No goals, but Emery knows Villa’s forwards need time

Aston Villa’s new forwards have potential, but Unai Emery knows potential alone will not quickly solve a blunt attack. Villa have not scored in their opening three Premier League games, and the manager must build a new attacking unit while preparing for the Champions League.

Nicolas Jackson’s season at Bayern Munich, where he helped the club win the Bundesliga, produced a 21.1% conversion rate. He scored eight goals in 1,004 minutes, which explains Emery’s confidence in him. The uncertainty lies in how quickly Jackson can form an effective partnership with a new group of players.

“

clearly a Premier League player

Villa also need Mbaye, signed from Paris Saint-Germain for £47 million on deadline day, and Chelsea loanee Alejandro Garnacho to create chances for Jackson. Last season, Watkins and Rogers scored 46% of Villa’s Premier League goals. Rogers and Lucas Digne supplied 12 assists, while Youri Tielemans added four and Watkins three. All four have now left, leaving Mbaye and Garnacho to provide much of the service, with Brian Madjo and Tammy Abraham supporting Jackson.

“

We must be patient, and we should understand that we are rebuilding the team. Now they must get our way and demands, keeping the same mentality that we built, but with different players.

Garnacho has so far been kept out by George Hemmings, a highly rated 19-year-old academy product whom Emery calls “clearly a Premier League player”. Hemmings had only 25 minutes of top-flight football before this season, so expectations must remain controlled. Garnacho created six big chances and made four assists for Chelsea last season, but scored only once. Mbaye created four goals in 10 starts for Paris Saint-Germain and helped them win Ligue 1, but he was an unused substitute at Hull on Saturday.

Emery’s detailed meetings can last from 90 minutes to two hours, underlining the demands placed on the players. Integrating 10 new players, including Jackson, Mbaye and Garnacho, will take time, but Villa do not have much of it. Only Jackson and goalkeeper Zion Suzuki started the draw at Hull among the summer signings, while Taylor Harwood-Bellis was left out of the squad.

“

Now is no time to think two weeks or three weeks forward.

“We must be patient, and we should understand that we are rebuilding the team,” Emery said. “Now they must get our way and demands, keeping the same mentality that we built, but with different players.” He said the team could not look weeks ahead and needed to focus on each match, beginning with Tuesday’s Champions League game in Brugge before the home match against Nottingham Forest.

“

We must try to focus on each match. The next match is the Champions League and something we can feel excited and motivated to play because we deserve to be there.