View: Reactive Unai Emery twisted a little late in Aston Villa loss to Liverpool
Despite eventually losing 3-1 to Liverpool on Boxing Day, Aston Villa and Unai Emery stood a fair chance of nicking a result in the final quarter of the match.
After a beautifully worked Mohamed Salah goal and a second from Virgil van Dijk put the Reds in command at Villa Park, the home side came out roaring in the second half and were justly rewarded when Ollie Watkins headed home from six yards out.
With 60 minutes on the clock, and Villa in the ascendency, Emery had the choice to stick or twist with his starters, as his counterpart Jurgen Klopp brought on Naby Keita and Harvey Elliot from the bench.
The German manager would make yet another two changes at the 79th-minute mark, and the second of these – Stefan Bajcetic – would score the decisive winning goal, which condemned Villa to their first loss of the Emery era.
Now, this is with the benefit of hindsight, but after reducing the deficit on the hour mark, the Spaniard was in the perfect position to take the game into his own hands by unleashing the abundance of talent he possessed on his bench.
The likes of Danny Ings, Philippe Coutinho, Matty Cash and Cameron Archer were all layered up, with gloves on and snoods out on the Villa Park bench, and it wasn’t until the 85th minute that a triple change was eventually made.
If anything, the home side’s bench was stronger and more experienced than their Champions League opponents, which says something about Villa’s stacked squad.
In a first game back following a six-week break from Premier League proceedings, there was understandably some rustiness on show which should have hinted towards some earlier changes. The likes of John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara were pretty ineffective in the midfield, while the number of gilt-edged chances Watkins spurned could quite easily have resulted in Ings’ introduction on the hour mark.
I understand that Emery kept things the same as his side were dominating proceedings in the early stages of the second half, but he could have struck while the iron was hot and unleashed some of the creative talent sat on his bench.
In other Aston Villa news, Kadan Young must not fall into the same trap as Cameron Archer at Villa Park.