What Diego Carlos was forced to do after red card as Aston Villa transfer need exposed

Aston Villa will look to end their USA pre-season tour on a positive note this weekend after suffering a 2-0 defeat to RB Leipzig with 10 men on Wednesday night.

Diego Carlos was sent off before half-time having been booked twice for two separate altercations with Leipzig striker Lois Openda, who doubled the German side's advantage with four minutes remaining of the first period although it looked like his goal should have been ruled out for offside. Andre Silva opened the scoring in the 17th minute by tapping into an empty net after Ross Barkley lost the ball on the edge of the box while trying to play out from the back.

Youri Tielemans and John McGinn were handed their first minutes of pre-season, with the latter starting from the off. Amadou Onana and Pau Torres both impressed, but unfortunately Carlos' red card spoilt the match-up in New Jersey as Unai Emery couldn't implement what he wanted to in the second 45 minutes.

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Here are the talking points form the defeat...

NO EXCUSING CARLOS

Carlos always puts himself about and was surprisingly only booked four times in the Premier League last season. He collected half of that total in the space of around 15 minutes against Leipzig.

He lost the battle with Openda after falling into a trap which he simply didn't need to entertain in a pre-season match. There was absolutely no need to pick a fight.

Carlos likes to get physical because few forwards can get one over on him in that department, but Openda was clever. Nearly halfway through the first half, the Villa defender blocked Openda off the ball, to which the striker reacted furiously and picked up a booking. So did Carlos.

Later in the first half, with Leipzig one goal up at this point and Robin Olsen replaced due to a head injury, Openda doubled the lead. After forcing the ball past Oliwier Zych, Openda turned to Carlos and gave him some verbals before falling to the floor as Carlos appeared to put his arm across the striker's chest.

At half-time, Carlos was seen running several sprints across the length of the pitch as a member of Villa's coaching team timed him a few yards inside the touchline.

DEFENDING FROM THE FRONT

Villa struggled to make any clear-cut chances to score on the night, even before Carlos' sending off. Organised in a 4-4-2 out of possession, Emery's side looked relatively solid despite conceding two goals in the first half.

McGinn supported Rogers almost as a second striker and pressed the two centre-backs, while Samuel Iling-Junior and Leon Bailey squeezed the ball when their opposing full-back received possession.

After conceding some poor goals last weekend against Columbus Crew, it was disappointing to see another error lead to a goal against Leipzig as Barkley took too long on the ball before being robbed on the edge of the box. Silva's goal put the German side in control and Villa struggled to respond.

However, with another half of football to play with a host of new players to come on, there was still plenty to play for in the match. That was of course before Carlos was sent off, which stopped Emery asking his players to carry out the demands he had previously planned.

It's good to prepare for every eventuality before the start of a new campaign, but playing with a numerical disadvantage in any pre-season game does very little to help either side considering fitness levels are already low.

TRANSFER NEED EXPOSED

It was the first time Carlos lined up alongside Torres for a pre-season friendly after Sil Swinkels and Josh Feeney had been given game time in the previous matches, while Lucas Digne even filled in at left centre-back for the second half of the defeat in Columbus.

Although Carlos won't be serving an official ban for picking up a red card in a friendly, it does give perspective of how limited Emery's options are at centre-back. Ezri Konsa hasn't yet reported back for pre-season, but he and Torres are the only other fit senior centre-backs in Emery's squad while Tyrone Mings remains sidelined with an ACL injury.

Carlos will turn 32 next year and is due to enter the final 12 months of his deal next summer, meaning this summer window gives Villa their final opportunity to make a sizeable amount from a sale. But with time ticking in the window and until the new campaign, Villa would need to line up a replacement if a reasonable offer was to be tabled for Carlos.

Emery likes to build up with three centre-backs, so ideally he'd have more cover across those positions. Mings is due to return to full training shortly, but competition for Carlos, or even a replacement if he was to leave, could be necessary if Konsa continues at right-back.

RAMSEY'S RETURN A BIG BOOST

After Ramsey returned to the squad, Emery nearly has a clean bill of health in his first-team squad. Only Mings and Boubacar Kamara are out injured heading into the new campaign, which kicks off in just over two weeks' time.

Villa still have three more friendlies to play until they travel to West Ham on the opening weekend of the season, but regarding fitness and availability, the squad looks in decent nick right now. Ramsey did come off in the 77th minute, but hopefully that was only because Emery is continuing to manage his minutes as he went straight to the bench rather than speaking with a physio.

Emery has given Ramsey the time he needs to feel comfortable again after enduring several injury setbacks last season. Now that he has hopefully put them behind him, he can look forward to rebuilding his fitness and confidence to attack the new campaign. The 23-year-old will be out to make up for lost time.

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