Credit: Imago

James Barker

Mon 27 April 2026 12:10, UK

Lamare Bogarde put in a disappointing performance in midfield during Aston Villa‘s defeat to Fulham.

With Amadou Onana absent from the team through injury, Unai Emery called upon Bogarde to operate in central midfield against the Cottagers.

The 22-year-old Dutchman has operated as a central midfielder at times this season, whilst also being deployed at right-back and even in central defence too.

As such, the youngster has become an important member of Emery’s team due to his versatility to play in midfield and defence, but that’s only a strength if he’s performing well.

However, Bogarde didn’t play well in Villa’s loss to Fulham on Saturday, and now Emery has a big problem on his hands as he tries to prevent him from becoming a Jack of all trades, master of none.

How did Lamare Bogarde fare in Fulham vs Aston Villa?

Bogarde was chosen over Douglas Luiz against Fulham, with the on-loan Juventus midfielder looking unlikely to be signed permanently by Aston Villa this summer as such.

However, the Brazilian is an experienced and natural central midfielder, whereas Bogarde isn’t at this stage of his career, and that showed at Craven Cottage.

As per Sofascore, Bogarde completed 97 per cent of his passes successfully, which is a very impressive return, but most of these were short and fairly simple passes rather than any line-breaking ones.

He had zero shots, lost the ball five times, won just one tackle, made zero interceptions or clearances, and also committed two fouls.

On top of that, Bogarde won just one of his six ground duels against the Cottagers, made no successful dribbles, took only 39 touches and played zero key passes.

So, whilst his passing was neat and tidy, his all-round game was largely left wanting in numerous key aspects of being a quality defensive midfielder.

He wasn’t strong enough in his duels, didn’t show any real bite or steeliness, and looked unsure of what his role was in the press on numerous occasions too.

Emery must be coming out of that game disappointed with Bogarde’s defensive performance in midfield, but the problem he’s got is that he’s not looked overly assured playing at right-back either this season, so what does he do?

Emery can’t play Bogarde in midfield against Nottingham Forest

Aston Villa’s next game is against Nottingham Forest, in the first of their two-legged Europa League semi-final clash at the City Ground on Thursday night.

If Onana is good to go for that one, then his return to the starting XI will of course be a no-brainer, as the Belgian international has been excellent this season.

However, should he be unavailable, then Emery must not pick Bogarde to play in central midfield against them based on his Fulham display.

Forest have an engine room comprised of players such as Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White and Ibrahim Sangare respectively: all of whom are top-quality midfielders.

Should Bogarde play and put in a similarly poor defensive performance against them as he did the Cottagers, then that would be a recipe for disaster for Aston Villa.

In this event, Luiz would surely be a far safer and more solid option than Bogarde, as his experience and defensive quality should make Forest’s task a lot harder to break through Villa’s midfield line.