Harvey Elliott was not in the Aston Villa squad for their win over Manchester City on Sunday and Unai Emery said it was simply down to his performances not being good enough.
The midfielder is on loan from Liverpool for the season but he is yet to have the impact he was hoping for at Villa Park.
The 22-year-old has made four Premier League appearances for the Villains but just one of those came in the starting XI when he was taken off at half-time.
He has not played since a brief appearance against Feyenoord in the Europa League on October 2 and was not even on the bench against Manchester City on Sunday.
Villa won the game 1-0 thanks to a goal from Matty Cash and Emery was asked about Elliott’s absence after the impressive victory.
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‘I explained it two days ago in the press conference. He is training well, and he played some matches, but the performances weren’t what we needed,’ Emery told Birmingham World of Elliott.
‘Some players are playing as a number 10, and they are playing well, like (Emiliano) Buendia and (Morgan) Rogers, also Ross Barkley after he was out. In the squad today we needed to take one player out, and I decided for him. I am happy with him. He is training good. His commitment is fantastic and he is a good guy. Only a tactical decision.’
Emery was playing down any issue, saying he has spoken to the loan signing about what he needs to do and he hopes to see more from him.
‘I spoke with him about it,’ said the Spaniard. ‘My advice was to keep going, and training and when it is his opportunity, to play well.
‘He is a very good player. Our demands are in the high level. Some players, they performed in the same position last year and this year. He needs time to work and wait for his moment.’
What Emery said of Elliott ahead of the game
Emery said earlier in the week: ‘I am being very, very demanding myself to choose in each match the player to start and the players in the bench and the subs players, and firstly is always trying to get the best performance collectively, through individual players.
‘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.’
Villa have now won four Premier League games on the spin after a tricky start to the season, climbing to eighth in the table and just two points off the top four.
The manager told the BBC of the home win: ‘Our fortress. Villa Park. We are feeling here so, so good. The positive energy to us was fantastic. We needed to show our wishes and commitment, and our capacity to play.
‘I think everything trying to get together, the positive energy, the quality of the players, the tactics that we did and the effort. I am so proud. How the supporters are pushing us is very, very important.
‘We responded fantastic. Of course, we started the first 10 minutes a little bit off. But then we started getting in good positions, and we were creating chances. Of course, we needed the second goal in case they scored. They did score, but it was offside, very tight.
‘It is important to keep being consistent in this way.’
Emery takes his side to Anfield next, to face Liverpool as the Reds look to end a run of four straight defeats in the top flight.