Aston Villa fringe players aggravated by ‘strange’ Unai Emery matchday decision – BBC pundit
We’re delighted to welcome former Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Villa Park…
Unai Emery may have to answer questions about why he’s naming two goalkeepers on his substitutes’ bench in Aston Villa matches, according to Alan Hutton.
Viljami Sinsalo returned from a loan spell at Burton Albion in January and has since been on the bench for six Premier League matches.
Of those six games, the 21-year-old Finnish goalkeeper has been sat alongside Robin Olsen on three occasions, including Villa’s most recent Premier League outing against Crystal Palace on 4 March.
World Cup-winner Emi Martinez is widely expected to play every match in goals between now and the end of the season and with Olsen, 33, as back-up, Hutton is scratching his head as to why Emery would be doing that when he has fringe players and up-and-coming youngsters who could make up an outfield spot instead.
When asked by Villa News if Emery’s decision would aggravate young players, Hutton said: “It would if I was there and if I wasn’t getting on the bench.
“I hadn’t really noticed that, to be honest with you, but it’s a strange decision.
“There aren’t really any teams where that happens.
“Obviously, you have a substitute goalkeeper in case anything happens but normally, you want all your options to be in the final third and then maybe a couple of defenders.
“If I was sitting out because a second goalkeeper was taking my place, I’d want to know why. I’d want to know why Emery’s made that decision.”
As well as naming two goalkeepers on his bench in the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, Emery also only named eight substitutes when he’s allowed to choose nine.
Defenders Calum Chambers, Lucas Digne and Ashley Young and attackers Leon Bailey, Bertrand Traore and Jhon Duran were on the bench but no central midfielders were chosen.
That led to right-back Chambers replacing Boubacar Kamara in the 60th minute when he went off with an injury.
In other Aston Villa news, the club has been tipped to sign a new striker to aid their bid to return to European football.