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Diego Carlos could face brutal Aston Villa axe after shocker v Wolves, Unai Emery to reconsider tactical decision over international break
Aston Villa and Wolves settled for a share of the spoils on Sunday after a 1-1 draw at the Molineux Stadium and Unai Emery may have a lot to ponder on his selection decision over the international break.
Hwang Hee-chan opened the scoring early in the second half when he latched on to Pedro Neto’s cross, poking in at the near post – Wolves’ first shot on goal throughout the whole game.
However, their celebrations were short-lived, however, as Aston Villa hit back inside two minutes with defender Pau Torres grabbing his first goal for the club in the West Midlands derby.
Villa have won just once at Molineux since 2012, and their victory was when the game was played behind closed doors during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Unai Emery set his side out in a 3-4-2-1, as he has done in three of their five games on the road in the Premier League this season, deploying Cash and Digne as wing-backs and giving them licence to get into the final third.
However, it was a decision which proved rather costly as the Villans failed to continue their string of impressive attacking performances in recent weeks, a run which bore 18 goals from their seven Premier League games [SofaScore] before Sunday’s derby.
It was a decision which was perfectly understandable from Emery given the importance and expected pulsating nature of the derby. Still, Wolves are amongst the lowest scorers in the division (9), which certainly meant his choice of formation wasn’t justified at all.
Had Emery gone for his usual 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 selection, Villa may well have been looking at another crucial victory and one of those costly changes he made was to bring in Diego Carlos alongside Ezri Konsa and Torres to provide more solidity but the stats from the game show the Brazilian failed to deliver what Emery asked of him, despite the result.
As per SofaScore, the former Sevilla man failed to win a single tackle, was dribbled past twice, failed to win any of his ground or aerial duels, and completed just two of his six long balls in a pretty dire display.
While Wolves’ goal may not have come from a direct error, the Brazilian still failed to convince Emery that he is worthy of usurping Konsa or Torres in his tried and trusted defensive line-up when he returns to his two-man central pairing.
The Spaniard certainly has a lot to ponder over the international break as his side gears up for another busy period of action, starting against West Ham United on 22 October, and it won’t be a surprise to see Carlos brutally axed for that crucial fixture at Villa Park.
In other Aston Villa news, an Aston Villa Women defender has been handed a club honour following the exit of one player.