Youri Tielemans must be hooked at half time after first-half display in Aston Villa v Zrinjski Mostar
Youri Tielemans must be substituted at half-time by Unai Emery if Aston Villa want to make their possession count against Zrinjski Mostar in the Europa Conference League after the midfielder was wasteful on the ball.
Emery has preferred a combination of Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara so far in the Premier League this season and if he wants to put the Bosnian side to the sword at Villa Park, he may need to replace the Belgian with one of the other two midfielders.
Despite dominating the ball, Villa were reliant on Emi Martinez and a couple of impressive pieces of defending from Diego Carlos to ensure that they didn’t fall behind, as the Argentine produced a spectacular save to deny Nemanja Bilbija an almost certain goal.
Tielemans was deployed in a midfield pivot alongside Leander Dendoncker in the hope of proving to the Spanish manager that he was worthy of starting against Wolves in the Premier League on Sunday (8 October) but the 26-year-old was weak in defence, only winning one ground duel in the half (Fotmob).
In the opening 45 minutes, Tielemans didn’t attempt a single tackle, something that both Luiz and Kamara pride themselves on in the middle of the park, with the usual midfield pairing attempting a remarkable 10 tackles between them against Brighton.
Despite failing to complete a single tackle, the Belgian international gave away three fouls in the opening period, more than any other Aston Villa player and his repetitive mistakes in the middle of the park repeatedly ensured that Zrinksji had breaks from the home side’s pressure.
When Villa were in possession, there were far too many occasions where the former Leicester man was stood statically in amongst a number of players from the away side and he was unable to find much space against the Bosnian side’s low block.
Tielemans completed 53 passes in the opening 45 minutes, but only six of them were into the final third and the one long ball the midfielder tried was inaccurate, a worry considering the success that Emery’s side had when they moved the ball quickly across the pitch.
Late in the half, it looked as though he may have finally come alive as he took aim from the edge of the box, but his effort was more of a passback as he had better options than the attempt with an expected goal of 0.03.
If Aston Villa want to pick up their first win over their Europa Conference League campaign, Emery has to take Tielemans off and get one of Luiz and Kamara onto the field to try and unlock the resolute Zrinksji defence.
In other Aston Villa news, Ezri Konsa is relishing the leadership role he has taken on in Tyrone Mings’ absence this season