike deal.