Aston Villa: Andy Townsend blasts Diego Carlos moment v Chelsea live on ITV – ‘Terrible’
Aston Villa defender Diego Carlos failed to prove his worth in Ezri Konsa’s absence after some “terrible” defending against Chelsea.
Chelsea stunningly overcame their current crisis as they comprehensively outclassed Unai Emery’s men on their own turf at Villa Park in their FA Cup fourth-round replay on Wednesday (8 February).
Villa’s formidable home form this season made them firm favourites to reach the fifth round but the Blues produced a devastating attacking display to ease the pressure on manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Goals from Conor Gallagher, Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez ensured a disappointing night for Aston Villa and their fans but one which will leave a sour taste in Emery’s mouth ahead of some crucial fixtures, starting against Manchester United on Sunday.
Before the game, the Villans were handed the most terrible news as they saw Emery-favourite and key player Konsa ruled out for a number of weeks due to a knee injury picked up against Sheffield United.
The defender has made this right-back spot his own in recent weeks, at the expense of Matty Cash, despite his usual preference for playing in the middle and has helped Emery’s side to keep three clean sheets in their last four games.
Carlos completely fails in Konsa absence at Villa Park
In his absence, Emery will have wanted former Sevilla defender Carlos to hold down that right-hand flank that Konsa has largely dominated all season.
One of the reasons Emery has been hell-bent on Carlos and Konsa at the right-hand side is because the Englishman is a valuable cover for Carlos in case he gets caught out by quick and pacey out-an-out wingers either in the right half-space or out wide.
Carlos is dominant in his central zone but struggles to deal with onrushing attackers when defending near the touchline, hence Emery’s constant decisions to deploy Konsa instead of Cash.
That weakness was exploited considerably against Chelsea as the Brazilian was given the runaround by Jackson and he was arguably at fault for the Senegalese international’s goal, allowing him a free header uncontested which drew frank criticism from ITV pundit Andy Townsend live on air (7 February, 8:23 pm).
He said: “It’s terrible defending from Villa. Look at Carlos there, he fails to realise that Jackson is behind him. It was so easy for Chelsea.”
One of the main rules of defending for centre-backs is to never allow your marker to see the number on the back but Carlos gave Jackson the viewing and freedom of the whole of Birmingham to score an easy goal.
The Brazilian’s stats don’t make for great reading either. As per SofaScore, Carlos won just 20 per cent of his ground duels and won under 50 per cent of his total duels. He committed four fouls whilst also picking up a deserved yellow in the second.
Emery decided to sign the former Sevilla man because of his reliance and expertness in possession and he did manage to record a pass success rate of 91% from 91 touches but it’s his front-foot defending without Konsa that could leave Aston Villa terribly exposed in the coming weeks.
Chelsea may well have provided the blueprint to overpower Emery’s side.
In other Aston Villa news, Ian Wright has delivered his verdict on the Douglas Luiz to Arsenal transfer talk.
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