Unai Emery drops a brutal suggestion for Harvey Elliot amid Aston Villa's struggles

Atrayo Bhattacharya

Unai Emery drops a brutal suggestion for Harvey Elliot amid Aston Villa's struggles image

Aston Villa could only manage a 1-1 draw against 10-men Sunderland in the Premier League on Sunday at the Stadium of Light. 

The Black Cats suffered a massive blow when Reinildo Mandava was sent off in the 32nd minute of the game. 

After a lot of struggles even with a numeric advantage, Villa scored in the 67th minute through Matty Cash. But a late strike from Sunderland's Wilson Isidor meant Unai Emery's men returned home with only a draw.

With this result, Villa have now dropped to the relegation zone in the Premier League points table as they are in 18th spot with only three points after five games. 

Emery did everything in his power to win this match especially with the numeric advantage and therefore he unleashed Harvey Elliott near the hour mark to make things happen. 

The winger, who is on loan at Villa from Liverpool scored Villa's only goal in their penalty shootout defeat against Brentford in the EFL Cup. 

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However, this time he wasn't at his best as he got an opportunity to win the game for the visitors, but he skied the effort right from the edge of the penalty area. 

Emery was frustrated with the result, and he also dropped a brutal suggestion for the 22-year-old midfielder. 

Assessing Elliott's performances for Aston Villa, Emery told talkSPORT, "Harvey, he had one chance to score, but he has to understand our identity better as well.

"He has to (make) more passes before doing the last pass, the last assist. This is one way he has to learn."

Elliott is yet to start a game for Aston Villa since moving to the club from Liverpool on a loan deal with a £35million obligation to buy based on his appearances. 

He has only operated from the bench in most games and before Cash's goal against Sunderland, he was Aston Villa's first and only goal scorer this season. 

How did Harvey Elliott react to Emery's verdict and Villa's frustrating draw?

Elliott moved to Aston Villa on loan to get more gametime as it also aligned with his aspirations of featuring for England in the upcoming World Cup. 

However, things haven't gone as planned and Villa's recent struggles aren't helping the 22-year-old either. 

Following the Sunderland draw, Elliott posted an image on Instagram with a caption, stating, "We will keep fighting for you Villans and put it right! Thanks for your incredible support." He accompanied this with a red heart emoji.

Several Liverpool stars including the likes of Curtis Jones, Jeremie Frimpong, Rio Ngumoha, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch showed their support by liking the post. Even former Reds like Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez also liked the post in support.

Elliott will look to bounce back when Aston Villa take the field against Bologna in their Europa League opener at home on Thursday. 

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Atrayo Bhattacharya

Atrayo Bhattacharya is a content producer for The Sporting News, working across English editions.