Lee Hendrie can’t understand one thing Unai Emery decided to do during Aston Villa’s 2-1 win over Lille last night.
Goals from Ollie Watkins and John McGinn saw the Villans overcome a late scare and head to northern France with a slender advantage.
Bafode Diakite’s 84th-minute goal means the tie is finely poised ahead of next week’s clash. Considering the Villans lept into a 2-0 lead, Emery may be disappointed with how his side handled the latter stages.
Lille caused problems throughout – with Jonathan David and Hákon Arnar Haraldsson catching the eye – and the late goal means the tie is very much alive.
Lee Hendrie cannot believe what Unai Emery did against Lille
It was far from a vintage performance from Villa and Hendrie has pinpointed something Emery did as a reason why.
The Spaniard introduced Nicolo Zaniolo, Alex Moreno and Moussa Diaby midway through the second half, and Hendrie believes the changes dramatically altered the host’s momentum.
Covering the match on Sky Sports, Hendrie said: “Villa have been disjointed since the subs have come on. I don’t know why he’s made them. If anything, it looks like it could be a draw now.”
What did Unai Emery say after Aston Villa’s win over Lille?
After the fixture, the Villa boss accepted it as a “difficult” fixture against the Ligue 1 giants.
He told Birmingham Live: “Difficult match. We are ready to play another 90 minutes, we played the first 90 minutes and didn’t control the game like we wanted and we were defensively doing more work than we prepared before because we wanted to take control of the game. But with the respect we have for them, they showed it.”
It’s clear the clash against Lille was a step up from the round of 16 clash against Ajax. Paulo Fonesca’s side posed Villa problems and looked to expose the host’s extremely high line in behind, something Hendrie also highlighted.
“I’ve watched Villa so many times this season, and I can’t get my head around how to beat a high line. Today is the first time I’ve really seen it quite evident with the deep runs from midfield,” he added.
