Tim Sherwood praised Youri Tielemans for his performance from the bench following Aston Villa’s 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
For most of the first half, Unai Emery’s side were all over the shop. 1-0 down and it could and probably should have been three by the time Aston Villa equalised – the club’s official social media account mocked Spurs after the game.
But Aston Villa punished Spurs with a brilliant Pau Torres header at the stroke of half-time following an outstanding ball from Douglas Luiz.
At the break, Unai Emery made several changes, including bringing on Youri Tielemans, who supplied the assist for Ollie Watkins’ winner, and Sherwood spoke about how he can’t even get into the XI, as he told Premier League Productions (26/11/23 at 4:10 pm).
In recent matches, the 26-year-old has started for Villa, including in Europe, and winning several Man of the Match awards, but Unai Mery opted to bench him today.
But as Tim Sherwood mentioned, the ‘classy’ midfielder made ‘all the difference’ to push Villa into the Champions League places.
Youri Tielemans against Tottenham
“The better squad won that game today,” said Sherwood. “That is one for the manager and the bench.
“That man Tielemans was all the difference – he picks the right pass at the right time, all of the time.
“Here he takes a touch (for the assist). That looks simple, but the right weight of pass into Ollie, then he finishes it brilliantly.
“But just the control and the class of Tielemans. That’s a player who can’t get a start in this side. He has to come off the bench to affect it. He comes off the bench with the correct attitude.”
Villa move into fourth
What a win. And what a response. Sometimes it’s not about the performance, but how you respond when you are down.
And the team did just that against Spurs today. Our away performances haven’t been great.
But this is one of the results of the season because of how we responded to going 1-0 down.
Yes, we rode our luck. But three points are three points. Sitting in the Champions League places. And onto Europe next.
