Aston Villa crashed to another defeat before the international break.
Most fans dislike the international break and get frustrated when it comes along, but it has probably come around at the right time for Unai Emery.
The simple reason is that Aston Villa have lost four games on the bounce in all competitions and are heading towards the wrong direction.
On Saturday, Villa were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool in the Premier League, only days after suffering their first loss in the Champions League.
From defensive issues to not scoring in back-to-back matches, nothing much seems to be going right and many are trying to point the finger at what’s going wrong.
You ask most Aston Villa fans and they will tell you that defensively the team isn’t at it – only one Premier League clean sheet this term and 17 goals conceded.
It’s a viewpoint Stephen Warnock agrees with and he feels there is a reason behind it.
Aston Villa missing partnership of Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara
Douglas Luiz left Villa for Juventus in the summer because the club had to comply with Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
The Brazil international was a key reason why Villa reached the Champions League and his exit was a body blow.
Added to that, Boubacar Kamara suffered a season-ending injury in February and only recently returned, so fans haven’t even seen much of him yet.
Warnock thinks taking all of that away makes you realise what Emery is missing, as he stated ‘how important’ Luiz was to the team.
The former left-back added that he has ‘nothing against’ Youri Tielemans, but he is a ‘different player’ than Luiz, as he told Sky Sports News (11/11/24 at 12:35 pm).
“Just too many underperforming, at the moment, not quite at their level,” said Warnock reflecting on the Liverpool defeat. “You think back to that Bayern Munich game. It was almost the high of beating Bayern Munich and everyone was like ‘oh, Aston Villa are going to stay at this level’.
“Expectation as well, it becomes very difficult on a team. Maybe Morgan Rogers has gone, not off the boil, but he is finding it difficult because maybe the team in and around him aren’t quite at the races. Ollie Watkins is finding it difficult because the service from Rogers isn’t great. Just a knock-on effect.
“My biggest concern is defensively. They don’t look as sound as they did last year. They don’t look as organised, so often last season, the midfield was Kamara and Douglas (Luiz). That relationship has gone. Kamara is coming back from his injury. Douglas has left. I think you take away Douglas and you realise how important he was and how important of a player he was for Aston Villa last season. Nothing against Tielemans, I just think they are different players.”
Luiz’s numbers for Villa in his final season
The 26-year-old was signed by Dean Smith from Manchester City in 2019 when Villa returned to the Premier League.
It took the dead-ball specialist time to settle in, but once he did, he just continued to grow and grow.
Only under the unforgettable reign of Steven Gerrard did Luiz struggle, but under Emery, his game went to serious heights.
That was proven last season as WhoScored rated his Premier League performances at 6.95, with nine goals to his name from the middle of the park, including five assists.
| Apps | Goals | Assists | KeyP | LongB | Tackles | Yel | SpG | PS% | AerialsWon | MotM | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | 9 | 5 | 1.5 | 2.8 | 1.7 | 12 | 1.4 | 89.4 | 0.7 | 3 | 6.95 |
