Aston Villa travel to Lille this week for the second leg of our Europa Conference League quarter-final tie, and it promises to be a real test for Unai Emery and the players.
Our European journey so far this season has provided us with crucial opportunities to gain experience and adapt to the demands of the style of football across the continent, and it will undoubtedly be fundamental to our ongoing progression and desire to compete at the top level.
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While we swept aside Hibernian 8-0 on aggregate in the qualifying round, a 3-2 defeat away at Legia Warsaw in our opening group game was a pivotal learning curve as we had to deal with a raucous home atmosphere and the challenges of going on the road in this competition.
A comprehensive win at AZ Alkmaar and a battling draw at Ajax have shown that we’re developing and progressing on this stage, with Emery’s experience and know-how undoubtedly playing a key role in aiding the players too.
We did our job at home last week as Villa take a lead to France for the second leg, albeit a narrow one, but we now face our biggest challenge in Europe yet given Lille looked impressive last time out and have proven to be strong at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.
In turn, this game will tell us a lot about where we’re at and how the players are continuing to improve. Only a mature, composed and controlled Villa will get through and advance to the last four, and that’s what we need to see from the opening whistle.
Emery has done significant work in developing our mentality and changing our principles and philosophy in terms of the way we approach games and the style we try to implement. We saw that against Arsenal last weekend, as we’re not just looking to snatch wins against the top sides in the Premier League, but we want to impose ourselves and play like a top team too.
The experience and winning mentality of the likes of Emiliano Martinez and the influence and inspiration that skipper John McGinn can provide by setting the tone and standard will be pivotal too, and so it’s also on the big characters and voices within the dressing room to step up and lead the way.
One of the stand-out principles of Emery since he arrived has been control, both in our positioning on the pitch defensively and our composure in possession to dictate tempo.
Our discipline and concentration will need to be spot on in Lille in both phases of the game, as will the ability to control our emotions and stay on top for as long as we can to give ourselves the chance to be decisive in the final third.
These are all fundamental learning experiences for all concerned as we have big ambitions and aspirations for the future, but we’ve shown a lot of progression already in this campaign, and it’s hoped that we take another big step towards silverware by overcoming what will likely be our toughest assignment yet.
