Aston Villa: Unai Emery to be disappointed by Pau Torres despite ‘quality’ verdict v Lille
Unai Emery will be disappointed with Pau Torres’ performance as Aston Villa advanced to the Europa Conference League against Lille on Thursday (18 April).
With Matty Cash returning to the starting XI, fans were shocked to see Diego Carlos dropped for the match, with Torres and Ezri Konsa partnering up in defence.
The decision backfired almost instantly as Yusuf Yazici opened the scoring for Lille after just 15 minutes before Benjamin Andre added a second to take the lead on aggregate.
Villa failed to stamp much of an attacking mark on the game, though Cash would pop up outside the Lille penalty area to smash home on 87 minutes to send the match extra time.
Emiliano Martinez became the hero as an eventual penalty shoot-out took place, with the shot-stopper saving two penalties to send Villa to the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League.
Despite Emery’s blushes being spared after a lacklustre performance, Torres’ lack of attacking impact will have come as a huge worry for the Villans.
Speaking via TNT Sport on Thursday (18 April, 6:21pm), Lucy Ward said: “Aston Villa usually progress on the left with Pau Torres as his passes are quality. But Villa have not got into their rhythm because of Lille.”
Pau Torres missing in Aston Villa v Lille
Compared to his 87 per cent average in the Premier League, as per FotMob, Torres did manage to better his passing against Lille with 88 per cent accuracy. However, only six passes were made into the final third. [FotMob]
Especially due to Lille’s high pressure, Villa were in desperate need of the Spaniard’s key passing. Among defenders in Europe’s top five leagues, he ranks in the top 86 percentile for progressive passes. [FBref]
Torres also ranks in the top 96 percentile for progressive carries, but with the constant threat of Yazici, Gabriel Gudmundsson and Jonathan David, he had his hands tied in defence.
Due to the pressure, the 27-year-old struggled to rediscover his form from the brilliant 2-0 win over Arsenal on Sunday 14 April, only registering a 40 per cent long ball accuracy against the Ligue 1 team. [FotMob]
David will have been the biggest worry throughout the night, and it shows in Torres’ defensive statistics, having only won 50 per cent of his aerial duels and 33 per cent of his aerial duels.
With a semi-final clash against Olympiacos on Thursday 2 May, Emery will need the former Villarreal centre-half to step up if Villa are to reach the Europa Conference League final.
In other Aston Villa news, a new contract is on the table for key midfielder Douglas Luiz.
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