After praising him earlier this week, Unai Emery continued to see Youri Tielemans play a pivotal role in his Aston Villa midfield in our win over Leicester City.
Following the departure of Douglas Luiz earlier this summer, it left a notable void in our midfield given how important the Brazilian international was in pulling the strings for us.
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Amadou Onana was drafted in to solidify that area of the squad and raise our level, but it’s Tielemans who has been tasked with replacing what Luiz gave us, and the Belgian midfielder is relishing that role and responsibility thus far.
“Last year was the adaptation for him, he was getting progressively better in the structure we were creating and building,” Emery said of Tielemans in his pre-match press conference on Friday. “This year, he’s starting very, very good, playing with the best level, the level when we signed him that we were expecting.”
Now deployed in a deeper role in our midfield pivot alongside his compatriot Onana, the 27-year-old looks more comfortable and settled than ever before having previously been used in more advanced positions either centrally or on the left side. To his credit, he got to grips with those roles too and was a vital presence in our progression last season.
Tielemans is now able to use his superior technical ability, composure and vision to get out of difficult situations that come with going up against a high press and set us off on attacks with pace, while he also has the quality to dictate tempo and control possession to give us a foothold and play at our pace to both prise opposing sides open, but also limit their attacking threat and take the sting out of games.
In partnership with Onana, they bring a fundamental balance to our midfield and team as a whole, as they have a direct influence and impact in both phases with their ability in possession, but also the strong defensive structure that they give us through the middle to make us more difficult to break down.
Even with a booking hampering him against his former club this weekend, Tielemans was still able to have a vital influence on proceedings, and there is little doubt that he is going to be a fundamental piece for Emery this season and beyond in implementing his preferred style of play, perhaps even more effectively than Luiz did, thus perhaps explaining the decision to sell him and go down this route instead.
With 76 touches in the game, Tielemans had an 83 percent passing accuracy, he completed two of two in terms of successful dribbles, won six of nine duels and wasn’t dribbled past once in a combative performance that showed he can do both sides of the game when required.
Furthermore, when you see Lamare Bogade’s Instagram post below, it shows how important Tielemans is in the dressing room as a leadership figure with his experience and knowledge, and so he is proving to be another superb signing from the club to construct a midfield that is capable of dominating games and going up against top sides consistently.
Time will tell how the return of Boubacar Kamara impacts things as given we’ll hopefully have many games to play, we’ll need the competition and depth and everyone will get minutes. Nevertheless, Tielemans is a permanent fixture in the side given his importance, and it’s hoped he can stay fit and injury free to become an integral part of our success this year.
📊📈 Youri Tielemans vs Leicester City:
Touches: 76
83 percent passing accuracy
Dribble attempts/successful: 2/2
Duels/duels won: 9/6
Dribbled past: 0Beyond the numbers, seeing Tielemans shine in that deeper role alongside Onana. Dictates and controls tempo and possession for… pic.twitter.com/bCng53NImN
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) September 1, 2024
