Eighteen months later than planned, Unai Emery admitted what most had been wondering.
“I would like to play with both players in the starting XI,” the Aston Villa manager said, when asked by The Athletic if (and how) Tyrone Mings and Pau Torres could play together. “The structure we have to create with both needs time, time practising in training sessions, time maybe practising in official matches.”
The logic is sound and in theory, pairing two central defenders seems straightforward. Mings and Torres are highly experienced, possessing contrasting but complementary skill sets — so what is the issue?
In the simplest terms: they are both left-footed.
Highly skilled left-footed centre-backs are esoteric, owing to their capacity to open up different passing lanes and enabling coaches to counteract an opponent’s press. They are crucial to build-up play, often having the most touches and passes of any player and, consequently, proving the most progressive vehicle of attack. Torres, for example, ranks in the top four per cent of defenders from Europe’s top five leagues for progressive carries (1.59 per 90 minutes).
Mings is a solid passer, though not as adept as Torres. Mings has alternative strengths the Spain international cannot match. He is Villa’s best in-box defender and aerial presence, relishing the more abrasive parts of the job. This should not detract from Mings’s overall ability, having made impressive strides in his work with the ball.
Integrating Torres and Mings into an effective system requires deep thinking from Emery. Moving either to the right carried risk because the perception is that a left-footer looks too awkward and can be pressed easily, with opposition forwards forcing them to kick with their weaker foot.
The question of how to fit the pair together without taking away their natural attributes was at the forefront of Emery’s 2023 pre-season planning. He had outlined to Mings that he would remain a key starter following Torres’ arrival and design a system to incorporate both. This eased any concerns Mings was being replaced, particularly after receiving interest from another Premier League club.
This would all prove futile. Mings was injured 30 minutes into the opening day fixture of the 2023-24 campaign away at Newcastle United, with Torres replacing him. The England international spent 445 days recovering from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and cartilage damage.
Only now has Emery signalled for a return to the initial thinking. Mings has proven his form and fitness to coaching staff with a player-of-the-match performance in the 3-1 victory against Brentford and nullified any lingering doubts that he would not come back the same player. At his best, Mings significantly improves a defence that has been porous in his absence — not helped by Torres’ blind spot against physical strikers — and shown a weakness in defending set plays.
“I am very happy now we have both players,” said Emery. “Mings played a fantastic match against Brentford. He had played other matches where he felt comfortable but Brentford was the match he played even better and got confidence to feel comfortable.
“Pau Torres is helping us a lot in the style we have. They are different (players). Mings is a little bit stronger in everything and Pau is a little bit (stronger) in the build-up and the characteristics he has are high quality. Both can improve, like Mings in his build-up and Pau is making an effort to be stronger in duels.”
This month, Emery dusted off his plans from the 2023 pre-season, offering indications he is prepared to change Villa’s structure to select both. This would have a knock-on effect on other areas of the team — for what Villa gain by adding a defender, they lose somewhere else on the pitch. How to strike the right balance continues to be a head-scratcher for Emery.
How the season has developed might have accelerated Emery’s idea of playing Torres and Mings. The justification for a tactical tweak has grown stronger with every passing week, partly because of form but considering the positions Villa are vulnerable in also adds weight to the case for change.
Emery has strength in depth in central defence, while his options in wide areas — and their productivity — have been under-par. Villa have a shortage of wingers and the ones they do have, such as Leon Bailey and Jaden Philogene, are enduring difficult campaigns.
In turn, changing to a wing-back formation means a third central defender, providing a neat solution to the Mings/Torres conundrum.
The first discernible change came in the 3-2 victory away at RB Leipzig. Bailey was injured and, on paper, Matty Cash had taken his place on the right wing.
Intriguingly, there was a noticeable shift in structure when the game began. Ezri Konsa resembled a right central defender in a back three, with Diego Carlos stationed between him and Torres, who was on the left.
Emery would constantly instruct Cash as to his positioning throughout:
In a pronounced back three, Cash and Lucas Digne were high and wide on opposite flanks, serving as wing-backs in a newly comprised 3-4-2-1.
The adjustment in build-up patterns ambushed Leipzig and gave Villa immediate control. As is customary with all Red Bull teams, Leipzig pressed out of a narrow 4-2-2-2 shape yet could not get near Villa’s players because of the width supplied by the wing-backs. This allowed regular switches of play and a perennial out-ball.
Digne and Cash found themselves on the same line as Villa’s No 10s and glued to either touchline.
Leipzig’s narrow back four was pulled from side to side, with John McGinn’s goal coming from a Cash cross. The move started after the wing-back had broken out of a defensive position.
As soon as Villa turned the ball over, Cash sprinted forward, with his positioning comparable to a right-winger.
The system offered flexibility. Cash and Digne switched to traditional full-backs without the ball and moved Villa into a 5-3-2 shape.
“After the injury to Bailey and Philogene is still in a process, I decided to use Cash playing as a full-back defending low but attacking high and wide,” said Emery in his post-match press conference. “He has the potential to do it. He played at the beginning of his career like a winger and today he worked fantastic.”
Emery’s usual build-up schemes are designed to unlock the left-back in high areas. In possession, they become a quasi-winger, while the right-back tucks in to form a back three and take up a more conservative full-back position. This is demonstrated in the contrasting touchmaps for Digne (at left-back) and Cash (at right-back) this season.
Digne is tasked with sprinting upfield when a move develops and crossing in advanced areas.
Cash, meanwhile, receives possession in deeper areas and his opportunities to go forward are more sporadic.
Villa were impressive against Leipzig and had Mings been picked, he would have likely replaced Carlos as the middle centre-back.
Four days later, Mings was supposed to start at Nottingham Forest in place of Torres as the left centre-back. Villa operated within the same system, but Emery was set to take a horses-for-courses approach, with Mings and Carlos physically more suited to play against Chris Wood, who was up front for Forest.
Although he was named in the starting XI, Mings had been feeling unwell all day and in the warm-up, accepted a sickness bug had got the better of him. Torres was drafted in.
This did not perturb Villa’s strategy, however, with Cash staying high. Increased width meant Villa’s No 10s could start inside the pitch and between the lines, as Morgan Rogers does here:
“Time” is the buzzword and response from Emery when asked about the riddle of blending two left-footed, but very different, centre-backs. Though the idea has not been put to the test under competition yet, Emery’s intentions are clear — not to disturb Villa’s overarching principles, only strengthen them.
(Top photo: Torres, left, and Mings are set to play more together. Getty Images)
