Emery needs to bin experiment v Palace after struggles for Aston Villa
Unai Emery must stop playing Ezri Konsa at right-back ahead of the Aston Villa clash against Crystal Palace after a run of poor form.
The Villans have suffered four defeats on the bounce in all competitions and that has seen the Spaniard work doubly hard during the international break [The Athletic].
Now the Eagles are preparing for a visit to B6 on Saturday (23 November) with the home side in desperate need of three points.
With that in mind, it may be worth Emery ending the experiment of playing Konsa out-of-position to help ease pressure on the back line.
Unai Emery needs to end Ezri Konsa experiment at Aston Villa
There have been issues at right back for Villa this season with Matty Cash suffering two injuries despite only featuring in six games this season.
This has forced changes to the defence at Villa Park with Diego Carlos regularly coming in with the England international pushed out onto the right flank.
Although this was largely effective last season, it hasn’t worked this time around with the Brazilian regularly making costly mistakes.
Against Liverpool, the ex-Sevilla ace made one error leading to a goal while also losing three duels and only contributing two defensive actions [FotMob].
Konsa performed better than his teammate at Anfield despite being up against Luis Diaz at right back. This saw him win one tackle while also maintaining an 80 per cent duel success.
Despite his defensive qualities, going forward the 27-year-old struggled as he maintained a zero per cent dribble completion while making just three passes into the final third.
It is clear that this isn’t the former Brentford man’s strength which is why it makes better sense to start him in his natural position.
As a result, Emery could be better placed starting Cash or Kosta Nedeljkovic on the right to allow the Englishman to perform at his best level.
In other Aston Villa news, the exit of one star could now be likely after the latest £25million development at Villa Park.
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