Unai Emery and Johan Manzambi at Villa Park

Unai Emery and Johan ManzambiManh Tung, Breaking Media

Three Aston Villa questions to emerge this week include has Manzambi solved a tactical issue?

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Published on:

29 Sep 2026, 10:10 am

Aston Villa probably would have liked a couple more weeks before the international break.

It was a disappointing start to the season for Unai Emery's side.

Villa failed to win any of their first four Premier League games, which came on the back on a chaotic summer rebuild.

But Villa had just beaten Coventry City in the Carabao Cup and earned a 3-2 victory at Tottenham, before the elongated pause arrived.

Having also got off the mark in the league phase of the Champions League, momentum was just being built.

Still, there might not be any domestic football happening right now, but Villa News has looked at three questions to have emerged over the past week.

Has Johan Manzambi solved a tactical problem for Unai Emery?

There was a lot of expectation when Villa signed Johan Manzambi in a club-record deal worth nearly £60million from Freiburg.

Injury meant that we didn't see too much of him off the bat, but after cameos versus Nottingham Forest and Coventry, Manzambi started in the Spurs victory.

What was particularly pleasing was how well Manzambi linked up with lone striker Nicolas Jackson, and sense that given a freer role he could be a great foil for Jackson.

Manzambi finished with a goal, an assist, two key passes, and 89 per cent pass accuracy.

Emery has been tinkering with which attackers need to be supporting a lone striker, but now you feel like Manzambi has to be a shoo-in and Emi Buendia is doing enough to justify his place.

With John McGinn playing out on the right, is it the case that Emery has found a solution to a tactical issue in attack? It looks like he might have.

VAR saves referee after Johan Manzambi controversy away from Aston Villa - Expert

Is full-back depth now Aston Villa's biggest strength?

Another tactical poser for Emery is how best to use his full-backs when everyone is fit.

At right-back, he has the attacking quality of Matty Cash, a long-term staple of this Villa side.

But the deal to bring in Aaron Wan-Bissaka offers a bit more defensive solidity there, so there is a nice contrast between the two.

Over on the left, Ian Maatsen's injury has given a chance to Matteo Ruggeri, who offered a lot of balance against Spurs.

All four have their qualities, and none of them feel like a back-up for Emery, but really good options to have in the squad.

What are the expectations for this Villa squad?

It has to be said that most of the Doomsday noise around Villa came externally rather than from Villa supporters.

Yes, to lose Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa, Ollie Watkins, and Emi Martinez in one window is a tough pill to swallow.

But there's a lot of faith in Emery, and while the season has been a slow burner, it was in the previous campaign too.

What is hard to gage is, what should be the expectation right now? Champions League always has to be the aim, and can this squad gel quick enough to be a contender to make sure that happens again?

This might be one that is a little clearer to answer by the time we get to the November international break.

Ollie Watkins