Aston Villa: Youri Tielemans midfield struggle despite Conference League win v Lille
Youri Tielemans had an up-and-down night v Lille as Aston Villa secured a 2-1 quarter-final, first-leg win at Villa Park on Thursday night (11 April).
The Villans have given themselves an advantage heading into the away leg of the Conference League thanks to goals by Ollie Watkins and John McGinn.
Unai Emery’s side had a firm grip on the Europa Conference League game for the most part but this didn’t stop the away side from creating chances.
They did get one back as they took advantage from a corner where the marking was very lax and Bafode Diakite got on the scoresheet.
The Villans saw the game out and will travel to France with a one-goal advantage in their back pocket.
Youri Tielemans had a mixed Aston Villa performance v Lille
After the draw to Brentford, there were calls for Emery to opt for a more defensive-minded midfield in Europe. However, he maintained the same starting XI.
The change came in the tactical side of the game as Tielemans dropped into a deeper role and McGinn played alongside Watkins.
This would point towards the Belgian having more impact on the ball at the centre of the park but this was not the case.
According to FotMob, he only managed 31 touches and completed just 18 passes across his 82 minutes on the pitch.
Compare this to other stars like Ezri Konsa, who had over double the amount of touches with 67 and made 36 passes [FotMob].
Tielemans also struggled up against the Lille midfielders as he only won two of his seven ground duels which made turnovers easy for the away side.
Compare this to the opposition, Benjamin Andre won six duels while Nabil Bentaleb won four of his own.
Another negative aspect of his game was his lack of forward passes to try and unlock the French side’s defence. With just one successful pass into the final third, he wasn’t very creative.
It wasn’t a shocker of a performance. He was still solid with the ball at his feet and kept the game ticking but with Villa having just 41% possession [FotMob], it wasn’t his sort of game.
In other Aston Villa news, Goodman has had his say on the speculation linking the Villans with one of their former players.
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