Praise is seemingly often handed out easily and swiftly nowadays. It doesn’t take much for a player to be heralded as ‘world class’ or ‘unbelievable’, and often it’s those at either end of the pitch who receive most of the attention.
Whether it’s Emiliano Martinez making game-defining saves at one end or Ollie Watkins scoring match-winning goals at the other, as Aston Villa fans, we’re fortunate right now to have one of the strongest squads we’ve had in a long time, and it’s only getting better under Unai Emery.
READ MORE: Villa ace shows why he’s so important to Emery’s preferred system and style
One of the key principles of the Basque coach’s approach has always been control. He demands that his team dictates tempo, retains possession and ultimately imposes themselves on the game and the opposition to limit their threat, and patiently pose our own.
Villa have quality individuals across the pitch, and collectively, we’re continuing to progress and achieve bigger objectives, and at the heart of that is very much a ‘world class’ and ‘unbelievable’ player in Boubacar Kamara.
The 25-year-old’s absence was a huge blow last year, as his importance and influence in the team was made glaringly clear as we missed his presence and impact on both phases of the game.
Over the past couple of months, he’s gradually re-integrated and built up his match fitness and sharpness, and we’re continuing to see what an elite-level player he is.
Whether it’s his positional awareness to simply just be in the right place at the right time constantly to disrupt and break up the opposition’s play and regain possession, or his composure and technical ability with the ball at his feet to control proceedings in deeper areas and set us off on the attack with smart, precise passes that often break the lines and find teammates in space.
Then there’s his tactical flexibility to drop in and out of different roles in games, as we saw on Wednesday night in our win over Everton and against West Ham Utd last week, as he moved into a back-three when we had possession, which in turn opened things up, created space and openings as Everton were forced to shift out of their shape and that gave us a more effective way of cutting through them.
“Fantastic match. Fantastic,” Emery said of the French midfielder in his post-game press conference after our win at Everton. “He is getting progressively better after a long time injured. His work and his capacity is increasing. It is fantastic. He showed that again today. For us he is a very important player.”
Add all the intricate details of his game to that mix along with his physical attributes, and Kamara is undoubtedly a pillar of this team, and if he can stay healthy, maintain and improve on the standard he sets in the middle of the pitch, he will be a major part in our ability to compete for major honours and continue to progress and evolve.
Perhaps this is all hyperbole and a bit too much. That is until you spend just a small part of a Villa game specifically watching Kamara operate, and more often than not, you’ll find yourself captivated and admiring just how intelligent, aware, imposing and influential he is, and long may that continue with the Frenchman in a Villa shirt.
