The Spanish boss replaced Steven Gerrard at Villa Park in October 2022, quickly shifting the team to a 4-2-3-1 system that would no longer use the Brazilian as a pure holding midfielder.
“What he did was simple,” Luiz said of Emery in a recent interview with the Guardian. “He organised my game well with Boubacar Kamara. Kamara’s arrival helped me a lot. He’s a young player I’ve always got on well with, who has always understood my game style. With his arrival, I’ve had more freedom. The freedom that Unai has given me with Kamara has made my job a lot easier. You can clearly see that.” ———-
This makes me think the best fit next to Luiz would be someone more defensive minded, like Locatelli. But then again, Motta’s system is different than Emery’s, so who knows.
Let’s just hope this moment won’t affect his confidence going forward. Main positive out of it is that he should be joining up for our preseason sooner now.