Gary Lineker spots Aston Villa ‘weakness’ on MOTD, pundit blames two players
Youri Tielemans was emblematic of the issue with the Aston Villa midfield which Gary Lineker labelled as a “weakness” against Crystal Palace.
The Villans ended their losing run but in far from ideal circumstances, taking a point despite falling behind twice on Saturday 23 November.
Ross Barkley’s header secured a point with just over 10 minutes to go but Lineker took issue with him and his midfield partner Tielemans.
Speaking on Match of the Day (23 November), he said: “A good point on the road for Crystal Palace and they exploited a current weakness in the Aston Villa side.”
Ashley Wiliams added: “We can see here that Barkley and Tielemans have gone full press and are marking the centre midfielders really high which leaves that space which is really difficult to deal with when you’re a defender.”
Youri Tielemans emblematic of Aston Villa ‘weakness’ v Crystal Palace
It was far from a classic in the rain and wind at Villa Park as Unai Emery’s side slumped to another frustrating result.
Tielemans had a day to forget, missing a first half penalty to put his side in front in a moment which could have changed the game.
This wasn’t the only downside to his game as the Belgium international failed to deal with the Eagles’ midfield throughout the clash in B6.
The 27-year-old failed to win a single tackle on the day with a zero per cent win rate as he only contributed two other defensive actions while also losing four duels [FotMob].
The ex-Leicester City man was dribbled past on one occasion but was heavily involved as huge gaps were left in the middle of the park which Crystal Palace exploited with ease.
In this case, the Belgian was caught out far too high up the pitch which afforded Justin Devenny and Ismaila Sarr as much space as they needed to make things happen.
It isn’t as if Tielemans put up a positive performance outside of this glaring midfield problem despite providing an assist for Barkley’s equaliser.
This saw him maintain a cross accuracy of just 43 per cent while making just 18 per cent of his passes were into the final third which isn’t good enough for a side that kept 70 per cent possession.
Emery has to work out a solution to this problem as opposition teams will continue to exploit space in behind the Villa midfield duo.
In other Aston Villa news, an ex-FIFA referee cannot believe the controversy that happened against Crystal Palace.
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