Unai Emery has not got much wrong since taking over as Aston Villa manager in late 2022 but he may have made a costly mistake against Ipswich Town on Sunday.
Aston Villa knew a win over Ipswich could take up to second in the Premier League and continue their fine start to the season.
However, it was not to be as Unai Emery‘s side drew 2-2 away at newly-promoted Ipswich in a match that proved a real battle.
Liam Delap opened the scoring after just eight minutes before goals from Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins put Villa 2-1 up before half-time.
Delap would level the scores in the second-half. though, as he easily beat Diego Carlos before firing past Emi Martinez.
Whilst Emery will be very disappointed to only have taken a point, it could well have been none had it not been for some fine Martinez saves.
- READ MORE: Alan Smith claims Aston Villa have one player who is “world-class” after huge moment against Ipswich
Unai Emery needs to move Ezri Konsa back to centre-back at Aston Villa
Ipswich clearly had a plan to target Villa’s right hand side, with Jack Clarke and Leif Davis constantly involved in everything good the Tractor Boys did.
This saw Ezri Konsa have a difficult afternoon at right-back where it is clear he is far less comfortable than at centre-back.
With Matty Cash out injured and Emery not trusting 18-year-old Kosta Nedeljkovic to start, Konsa once again played on the right with Carlos playing alongside Pau Torres at centre-back.
It did not work on this occasion as Carlos had a wretched game and Konsa found it tough against the duel attacking threat of Clarke and Davis, with Leon Bailey perhaps not helping as much as he should defensively.
- READ MORE: Aston Villa player ratings vs Ipswich Town, Diego Carlos drops a stinker as one star gets 8/10
On reflection, Emery will know he made a mistake and he must now rectify that by moving Konsa back to centre-back for the upcoming fixtures, starting against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.
Emery must trust Kosta Nedeljkovic for Aston Villa
When Cash got injured against Arsenal in the second game of the season, many expected Emery to bring Nedeljkovic into the side whilst he was sidelined.
The Serb had a fine pre-season and was expected to challenge Cash for a starting spot even when fit so it was a surprise when Emery instead opted to play Lamare Bogarde at right-back in the next game.
This tactic continued up until Bogarde endured a difficult first-half against Young boys in the Champions League win and was substituted after 45 minutes.
Since then, Konsa has been playing right-back and Carlos in the centre, but the Ipswich game highlighted the need for this to change.
Therefore, perhaps it is time for Emery to place his faith in natural right-back Nedeljkovic in order to be able to play his best central defensive pairing and improve the balance of the side.
