Aston Villa face another busy fixture schedule out of the international break, and Unai Emery will give consideration to rotating his squad again.
Between October 22 and November 12, Villa play six times across the Premier League and Europa Conference League, with the continuation of three-day breaks in between some games.
READ MORE: Versatility of key Villa ace adding crucial dynamic for Emery
We’ve seen how we’ve struggled with the midweek fixtures thus far, losing away at Legia Warsaw and crashing out of the Carabao Cup at home against Everton, while John McGinn’s dramatic late winner against Zrinjski eventually saw us get the better of them to secure three crucial points.
Although we’ve impressed in the league, it hasn’t been as convincing when we’ve made changes and rested key individuals, and part of the issue has been that those coming in haven’t delivered at a high enough level.
While this point involves the likes of Robin Olsen, Clement Lenglet, Calum Chambers and Jhon Duran too, it’s our experienced Belgian midfield duo that it applies to more prominently, with neither Youri Tielemans nor Leander Dendoncker producing their best form so far this season.
Given the quality that Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara provide when in the Villa XI, and in both phases with their defensive solidity and technical ability on the ball to dictate and control games, Emery can ill-afford to see a significant drop off as it impacts our display as a collective.
Without that control and presence in midfield, we often lack rhythm and look disjointed which in turn leads to frustrating performances that don’t meet the standards set by the Villa boss, and neither of our back-up central midfielders have stepped up and been all that impressive.
Dendoncker has totalled 113 minutes of playing time in five outings so far this season, but in the two games that he has started, he has been replaced at half-time in both, thus clearing showing that Emery hasn’t been happy with his impact.
As for Tielemans, the 26-year-old has made 13 appearances, four of which were starts, but despite that more significant involvement, we’ve yet to see the best of him yet either, which is both disappointing and frustrating given he impressed in pre-season.
That in turn has resulted in him having a bench role in the league, but Luiz and Kamara simply can’t play every minute of every game this season, and we have two experienced internationals capable of much more sat on the sidelines who are not yet showing it.
Time will tell if talented youngster Tim Iroegbunam’s return from injury changes anything in terms of the pecking order, as it’s felt that he is highly regarded by Emery and looks to be a good fit for his system and style of play given his technical ability in possession to build play in deeper positions as well as his physicality and athleticism.
That could add further pressure on Tielemans and Dendoncker to show more, and naturally it’s in the best interests of all concerned if they can start to be a bigger influence on positive results when called upon.
Emery is continuing to implement his ideas at Villa and it’s perhaps more difficult for those not cemented in the side to come in and execute what he’s asking without having that time on the pitch to adapt and improve.
However, with such a crucial run ahead where we’ll hope to climb the league standings and strengthen our position to advance to the knockout stages in Europe, it’s imperative that if Tielemans or Dendoncker are given a chance, that they start proving that they can be reliable and influential pieces in our squad.