Aston Villa: Ally McCoist wowed by ‘out of this world’ Diego Carlos, he must start v Bournemouth
Aston Villa managed to book their place in the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League as they scraped past Lille on penalties.
Unai Emery’s side were nowhere near their best in France on Thursday (18 April) but the Villans did enough to progress and while they would have enjoyed their celebrations, attention will quickly turn back to the Premier League.
Villa welcome Bournemouth to Villa Park on Sunday (21 April) and while Emery is unlikely to make too many changes to the side that won in Europe, one man who should certainly return to the fold is Diego Carlos.
The Brazilian was an unused substitute on Thursday, but stole the show with his performance against Arsenal last time out, with Ally McCoist branding the defender “out of this world” live on talkSPORT.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Friday (19 April, 8:43) he said: “I’ll tell you who was brilliant at the weekend, the big centre-back [Carlos]. Oh man alive, I thought he was out of this world.”
Will Unai Emery start Diego Carlos for Aston Villa against Bournemouth in the Premier League?
Against the Gunners at the Emirates, the 31-year-old completed 92 per cent of his 59 attempted passes, five of which managed to find a teammate in the final third as he helped Villa move from front to back, according to Fotmob.
But it was defensively where the Brazilian impressed the most, making four ball recoveries and winning two ground duels as he broke up play and stopped the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka from getting a foothold in the game.
Carlos only won one of his two tackles in the contest, but that one intervention saw him deny a clear goalscoring chance as he was the last man in the backline. Without him, Villa would not have claimed all three points.
The Villa centre-back was just as impressive in the Villans’ win over Wolves back in March. Across his 90 minutes of action, he completed 94 per cent of his 70 attempted passes, eight of which ended at the feet of a teammate in the final third.
Out of possession, the 31-year-old won 100 per cent of the ground duels he entered and made a single ball recovery as he marshalled Gary O’Neil’s frontline without ever really having to get out of second gear.
When compared to other centre-backs in the Premier League this season, Carlos places in the top 25 per cent for tackles made in the defensive third per 90 minutes, with an average of 1.18, according to Fbref.
The Villa defender also loses fewer challenges than 71 per cent of his positional peers a game. This season, he has only lost an average of 0.35 duels every 90 minutes.
In possession, Carlos is one of the division’s best when it comes to passing the ball over a long distance. He places in the top nine per cent of defenders for long passes attempted and the top 18 per cent for long passes completed.
Will Unai Emery and Villa qualify for the Champions League this season?
While Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres had reasonable evenings against Lille on Thursday night, neither player flourished against the French side’s frontline. If Emery wants to extend his winning run in the Premier League Carlos must be recalled.
A win on Sunday would be a massive step towards Champions League qualification for everyone involved at Villa Park, especially as Tottenham don’t have a game this weekend.
Hopefully, Emery will follow McCoist’s advice and restore the “big centre-back” to the starting XI.
In other Aston Villa news, transfer interest in Emi Martinez “won’t go away” this summer after a big money transfer was mooted at Villa Park
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