As his influence continues to grow in the Aston Villa midfield, Douglas Luiz is flourishing in the freedom of his new role under Unai Emery.
In 12 Premier League appearances prior to Emery’s appointment this season, Luiz contributed just one goal and one assist, with the former coming directly from a corner against Arsenal back in August.
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Conversely, in 14 league outings since Emery’s arrival, with Luiz starting in every game, he has bagged two goals – both of which came from open play – and four assists, as he has stepped up and delivered while efficiently adapting and adjusting to the demands of the Villa boss.
Against Bournemouth last weekend, Luiz was not only the driving force in the build-up to our opener – as seen in the video below – but he broke forward into the box and tapped home the goal himself as he made a decisive impact at a key moment in the game.
However, his influence and impact go well beyond the numbers with his ability to dictate and control tempo and possession in our midfield, and it’s a huge boost to see him producing consistently at a high level.
“The goal is so important, for me, for my season, I’m so happy,” Luiz told VillaTV after the Bournemouth game. “This season I make more assists, more goals and I’m so happy.
“I think my position now, I play on the pitch more free, and I can do better and show my football.”
For several seasons, Luiz was forced to play in a role that neither maximised his offensive qualities nor limited his defensive vulnerabilities. It’s easy to forget that he’s still only 24 years of age given he’s already racked up 140 appearances for us, but although at times it was through necessity due to a lack of alternative options, he was never really best suited to the defensive midfield position.
It limited him in terms of not being able to display his technical quality on the ball, while he wasn’t the player he is now having matured and improved since then to consistently provide a protective shield in front of the backline.
Invariably, he would be caught out of position and Villa would look overrun in midfield with no real control over proceedings week in and week out, and that was a glaring weakness of ours.
However, things changed after the arrival of Boubacar Kamara – a natural No.6 who could play that defensive role – but it’s been ramped up significantly since Emery took the reins and adjusted Luiz’s role permanently and put him in a position to dictate in our midfield.
The Spanish tactician has constantly spoken about his desire to control games, through possession, positioning and game-management. Luiz has effectively emerged as the hub of that approach and mentality, as he continues to make us tick in midfield and helps to control games by retaining possession, but also prises opposition sides open for our attacking players to exploit.
Further, he’s improved defensively too with his reading of the game to nip in and win back possession or by showing more tenacity when needed, and so his influence has certainly grown in both phases.
As he stated above, the key difference for Luiz now is that he feels the freedom to run the show in midfield and to showcase his qualities. We’ve also seen the difference with various other players in the squad under Emery, from Ollie Watkins and his improved goalscoring to Tyrone Mings finding more consistency to lead by example at the back.
We’re seeing a major improvement from Luiz, and particularly with the aforementioned identity and style of play that Emery is still trying to implement and develop at Villa, there’s no doubt that the Brazilian will remain a pivotal cog as we look to perfect it and continue to climb the Premier League table this season.
A driving force from midfield. 👌
🇧🇷 @DGOficial pic.twitter.com/uJKwJjt37V
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 21, 2023