Ezri Konsa scored against Fulham after an error-strewn performance in Aston Villa’s loss to Nottingham Forest Aston Villa’s key defender Ezri Konsa will need to show big improvement from last week on the job The Fulham visitor could see his position under threat despite playing every minute of the Premier League so far.
The centre-back has been an ever-present in Unai Emery’s top flight this season, but he scored one of Nottingham Forest’s goals in last weekend’s shock 2-0 defeat, and could cause the least two more goals.
Konsa, 26, is usually so dependable but looked visibly out of sorts at the City Ground as the Villans sparkling form came to a sudden halt.
It will take more than one nightmare afternoon for Emery to lose confidence and the Spaniard is sure to restore the defender to his usual league spot at centre-back, having put in a shift on the right for the Europa Conference League win over AZ Alkmaar on 9 November.
But if he produces a repeat of his display in defeat last weekend when Marco Silva’s side arrive at Villa Park on 12 November it might make the manager think twice about bringing Diego Carlos into the Premier League XI, with the £26million signing [The Athletic] still only having made four starts in the English top flight.
Konsa played a big role in Aston Villa conceding the second goal to Forest’s Orel Mangala last Sunday (5 November), even if his part was overshadowed by the bizarre attempted save from Emi Martinez that bounced into the net.
In the 47th minute He should have cut out a weak Harry Toffolo ball in from the left that was half-blocked by Matty Cash, but was instead deceived by the bounce and allowed Taiwo Awoniyi to take possession in the box.
With the defence suddenly put on the back foot the striker could then recycle the ball back out to Toffolo who found Mangala in space outside the area to hit his speculative shot towards goal which would end up bouncing over the line.
It had been a similarly off-colour story immediately before the break as well as Konsa had also been lucky not to concede a stoppage-time penalty for a potential foul on Awoniyi, only to be rescued by the flag and the video assistant.
As Morgan Gibbs-White played a ball over the top from the right flank Konsa stepped up towards the half-way line at the same time Pau Torres turned to chase back, meaning the Spaniard played both the striker and teammate Nicolas Dominguez onside while Konsa was left trailing yards behind.
Konsa was still the only one with his arm in the air appealing despite Torres being in his field of vision, before his attempt to chase back only led to him clumsily felling Awoniyi in the box.
A narrow VAR decision saved him from a possible red card for a foul that was not an attempt to control the ball, and although it could have been suggested that this was a successful trap play it was not ball, but that was certainly more luck than design as he and his centre-back defensive partner were not on the same page.
Konsa continued to look shaky immediately after Mangala’s goal, as he unnecessarily lost the ball with a wayward pass in midfield without any pressure – one of five times he lost the ball according to SofaScore match statistics.
As for Martinez’s mistake in conceding the second goal, Konsa wasn’t the only one who performed poorly that day, as statistics show that star man Torres actually conceded 12 goals.
times, so perhaps the Englishman simply suffered for making the most obvious goal mistake.
On 50 minutes Konsa attempted to deliver a short pass into Boubacar Kamara who was showing to receive possession, only to miss him completely with a simple ball to leave the pair gesturing at each other in frustration.
Ibrahaim Sangaré swept up possession and played a first-time ball into Awoniyi, who combined with Anthony Elanga to launch a counter-attack.
After Cash had joined the calamitous party by falling over as he attempted to regain possession, the ball found its way to Awoniyi in the Aston Villa box with Torres and Konsa in close company.
However, rather than win the ball it was nudged through the latter’s legs as his nightmare afternoon continued, to hand Dominguez a dangerous shot on goal from close range, which he scuffed tamely straight at Martinez.
As long as Konsa rebounds to his standard level against Fulham then the Forest defeat can be chalked up to a bad day at the office all round, with various players contributing to a performance well short of what has come to be expected of an Emery Villa side.
Yet it was alarming that in the space of just a few minutes either side of half-time such an important Villa player nearly played a leading role in the concession of three goals, so he will clearly want to iron that sort of lapse out.
Torres hardly showered himself in glory on the day either, even if he was more of the supporting cast to Konsa in the previous examples.
Everyone can have an off day, and it as long as there is no repeat it does not need to be a major slight on a player who has been largely excellent, but it is a measure of the increase in standards at Aston Villa that it stood out when they dropped.
Emery is sure to have his eye on a response from a player he has come to rely on or he might be faced with an unexpected decision to make.
