Two goals and one assist in his first eighteen matches, wouldn't have been the start Evann Guessand would have hoped for when he signed for Aston Villa in the summer.
Whilst there have been glimpses of talent shown, it is becoming more apparent that he is some way off Premier League standard. The good news for him, is that he only has to look at the likes of Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers and Amadou Onana, who took a year to fully embed themselves into the team, and are now thriving under Emery's leadership. Also, Emery wouldn't have signed him if he didn't see a good player in him somewhere.
Throughout the season, Villa have missed having a proper right-winger and Emery is trying to mould Guessand into one. At Nice, his previous club, the Ivorian was utilised more on the left and as a No. 9, so time will be required for him to get to grips with an unfamiliar position.
His Position in Emery's System
In Emery's system, Guessand is told to stay high and wide to offer width. Instead of cutting inside with the ball, he takes on the opposing player on the outside. Depending on how narrow the opposition defend, Matty Cash may make an overlap or underlap run to support.
Against Brighton, we can see Guessand hugging the touchline when Villa have the ball. This drags the full-back with him creating space behind him for someone to run into. In the past, we have seen Watkins run into that space and Konsa play a long ball over the top, but on this occasion he doesn't.
In this image, Guessand is slightly inside of where he usually is. As he is quite a direct player, he travels straight towards the opposing player and takes him on round the outside. Nothing materialises, but you can see the clear instructions he's been given.
Early on in the second half, Villa get their second and it's largely due to Guessand's positioning. As he is now hugging the touchline, the full-back gets dragged out of position, enabling Buendía to run into space. The Basel winger doubles up on Guessand, so he passes the ball back to Bogarde, who then cuts the midfield with a pass to Buendía.
Buendía does well to hold off his man and lays it off to Tielemans to tuck it into the corner.
Although Guessand doesn't do much here, he makes quite a big impact by just having the ball on the wing. His eagerness to take people on, causes Basel to double up on him in this situation. This is the difference he offers compared to McGinn on the right flank, who plays more on the inside as he is left-footed.
There are times where Villa have lacked width and so even though Guessand isn't playing well, Emery will still play him to produce it and enable other players to utilise the space that he creates.
Aspects Of His Game
Two aspects of his game that need improvement is his end product and decision making in the final third. Too many times this season, he has executed his final ball poorly or chose the wrong option for the positions he gets himself in. In the Premier League, he has only created 3 chances in 510 minutes, at the time of writing. He also only has a successful dribble percentage of 31.8 and has been dispossessed 16 times. These numbers aren't great and for him to succeed at Villa, they will need to drastically improve.
However, his defensive work has been positive. In the Villa squad, he averages 4.59 possession won per 90, which is the third highest, only below Maatsen and Pau Torres. He has also made 16 tackles so far in the league, ranking second among Villa's attacking players.
Working hard defensively is a must in an Emery team and Guessand has showcased that this season. Of course attacking wise there needs to be improvements, but his attitude and mentality seems to be in the right place and so the longer he develops under Emery, he should hopefully become a key player for Villa in the future.
