A short-handed Aston Villa were held to a goalless draw by Man Utd on Sunday, as Unai Emery looked to his strength in depth to find answers amid our injury woes.
Tyrone Mings, John McGinn, Amadou Onana, Boubacar Kamara and Jacob Ramsey were all absent, Leon Bailey is clearly playing through fitness issues while Ezri Konsa was the latest key individual to be forced off with a hamstring injury in the early stages of a game.
READ MORE: Five key talking points after Villa held in goalless draw vs Man Utd
It tested the depth in our squad, and although our bench looked weakened, the Villa starting line-up still had plenty of quality and experience in it to secure all three points.
However, it’s something that Emery consistently mentions when he makes changes to his side. The Basque coach is still in the process of building a team and a squad, one that has a distinct identity, character and way of playing regardless of personnel, so as to make it simpler when slotting in different individuals into a set system and structure that is both effective and successful.
Of course, the ideal scenario would be to have a strongest XI and go with that as often as possible. With Villa competing across four fronts this season though, that is unrealistic, and so absences due to setbacks and rotation will be a fundamental factor in our push to be successful.
Jaden Philogene was a benefactor of our situation this past week as he started back-to-back games, and so his adaptation continues with Emery evidently seeing something he likes in the talented winger having brought him back to the club over the summer.
He did his defensive job diligently and his work ethic was key in helping us maintain our structure to keep consecutive clean sheets against sides with quality and an attacking threat from their full-back positions.
The 22-year-old even went close to winning it late on against Man Utd, but there were signs that he still has some way to go too in terms of growing in confidence and self-belief to express himself more in the attacking phase and making a decisive contribution at that end of the pitch.
That will only come with more regular playing time, and so having had a taste of it this past week, he’ll hopefully kick on and continue to play a pivotal role in our season.
The same can be said of Ross Barkley, who has impressed off the bench so far this year, and he finally got his chance in the starting line-up in the Premier League on Sunday.
Similarly, we saw how his attributes and strengths can be an important influence on our play, but it wasn’t quite the free-flowing Barkley from last season during his time with Luton Town. Going back to Emery’s point, it’s fundamental that his squad players get minutes for him to build a team and squad capable of carrying out his instructions and ideas as perfectly as possible when forced to make changes.
We’ll see it with others over the course of the season with the likes of Ian Maatsen pushing for more involvement, while the reintegration of Mings and Kamara will give us a huge boost too. It’s all well and good having depth and competition in terms of numbers, but Emery’s challenge is to ensure that there is no drop off when he tweaks his team and makes personnel changes, and that will be so integral to our how season turns out.
