Anthony Onifade

Tue 30 January 2024 22:57, UK

Aston Villa star Youri Tielemans may well have lost the trust of Unai Emery again after his “poor” display in a 3-1 defeat against Newcastle on Tuesday (30 January).

Fabian Schar scored twice as Newcastle ended a run of four consecutive Premier League defeats with a much-needed victory at Villa Park.

The Switzerland defender finished well from close range for both goals as Villa stuttered to their first home league defeat of the season and their first defeat since February 2023.

An own goal from Alex Moreno gave Newcastle a three-goal cushion before Ollie Watkins pulled a goal back to net his 50th Premier League goal for the club.

Watkins had the ball in the net for a second time but was flagged offside.

Villa were left to rue the chance to make up ground on Premier League leaders Liverpool and remain in fourth spot – five points behind the Reds having played a game more.

Newcastle climbed up to seventh in the table but are still nine points adrift of Villa in the battle to secure a place in next season’s Champions League.

In what was a massive chance to close the gap between themselves and the top of the table, Emery will certainly be disappointed with the uncharacteristic displays of some of his stars especially on home turf.

The Villa defence wasn’t at their best as Newcastle wreaked havoc all evening but the Spaniard could be made to rue the decision to start Tielemans who could well be in danger of losing his place again.

The Belgian had a stuttering start to life in Birmingham with several reports claiming that he didn’t have the trust of his manager which led to his staggered appearances since his move on a free transfer last summer.

Tielemans was urged to take this opportunity, having started just 12 of his 26 matches for the Villans so far this season, but appearing as an important player in several cameos.

Tielemans proved his quality when he started against Manchester City at the beginning of December, assisting the only goal of the game in a vital 1-0 victory over the current Premier League champions.

Starting as an attacking midfielder, supporting Ollie Watkins in the final third, the 26-year-old maintained a 77 per cent passing completion against one of the best teams in world football, completing 100 per cent of his dribbles, as well as aerial duels won. [FotMob]

Despite his lack of playing time, Tielemans has created two big chances and six chances for Villa, as well as completing 0.8 dribbles per 90 minutes – the same as Douglas Luiz and Watkins. [FotMob]

Tieleman’s impact from the bench is also unmatched. He averages 1.1 interceptions per 90 minutes, the fourth-highest in the squad, but is also ranked the sixth-highest for fouls committed, showing his determination to be involved.

However, when he’s started, things have not gone to plan and so it happened once again against the Magpies on Tuesday (30 January).

The former Monaco and Leicester City man had one moment of class in the first half when he beautifully slid in Moussa Diaby for a chance but that was about it.

The Belgian was blasted by TNT Sports pundit Ally McCoist live on air after his “poor” pass early in the first half (30 January, 8:16 pm). He said: “That’s a poor pass from Tielemans, tried to find Watkins but it just didn’t come off. Got to do better there.”

As per SofaScore, Tielemans only touched the ball 35 times, completed 50 per cent of his long balls, failed to register a single key pass or chance created with his advanced midfield role in the final third, failed to complete his dribble attempt, dribbled past once, lost possession seven times and won just 25 per cent of his total duels.

After this damaging result for Aston Villa, it won’t be a surprise to see Emery ring the changes for their next league encounter against Sheffield United on Saturday (3 February) and it could well be that Tielemans loses his place again.

In other Aston Villa news, a Sky Sports pundit has savaged a first-team player and called him “Foolish” after what he did recently.

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