It’s taken time, but Aston Villa defender Diego Carlos is now making the centre-half position his own after a strong run of form in the side.
The 30-year-old’s debut season with us last year was disrupted by a serious injury setback, which in turn limited him to just three appearances and 205 minutes of football.
READ MORE: Influential Villa duo provide insight into squad mentality after memorable start
His start to this campaign wasn’t smooth sailing either, as he dealt with a couple of issues early on that sidelined him and forced him to miss more time.
However, having now made four consecutive starts in the Premier League, and completed the full 90 minutes-plus in all four, Carlos is now starting to find consistency both in his fitness and form to become a key figure in the Villa backline.
The Brazilian centre-half is a vital option for Unai Emery, as he ultimately ticks so many of the key boxes for the Spanish tactician in terms of what he offers both in and out of possession.
Aside from his obvious physical attributes, he has shown great tactical awareness and intelligence with his positioning and reading of the game from a defensive standpoint, particularly in adapting to our high-line strategy, but he also boasts composure, technical ability and vision to play a pivotal role in our play out from the back.
That is a fundamental principle in Emery’s style of football, with Pau Torres doing a fine job of it next to Carlos, and so having the pair of them show patience and class in those areas to help out when perhaps Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara are under pressure, makes a significant difference.
Ezri Konsa deserves a huge amount of credit too for being able to adjust and show his versatility to shift across and play at right-back, as he looked very impressive while playing as a centre-half next to Torres previously.
That understanding and chemistry continues to improve and develop, and along with Lucas Digne, we’ve kept consecutive clean sheets against Man City and Arsenal to hopefully now set the tone and standard for the defensive phase of our game.
Aside from his pivotal goal-line clearance, Carlos ended the win over Arsenal with six clearances, one blocked shot, five tackles, six of eight duels won and 76 percent passing accuracy having had 51 touches of the ball.
He will continue to be a key piece now, and with the hope that his injury issues are well behind him, we’ll likely see his influence continue to grow in the coming months as he becomes more and more integral to the way we want to play on a consistent basis in controlling and dictating games.