Aston Villa: Emery Must Axe Tyrone Mings After Stinker vs Brentford

· GiveMeSport

One Aston Villa star had a horrow show in their 2-2 draw with Brentford, and must surely now lose his place in the team.

Aston Villa's disappointing start to the season continued as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

The Villans went 1-0 down thanks to Yehor Yarmolyuk's 10th-minute strike, before Nicolas Jackson equalised just two minutes later. Villa thought they had got a winner when captain John McGinn's strike deflected in with just 13 minutes remaining, but defender Kristoffer Ajer sliced through the Villa defence to slot home an equaliser two minutes later.

The points were shared, leaving Villa in 14th place with just one win from their first six games of the campaign, and manager Unai Emery must be seriously considering what he needs to do to get things back on track.

The Spanish boss saw the spine of his team ripped out during the summer, with all of Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne, Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa, Ollie Watkins, and Emiliano Martinez departing for a new challenge elsewhere.

The club worked to bring in ten new players to supplement their exits, but Emery has found himself trying to find the right balance with his team and failing to do so, so far. A key position that has looked especially weak is the centre of defence, with Konsa's absence leaving a mighty hole.

Victor Lindelof has been a regular in the side, while Pau Torres' recent injury has seen Tyrone Mings come into the side. Summer signing Taylor Harwood-Bellis wasn't even named as a substitute for the clash with Brentford, adding to the confusion around his situation since his arrival.

But despite their clear lack of options, and all their players struggling with form, the performance of former England international Mings against Brentford should make it very clear to Emery that he is no longer of the level required, and he can't start going forward.

Mings joined Aston Villa in 2018 as a loanee with the team in the Championship, and he went on to be named captain at one point during his time with the side. But in recent years he has become more of a back-up player, with others ahead of him in the pecking order.

Despite making just 44 appearances across the last three seasons before the current campaign, Villa handed the 33-year-old a new contract earlier this year, taking him to 2027. But if Emery wants to succeed, this performance against Brentford should be enough for him to know that he should only be playing in emergencies now.

Mings failed to win a ground duel, committed an error leading to a goal, didn't win a tackle, lost possession 12 times, and completed just 77% of his passes during the game, according to SofaScore. That earned him a measly 4/10 rating from one website, and was evidence of just how bad he was.

With Pau fit again, and Harwood-Bellis signed to replace Konsa, Emery needs to start using other options. It's clear to everyone that Mings isn't good enough anymore, and even if other options turn out to be the same, at least it will be new information.

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