Unai Emery makes admission on 23-touch dud after Aston Villa defeat v Nottingham Forest
Unai Emery admits he is not helping Nicolo Zaniolo overcome his struggles by playing the forward out of position for Aston Villa.
Zaniolo has been substituted at half-time in Villa’s past two matches, a 3-1 win over Luton Town and a 2-0 loss to Nottingham Forest.
The Italy star’s struggles come at a time when he has been embroiled in off-the-field matters regarding an investigation into illegal betting.
Zaniolo has been assisting the authorities in his homeland, but he has denied ever betting on football matches.
After his latest ineffective display in the disappointing loss at City Ground, Emery accepted he is not currently utilising Zaniolo in his best position.
“We’re using him in one position. It is not his best position but he is helping us,” he said, as per the Express & Star [6 November].
“I want to increase his level with us and I want to give him minutes to understand his team-mates.”
Whichever position he has been used in, Zaniolo has yet to register a goal or an assist in 13 appearances for Villa since joining on an initial loan.
There is no doubt, though, that the 24-year-old struggles to get involved in games when used out on the left-hand side.
In the Forest game, he had just 23 touches of the ball before being subbed off at half-time with his side a goal down to their Midlands rivals.
To put that in some perspective, Leon Bailey – the man who replaced him for the second half – managed 36 touches of the ball [WhoScored].
Furthermore, three of those touches from Zaniolo were what WhoScored defines as unsuccessful, which was the most of any Villa player.
With just one successful dribble completed and an expected goals (xG) value of 0.21 [Sofascore], any option would have been better.
While Zaniolo will no doubt come good over time, Emery cannot continue selecting him out wide and then ultimately sub him off.
Instead, it would surely be better to keep the Italian in reserve and bring him on in the second half in his favoured position if needed.
In other Aston Villa news, a journalist has been awestruck by what he has seen from a Villans star.