After struggling to find form to start the season, Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans is starting to show promising signs that he is adapting to Unai Emery’s demands.
Given he impressed in pre-season, those initial struggles were quite perplexing as it appeared as though the Belgian international was primed to play an important part for us to start the campaign.
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Perhaps his bit-part role was difficult to adjust to as he came on late in a handful of Premier League games, but after underwhelming displays in the Europa Conference League and Carabao Cup, there was certainly a need for improvement in order to prove he was a key member of the squad moving forward.
While it’s still a small sample size and he has to prove it consistently over a longer period to fully convince that he has turned a corner and is finding his form, Tielemans has had a productive fortnight after putting in positive shifts against both AZ Alkmaar and Fulham in three consecutive wins.
That’s now 19 appearances so far this season, seven of which were starts with a total of 816 minutes played, while he’s contributed one goal and one assist in that time.
With an 86 percent passing completion rate and 51 percent of his tackles won, Tielemans has been putting in the work when involved, but it’s that technical quality and ability to dictate for us which has been sorely missing, particularly when tasked to stand in for Douglas Luiz.
However, despite being deployed in a wider role on the left side of our midfield, albeit with the license to drift more centrally in a sort of false No.10 role with Emery wanting his wide players to sit inside and allow our full-backs to provide width, Tielemans has shown promising signs that he is adapting.
That starts with his work off the ball, as his pressing and pressure has been much improved, forcing the opposition into mistakes and showing he can be part of a collective system defensively that works.
His fitness levels have seemingly improved, and that’s been combined with finding some rhythm and chemistry with his teammates to not only be a functional part of the side, but to start showing real signs of being able to make the difference when it comes to our attacking structure and play.
Again, there is still evidently room for improvement and growth, but when we consider how he looked on the left side of our midfield against Newcastle Utd at the start of the season to his performance on Sunday against Fulham, there is an obvious contrast and development that has happened in that period in between, as pointed out by the Villa boss.
“I spoke with him a lot about his positioning on the pitch and his role in the squad,” Emery said in his post-match press conference. “His adaptation is progressively getting better and his adaptation is as well understanding and always helping the team and the players. He is very professional and he has experiences here because he wants to do one step ahead in his career through Aston Villa.
“He is very honest and he knows at the beginning he wasn’t playing feeling good and sometimes as well the adaptation in another position is a lot bit more difficult. It was not easy. For example he played the first 45 minutes in Newcastle in the second on the left side and today he played on the left side and the difference was clear. Not only him, as well the team.
“The team must try to help each other individually as well to be comfortable. He is working every day and he is training every day trying to understand everything. The players who signed in the summer, they need a process and one of them is Youri Tielemans. With the quality he has and the high commitment he is showing, it is easier.”
Given his experience in the Premier League and at international level, there was perhaps an assumption that it would be a seamless process for Tielemans to fit in immediately and just be a key piece in Emery’s structure and style of play.
His showings over the summer in pre-season added substance to that, but clearly it’s not that simple. We’ve seen gradual but exceptional improvement from most, if not every player in the squad under Emery over the last 12 months, and it’s hoped that Tielemans is now on that same path to being a pivotal player for us in our pursuit of success this year.