Ezri Konsa has seen plenty during his six years at Aston Villa.
From the nail-biting finale of staying in the division on the last day, to Champions League football, he’s lived through it all. So when he delivered his verdict on the current crop assembled by Unai Emery, it was worth taking heed.
“The quality we have is the best since I’ve been here,” said the defender who remains a go-to guy at the heart of Villa’s defence. “It just shows how far we have come as a club. That we are able to bring in the type of players we have.
“Both in the starting XI and on the bench, it’s strong. It’s something we have been missing throughout the season. You could see that with the substitutions we made. Marcus Rashford coming on and providing the two assists.
“And Marco Asensio – if you know football, you know the qualities he brings. You know he has a lot of trophies under his belt. Three Champions League medals.
“He’s got them for a reason. I’m just glad he’s here. Long may it continue. It’s a massive boost for us to have top-quality players – on the pitch – and on the bench.”
And that was the key to this victory. Villa have received a helping hand when Filip Jorgensen allowed a late Asensio effort to slip through his fingers. But they were piling forward in the late stages.
Emery threw Rashford into the mix at half-time and when he substituted Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins late on, he introduced Leon Bailey and Donyell Malen. Fresh legs added renewed impetus and gave Villa a victory they desperately needed to kickstart their Premier League campaign.
Five matches without victory have stalled any upwards momentum and defeat here would have left them with an uphill task. Konsa said: “It was massive. We needed it.
“Especially with the last two draws we got at home. We knew we could only come out of today with three points. That was the main goal. Going one-nil down, sometimes it’s scary.
“Doing that against a top team, it’s always difficult to get back into the game. As soon as we got the first goal, you could see how much pressure we were putting on them and…thank you to Marco and Rashy.”
Villa’s performance was all the more creditable for the fact that they fielded their 11th different partnership at the heart of their defence. Injuries have wreaked havoc with Emery’s selection policies with Tyrone Mings being the latest casualty.
Unlike some – Spurs’ boss Ange Postecoglou please take note – he hasn’t bellyached about them. The Spaniard has just got on with it.
Konsa said: “I think I’ve played with everyone across the backline this season. Diego Carlos, Tyrone, Lamar, Lucas Digne, Boubacar Kamara, Pau Torres…the list goes on. I’ve played with a few but it is what it is.
“It’s not just us there are other teams in the Premier League suffering injuries as well. We are playing every so often now and the quality of games is higher than it was. Physically, it is tough but we, as players, have to make sure we are getting the right recovery. With the quality of games we’re playing, there’s no doubt it’s tough.”
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