Aston Villa secured a 4-1 win over AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night, as we took control of Group E in the Europa Conference League.
After a brilliant win over West Ham Utd at the weekend, it was a big test away from home against a top side in form with more recent European experience than us.
READ MORE: What Unai Emery said in assessment of Villa’s brilliant win vs AZ Alkmaar
In turn, it was so pleasing to see Villa produce such an impressive performance and seal a vital win, and it hopefully now sets us up for the remaining three group games to advance to the knockout stage.
Goals from Leon Bailey, Youri Tielemans, Ollie Watkins and John McGinn secured all three points, and that makes it back-to-back wins in Europe after the Villa captain’s late heroics against Zrinjski last time out.
Emery masterminds another impressive win
AZ were intent on avoiding falling into our traps by not pressing higher up the pitch. That in turn saw Emi Martinez hold on to possession for quite some time, waiting for movement to trigger our build-up.
Villa were patient, calm and mature in how we approached and adjusted to that, and it starts with how Emery prepared the team for both the challenge presented by the opposition, and the atmosphere.
His ability to integrate Tielemans alongside our usual midfielders as well as the intricate positional changes in and out of possession put us in a place to go out and win this game.
Rotation works well, standard set for those coming in
We’ve struggled in previous weeks where we’ve rotated and rested key players, but this was the first outing that we didn’t see a significant drop off.
Admittedly, we still had a strong XI on the pitch with four changes from Sunday, but there was still an anxiousness over whether or not that would disrupt our rhythm and momentum.
However, it’s about creating a structure, way of playing and identity that still flourishes regardless of personnel, and with Bailey and Tielemans shining too, there were really positive signs that Emery is getting closer to what he wants when trying to utilise his entire squad.
Carlos-Lenglet produce solid foundation
Ezri Konsa was rested for the first time this season, and coupled with Pau Torres dropping to the bench too, it was a concern that we had a new-look centre-half pairing for such a crucial game.
However, both Diego Carlos and Clement Lenglet were excellent throughout, both in their defensive work and composure in possession as there was a bigger emphasis and responsibility placed on them to build our play given the home side’s approach.
They were also impressive in organising our backline to keep a disciplined high line, as we caught AZ out offside on multiple occasions to frustrate their attacking players.
Tielemans produces best Villa performance so far
It’s been a struggle for Tielemans so far this season, as despite positional changes, he hasn’t been able to discover his best form after impressing in pre-season.
However, this was much more like it from the Belgian international. Aside from a better intensity and energy about his play off the ball as he forced errors with his pressure, he was also much more composed and accurate on the ball.
Aside from his own finish and involvement in our other goals, he showed great tactical intelligence and flexibility to shift into different roles which was impressive, as he pushed up alongside Watkins at times while drifting across the midfield too. This is hopefully a display that he can build on.
Crucial progress in European adaptability
This was such a big step forward when we consider our performance in Warsaw last month. Villa looked rattled and overawed by the occasion and atmosphere that night in Poland, but it was a completely different story this time round.
We showed real calmness, maturity and ruthlessness to dictate the tempo of the game and set the tone early that we were there to dominate, and considering the form that AZ were in and the quality they have in their side, this was a huge test to pass with such flying colours.
If we want to advance deep into this competition, we have to show we’re capable of adapting to European football, and this will hopefully act as a catalyst for us to really kick-start our Europe Conference League run now.