Aston Villa were cruising to all three points against Brentford on Saturday as goals from Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers had given the Midlands side a commanding lead.
In the space of seven minutes, however, Brentford scored three goals of their own to take a shock 3-2 lead and threatened to dampen the atmosphere at Villa Park.
Thankfully, Watkins netted an equaliser with ten minutes left to salvage a point, but it was certainly two thrown away.
This was down to a leaky Villa backline, with Pau Torres being the main culprit for Brentford’s goals during the Premier League tie.
Pau Torres’ game in numbers vs Brentford
The Spaniard has been Unai Emery’s undisputed number-one centre-back this season, especially after Tyrone Mings’ season-ending injury, but he was poor against the Bees.
The defender won just three of his six contested duels throughout the encounter, while making just one tackle and losing possession ten times.
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Pau Torres’ statistics vs Brentford |
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|---|---|
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Accurate passes |
55 |
|
Touches |
70 |
|
Possession lost |
10 |
|
Tackles |
1 |
|
Fouls committed |
2 |
|
Via Sofascore |
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Torres managed 70 touches during the match, meaning he lost the ball once every seven touches, and he didn’t look comfortable in the second half.
He was even awarded a match rating of just 3/10 by Birmingham World for his defensive display, with journalist Charlie Haffenden saying he was ‘solid in the first half but undid his good work with three big defensive errors’ during the second half.
He was liable for all three Brentford goals and with a massive clash coming up against Lille in the Europa Conference League this week, should Emery drop him to the bench in favour of someone else?
The player to replace Pau Torres
With Mings out until next season and Ezri Konda deputising on the right side of the defence due to Matty Cash’s injury, Emery only really has Clement Lenglet to pick from against Lille if he wishes to drop Torres to the bench.
The Frenchman started five of Villa’s six European group stage matches, while also being unleashed in the first leg against Ajax last month, indicating that he is used to performing on the continental stage.
Among his teammates in Europe’s third competition, Lenglet currently ranks first for accurate passes (64.1) while also ranking first for accurate long balls (4.1), fourth for interceptions (0.9) and fifth for clearances (1.3) all per game, showcasing his defensive abilities.
These statistics should convince Emery that the Frenchman is the best person to be deployed alongside Diego Carlos against the Ligue 1 side on Thursday evening, especially if he wishes to secure a positive result.
Villa’s 28-year major trophy drought could come to an end this season, as they remain one of the best sides left in the Conference League. Dispatching Ajax 4-0 on aggregate in the previous round shows just how impressive Emery’s side have been.
A defensive duo of Carlos and Lenglet against the French side could see the club keep their third successive European clean sheet and give the club a wonderful chance of progression into the semi-finals.
