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Harvey Elliott was an unused substitute for Aston Villa yesterday as Unai Emery's side lost at Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League — and he has struggled for match action since leaving Liverpool.
Up to now, Elliott has mainly found himself on the bench. In each of Aston Villa's last games, the 22-year-old has failed to emerge from the sidelines, while his only Premier League start — against Fulham — saw him hooked at half-time.
The only other game that Elliott has started was against Brentford in the League Cup. He scored in that game but Aston Villa was knocked out on penalties.
Manager Emery offered a blunt reason for Elliott's lack of minutes after the Go Ahead Eagles game.
"I am being very, very demanding of myself to choose in each match the players to start and the players in the bench, and firstly it is always trying to get the best performance collectively, through individual players," Emery said.
"Harvey is a 10 number in our structure, in our shape, and he plays some matches and there is still adaptation to add himself individually in our structure, the task we have.
"Of course, he is training well, and his commitment is being very well as well, but his performance was not enough (up to this point).
"At the same time, we have other players who can play as 10 number and they are performing well, and I have different players.
"This is the main reason he is not playing the last matches minutes, but he has to continue working like he is doing in the training session and of course getting his confidence in the performance we need through him."
Aston Villa had a slow start to the new season but now sits 11th in the Premier League table. It will take on Manchester City at Villa Park on Sunday.
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Elliott was used sparingly by Arne Slot last season which convinced him that he needed to exit his boyhood club in hope of forcing his way into the England squad for next summer's World Cup.
However, there is a long way to go before the former Liverpool man can make that dream a reality under Thomas Tuchel. For now, he just needs to convince Emery that he is ready for more action.
Liverpool.com says: Elliott should be a success in the Midlands when he settles. The player is hugely talented and while he was struggling for minutes at Liverpool, that won't be the case at Aston Villa for long.
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