Aston Villa: Unai Emery gets it wrong as Moussa Diaby snubbed from starting XI v Lille
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has made a mistake by leaving Moussa Diaby out of his starting XI for the Villans’ Europa Conference League clash with Lille.
Emery’s side take on the Ligue 1 side in the first leg of their quarter-final on Thursday (11 April) and the Villa boss has named an unnamed side from the one that drew 3-3 with Brentford in the Premier League last time out.
That means that Diaby has to settle for a place on the bench, despite being one of Villa’s best players in the competition so far, scoring two goals in only five European starts this season, according to Fotmob.
Against Ajax in the Villans’ last European game, the 24-year-old was excellent in possession, completing 100 per cent of his attempted dribbles and scoring one of the four goals that saw Emery’s side book their place in the next round.
On top of that, the French winger completed 78 per cent of his 27 attempted passes, two of which created goalscoring chances for his teammates as Aston Villa ran riot over the Eredivisie giants at Villa Park.
Defensively, Diaby worked just as hard, winning 100 per cent of his attempted tackles and four out of six ground duels as he helped Villa break up play and quickly counterattack against the slower-paced Ajax side.
In his place, Emery has opted to start Morgan Rogers who was hooked after 45 minutes in the last Europa Conference League game having only completed seven passes in the first half.
On top of that, the 21-year-old only won 33 per cent of his three ground duels and committed two fouls as he was consistently clumsy without the ball. It could be a blow to Villa’s hopes that he starts ahead of Diaby tonight.
Who is starting for Aston Villa and Unai Emery in the Europa Conference League v Lille?
Despite plenty of rotation throughout the competition, Villa have been impressive throughout the entirety of the Europa Conference League this term and they will be hoping to maintain that record on Thursday night.
Emery has been hurt by a couple of disappointing injuries, with Clement Lenglet and Jacob Ramsey stuck on the treatment table, but there is still more than enough quality in this current Villans squad to get the job done at Villa Park.
Despite failing to impress away to Ajax, Villa showed their attacking power in the home leg last time out. While the fixtures fall the other way around this time, Emery’s team need to once again make the most of being in front of their home crowd.
Hopefully, they’ll carry on where they left off against the Dutch giants and take a comfortable lead into the second leg. Whatever happens, most supporters will be confident the Villans will get the job done over two legs.
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