Clement Lenglet and Calum Chambers left with Aston Villa ‘problem’ as BBC pundit admits ‘I feel for them’
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…
Alan Hutton has sympathy for Aston Villa defenders Clement Lenglet and Calum Chambers after their difficult outing at Legia Warsaw, but believes they may have done their future prospects harm under Unai Emery.
Errors at the back contributed to the 3-2 defeat in the Europa Conference League and Hutton admits “I feel for them” but knows the manager won’t necessarily turn to them again if they can’t do what he needs.
Former Villa defender and BBC pundit Hutton understands the struggle to take an opportunity after time out of the side from experience and believes their chances may now be reduced.
Hutton exclusively told Villa News: “Yeah possibly and I feel for players like that because I’ve been in the situation where you might not be playing every single week.
“A game like this comes along, whether it be a cup game or a European game and it’s your time to go in.
“You’ve maybe not played a couple of weeks and you have to go and be your best when generally it takes a bit of time to get up to speed.
“You need to play three, four, five games in a row, so that way I feel for them.
“But the flip side to that is the manager’s given them an opportunity, he’s given instructions of what he wants. If you can’t fulfil that then he’ll get somebody else to go and do that.
“So that is the problem you have when you’re not playing every single week.”
The pressure to perform when given the nod by the manager is increased after a period on the bench but it comes with the territory at a club with the standards and ambitions of Aston Villa.
If Emery has designs on getting deep into European competition this year he will know his side has to avoid further slip ups after a disappointing start, and he no doubt felt some of his back up options would be able to get the job done.
Hutton’s sympathy makes sense but the Villa boss didn’t start either defender for the Carabao Cup game against Everton, suggesting he has already thought twice about them.
He did switch up some other options thought and was again rewarded with a defeat, so the issue may be a wider one outside the first XI.
In other Aston Villa news, the club are “praying” not to encounter a “real problem” with a player so important “money genuinely can’t buy that”.