While Emiliano Buendia’s injury in midweek deflated all at Aston Villa on the eve of the new season, seeing Tyrone Mings go down in our defeat to Newcastle Utd doubled down on the pain.
The 30-year-old defensive stalwart rarely hits the deck at all, let alone stays down in visible agony for several minutes before being stretchered off in a protective brace, with fears that he has ultimately suffered a serious knee injury too.
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“We lost today but there was something that was more than we wanted but the worst today was the injury with Tyrone,” Unai Emery said after our heavy 5-1 loss at Newcastle, as per BBC Sport. “It doesn’t look good. He is injured. This week has been very tough, we lost Emi Buendia and today we lost Tyrone Mings, two important players in the squad.”
While we await further scan results to determine the severity of the injury, the initial feeling isn’t good. In turn, Villa will need to find solutions to deal with Mings’ likely absence, and it’s certainly not going to be easy filling the void that our defensive leader leaves behind.
Emery reshuffle in defence, what is Villa’s best back-four without Mings?
With his height, physicality, experience and leadership in organising the backline and his ever-improving distribution and decision-making, Mings has come a long way in a short space of time under Emery.
He spoke last season about how the Spanish tactician has taught him so much that he came to the realisation that he knew very little about the position that he plays, and we saw that development and evolution of his game.
Albeit there is no official confirmation as of yet, the early signs are not reassuring, and so Emery will have no choice but to start planning for Everton next weekend with the expectation that Mings will not be available for selection and he may not be for some time.
So, who then comes in to replace him and how does that impact the rest of the Villa defence?
The expectation is that Pau Torres will slot in and become a fundamental piece in the side after his summer arrival, and given his experience, quality and understanding of Emery’s tactical demands, he should be a more than capable replacement.
His inclusion though has a potential knock-on effect. Emery could opt to simply go for a like-for-like swap and keep the same trio around Torres, but there is obvious room for change, particularly off the back of our defensive performance on Saturday.
Ezri Konsa will undoubtedly remain a fundamental piece of the backline, but does he shift across to right-back to allow Diego Carlos to also come into the Villa XI, with Lucas Digne keeping his place at left-back?
Or does Torres move to the left with Konsa and Carlos in the middle and Cash on the right?
These are the questions that Emery will go through in his mind meticulously this week along with his coaching staff as they analyse everything in small detail, and naturally the opposition will be a key factor in the final decision too as to who he feels is best equipped to nullify Everton’s attacking threat.
There is a feeling that Konsa now has to step up and anchor our defence in the heart of the back four, as he has been the most consistent and steady presence in that department for some time now.
Torres will be a certain starter, but question marks still remain over their respective positions and who partners them. Alex Moreno is expected back at the end of August or perhaps early September, and he’ll come back in when deemed ready at left-back.
In the meantime and looking ahead specifically to Everton, given we’re at home and expect to dominate and control possession as we look to bounce back and get back to our style of play, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Torres filled in at left-back and tucked inside when we’re on the ball to form a back-three, with Carlos, Konsa and Cash completing the defence.
While Cash didn’t exactly impress on Tyneside, it still feels as though if we want energy and attacking impetus on one side, he offers more than Digne playing that way overall, and so it will be interesting to see if Emery thinks a similar way.
Our Europa Conference League play-off tie and Burnley away will perhaps see a tweak, while there is of course the obvious question now as if Mings’ injury is confirmed to be as bad as feared and will sideline him for a significant period, could Villa decide to move in the transfer market to address that absence for this season and strengthen further?
Who would you start in Villa defence if Mings injury rules him out?
