At this point fans may continue to express their shock whenever they see the starting XI for Aston Villa. They shouldn't, however. It's known how many great options this team has. What's more telling at times is who is excluded from even making the squad at all. Regardless of who Unai Emery goes with, there is never going to be a shortage of critics of the Villa boss.
Lining up on Tuesday against Manchester City, the Spaniard decided to go with Marcus Rashford, Morgan Rogers, and Jacob Ramsey. To control the center of the park, he went with Youri Tielemans, Boubacar Kamara, and Amadou Onana.
To be able to turn to Ollie Watkins, Donyell Malen, or Marco Asensio at any point shows how mighty this Aston Villa are as a whole at the moment. Between the attacking options alone, there are plenty of goals and created chances between the three mentioned players. To then be able to also turn to John McGinn is simply a luxury that other teams do not have.
The back four in front of Emiliano Martínez were Lucas Digne, Pau Torres, Ezri Konsa, and Matty Cash. Speaking of goal-scoring efforts, Ian Maatsen has proven himself on the defensive side and has knocked one in himself. On any other squad, the Dutch defender would be starting.
Others will second-guess either way
This shows how good the team is. Taking in-form goal scorers and feeling comfortable with starting them on the bench is something that other managers truthfully wouldn't even consider anyway. Even if they had that option available, though, most wouldn't have the willingness or backbone to do what they feel is best for the club in situations like this.
It's an interesting dynamic weekend and week out for Villa, but in something of a must-win game against City, AVFC hopes that their manager once again shows that he best understands the pulse of his team.