After being held to a draw at Ipswich Town on Sunday, Aston Villa boss Unai Emery will likely welcome back Matty Cash with open arms when he returns from injury.
The 27-year-old has been out of action since limping off against Arsenal last month with a hamstring injury, but the expectation is that he will resume full training this week as he closes in on a comeback.
READ MORE: Five key talking points as Villa held to draw at Ipswich despite fightback
Although the Polish international is well liked within the Villa fanbase, there was an argument for many that Villa could, and perhaps should, have upgraded in the right-back position this past summer, with speculation heavily linking us with a move for Lutsharel Geertruida in particular.
However, no such transfer swoop materialised, and Emery stuck with his options from last season in that department, with the addition of Kosta Nedeljkovic who was signed in January.
Cash’s recent absence through injury though has seen an ongoing issue within the Villa squad rear it’s head again, with Emery preferring to shift Ezri Konsa across to right-back and bringing in Diego Carlos to replace him at centre-half.
It’s a tactical solution that worked brilliantly in wins over Arsenal and Manchester City last season, but ultimately, in more recent times, it feels as though it has perhaps produced more problems rather than solutions as Villa continue to struggle defensively.
Our last Premier League clean sheet came in our win at Arsenal in April, and so that’s now 11 games without keeping the opposition out in what is becoming a growing concern given our desire to compete at the top this season.
That is simply not a sustainable model for success, as although we’ve produced superb comebacks already this season, it will eventually start to cost us, as we saw this past weekend at Portman Road.
Aside from Konsa looking less comfortable and effective as a right-back, Carlos has made costly mistakes in both of our last two league games, and the Brazilian centre-half has ultimately emerged as the weak link in the backline.
While Emery showed trust and belief in Lamare Bogarde earlier this month, it was clear that the talented prospect still had much to learn and had development to go through to be a first-choice option, while there is seemingly an ongoing hesitancy in turning to Nedeljkovic, likely for the same reasons given the 18-year-old’s lack of experience in England.
Ideally, we’d see the Serbian international get the nod, play in his natural role and give us balance while continuing to learn and adapt to the English game, as he has showed plenty of positive signs when involved.
However, that doesn’t appear to be an option at this stage for Emery, and so that makes Cash’s return all the more important as he’ll give us a steady and trusted option at right-back to hopefully help shore things up.
The need for rotation and to adapt to the opposition to nullify their threat and expose their weaknesses all make the idea of Konsa playing at right-back make sense. However, surely there is a general consensus that Pau Torres and Konsa form our best centre-half partnership, and that shouldn’t be tinkered with unless absolutely necessary.
The window of opportunity for Nedeljkovic may well have come and gone now, as it would come as no surprise if Emery opted to field an unchanged backline against Bayern Munich in the Champions League in midweek.
That in turn could give Cash the required time to complete his recovery and return to the fold, and while he must still raise his game and improve, it will be a vital boost to have him back in order to restore some balance in defence and allow Konsa to revert back to his more natural, and effective, role in the heart of the Villa backline.
