Aston Villa: Ezri Konsa blown away by ‘top’ Clement Lenglet v Fulham, now undroppable
Aston Villa managed to get back to winning ways in the Premier League with an impressive, but workmanlike, win over Fulham.
The attacking display from Unai Emery’s side earned a majority of the plaudits with Ollie Watkins’ goalscoring exploits partnered with Douglas Luiz and Youri Tielemans’ midfield work stealing the show.
But Villa were made to work hard without the ball as well and their defensive performance was arguably what earned them all three points at Craven Cottage on Saturday (17 February) with Clement Lenglet’s work at the heart of the back four a big part of that.
While some pundits slammed the Frenchman’s performance, his teammates were full of praise for the Barcelona loanee, with Emi Martinez and Ezri Konsa taking to Instagram (17 February) to label the defender “solid” and “top”.
No player for either side at Craven Cottage had a higher pass completion rate than the 28-year-old, who found a teammate in claret and blue with 98 per cent of his 46 attempted passes, with only one of his efforts losing possession, stats according to Fotmob.
This has been one area of concern for Lenglet this season, as he has only averaged a pass completion rate of 89.1 per cent in the division this term, a figure which only places him in the 72nd percentile of the division’s centre-backs, according to Fbref.
However, his performance against Fulham showed that he is capable of performing in England’s top-flight. He dealt with Marco Silva’s side’s pressure well and managed to maintain possession in the final third.
Out of possession, the 28-year-old won 100 per cent of his tackles and was only dribbled past once, a figure which shows a marked improvement compared to his season so far where he has only attempted 1.04 tackles per game, less than 86 per cent of defenders.
On top of that, the French defender won all but one of his ground duels and made eight clearances in the clash to ensure that the ball would stay as far away from Martinez’s goal as possible in the closing exchanges.
Unai Emery may have found Aston Villa defensive solution at Villa Park
With both Konsa and Diego Carlos facing spells on the sidelines, Emery is not blessed with defensive cover at Villa Park, but Lenglet’s display on Saturday showed he is more than able to step up and play regularly for the remainder of the campaign.
The Frenchman has only played eight times in the Premier League this term and in that time Villa have conceded 10 goals. That’s an average of 1.25 a game, a rate lower than the 1.32 they have conceded over the course of the entire Premier League season.
Hopefully, Lenglet can continue these “solid” defensive displays as his performances alongside Pau Torres will be decisive for Villa between now and the end of the Premier League season.
In other Aston Villa news, supporters at Villa Park have received a brand new boost after an update emerged surrounding Tyrone Mings
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