Aston Villa: Ezri Konsa makes point loud and clear to Thomas Tuchel as media react

Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa recovered from last week's World Cup woes with his performance for England against Ghana.

Starting for the second time in the tournament, the 28-year-old put in a much more assured performance at the back alongside Marc Guehi.

Following last week's 4-2 win against Croatia, Konsa and partner John Stones were criticised, with both having hand in Croatian goals.

This time, the new pairing of Konsa and Guehi would largely keep Ghana quiet on Tuesday evening.

England would frustrate in Boston, though, as they failed to break down a stubborn side, resulting in a 0-0 draw.

Konsa has taken his fair share of praise, with just the one moment in particular coming under fire.

Ezri Konsa has one 'superb' moment in particular in Boston

First, it probably makes sense to start with the negatives.

As described by The Times: "Another of Ghana's direct, fast breaks led to [Prince] Adu charging through and Ezri Konsa straining to make a recovery challenge. Konsa made contact with the man but not the ball and Adu went down.

"But Said Martinez, the Honduran referee, declined to award a penalty - and remarkably was not called over for a VAR review."

As is the way with England, Konsa's fantastic performance would have been completely forgotten had the penalty - somewhat likely - been awarded, so the defender can consider himself lucky in that regard.

Elsewhere, though, the reactions are overwhelmingly positive, suggesting that the Villa man has done more than enough to seal his spot in the line-up going forward.

"Superb tackle to deny Antoine Semenyo in a dangerous position, although could have easily conceded a penalty," wrote The Guardian, who somewhat harshly handed him a score of five.

The Independent would one up this, with a score of 6/10.

"Made a crucial intervention from Semenyo in the box at the end of the first-half and looked more assured after his shaky World Cup debut against Croatia. Was he lucky not to give away a penalty in the second-half after a questionable lunge? Perhaps," they wrote.

The Mirror would hand him a higher rating of seven - matching Guehi's figure.

Importantly, it was highlighted how highly rated he is by manager Thomas Tuchel.

"He kept things tight at the back and is now clearly Tuchel's No.1 centre half," wrote the paper.

Konsa's remarkable stat vs Ghana

After some rather chaotic spells against Croatia last week, England looked much more steady and assured at the back.

Konsa played a huge part in this, especially as he was consistently trusted in possession across a match in which his side dominated.

From 125 touches, he completed a remarkable 116 out of 118 passes, with one of these being a long ball - hardly surprising from the defender with the highest pass completion rate in the Premier League.

But importantly, he remained switched on defensively for when he was called upon, with one tackle and one clearance coming from his two defensive contributions.

Konsa and Guehi did not have to do much except stay alert in Boston.

Aside from the one penalty scare, Konsa put in a much more assured performance, and has sealed his spot under Tuchel as a result.