Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans feels his adaptation at the club under Unai Emery is now starting to build momentum as he continues to impress.
Despite showing his quality in pre-season after his summer arrival, the 26-year-old struggled early in the campaign to find his best form with his limited role likely to have made it more difficult for him too.
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After going 12 games across all competitions without a goal contribution to start the season, Tielemans now has a goal and two assists in his last seven outings, with many of those appearances still coming off the bench.
Having had a bigger role in Europe thus far, he’ll be expected to start against Legia Warszawa in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night, and he has been discussing his improved form and what he feels is the reason behind it.
“It’s about adapting but I think the more you play in this team the more you understand the position,” he told the media, as per VillaTV. “I know I have it in my locker to play higher up or as a central midfielder. It doesn’t really matter to me to be honest.
“My confidence had always been there, it was more so having that reference game for myself to have a really good performance and then to build on that. That last couple of weeks have been really good I want to continue like this.
“I am the same man, the same player. I had moved clubs and you know the rest. The last few weeks have been really good and I am really happy with that. I just want to carry on and I just want to continue in that positive way.”
Having now started to build some form and string together a consistent run of positive performances, be it from the bench or in the starting line-up, it has allowed the Belgian international to find some rhythm and adapt to the demands of Emery.
Aside from the intricate and deep tactical details of being a functional part of an Emery side in both phases of the game, Tielemans will have benefited from more time on the pitch to build that understanding and chemistry with his teammates, and as well as being decisive in games now, he’s generally becoming a more positive and prominent influence.
That comes through his distribution in linking our defence and attack to give us tempo, rhythm and control, while his pressing and pressure off the ball is also becoming more evident as part of the collective effort.
The hope is that he can continue to improve on that now and establish himself as a key figure in the squad, and although it will continue to be difficult for him to become a permanent starter given the competition for places and quality individuals he’s trying to displace, we’ll certainly need his contribution moving forward if we’re to be successful across multiple fronts.