Aston Villa boss Unai Emery played down Jhon Duran’s reaction after he was substituted in our win over Bologna in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The 20-year-old scored his seventh goal of the season in just 12 appearances thus far as he bagged our second on the night to seal a 2-0 win, our third consecutive victory to start our European campaign.
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However, shortly after finding the back of the net with a smart finish inside the box, the Colombian international was replaced as Ollie Watkins came on for the latter stages of the game.
As seen in the video below, it’s fair to say that Duran was frustrated with the decision, but importantly as noted by Emery below and Youri Tielemans in his post-match interview with TNT Sports, everyone downplayed it and put it down to the fact that our frontman simply wanted to stay on and go in search of more goals.
That’s ultimately the attitude and approach we want from all the players as if they’re happy to come off in a home Champions League game, that would be more of a concern given our strength in depth and how players are fighting for starting spots across the starting XI now.
Emery didn’t have anything negative to say about Duran’s reaction, albeit he probably would prefer it not to be public and thus spark discussion, but it’s hoped that he can channel that energy in a positive way this week and continue to make a positive impact when called upon by the Villa boss.
“No, no, of course I am managing everything but everything we are sending the message in the dressing room, respect our values and try to be mature and responsible,” he told the media, as per BirminghamLive. “Sometimes players react a bit but it is under my control.”
It was an important night for the Villa striker having been given a chance to impress from the start rather than off the bench, and although his display showed that there are still things to work on, it was much-improved compared to when he started games last season and struggled in terms of fitting in the structure and system effectively over a longer period of time on the pitch.
With Villa looking to compete on multiple fronts this year, we need competition and depth across the squad, and that means not being over-reliant on Watkins to lead the line and fire in all of our goals week in and week out.
Duran has made a brilliant start to the campaign, and having turned opinion around after a contentious summer with his stunning start, all the talk coming from within the squad on his attitude and character has been positive in recent months and his reaction below isn’t going to ruin that.
Jhon Durán went through ALL the emotions after coming off 🤣 pic.twitter.com/2vhC4gnRJh
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 22, 2024
