Unai Emery gets it spot on with Ezri Konsa call at Aston Villa
Unai Emery got his tactics right against Bologna as Ezri Konsa thrived at full-back for Aston Villa in a 2-0 win on Tuesday (22 October).
The Villans secured their third win in as many games in the Champions League, going top of the table with nine points.
The home side had the majority of the chances, with the defence limiting the Serie A outfit from creating meaningful opportunities throughout the clash.
Konsa had a part to play in that, proving that Emery got his tactics spot on by starting the defender at right-back rather than in the centre.
Ezri Konsa thrives for Aston Villa v Bologna
The England international has been superb for the Villans for many years but has become a key member of the squad in particular under Emery.
It is clear that the Spaniard trusts the ex-Brentford man given the tactical flexibility that has been utilised with him playing at centre-back and at right-back.
Against Bologna, he was utilised on the flank in place of Matty Cash and performed well to help secure a win and a clean sheet in Europe.
As is usual with the 27-year-old, he registered a superb 97 per cent pass completion rate while making 36 passes in an excellent return [FotMob].
That compares to a 91.3 per cent accuracy across the past 12 months at league level [FBref], ranking him in the top one percentile of full-backs across Europe’s top five leagues.
As per FotMob, going forward he didn’t make too much of an impact across his 45 touches, with just one coming inside the opposition penalty area and just one pass going into the Bologna’s final third.
At the back, Konsa was superb as he registered one block, one clearance, one headed clearance and three recoveries throughout the 90 minutes.
This also saw him win four duels, two of them being aerial with a 100 per cent success rate, while being fouled twice by the opposition.
There was a lot to appreciate about his performance in Europe’s elite competition and is further proof of the work of Emery at Villa Park.
In other Aston Villa news, Paul Merson lost his mind over what he saw one star do against Bologna.
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