Unai Emery will see his Aston Villa international stars start to return to Bodymoor Heath over the next few days as focus turns to Everton on Saturday.
Emi Martinez and Jhon Duran face each other on Tuesday night in Buenos Aires so will likely be the latest of Aston Villa‘s absent players to return, whilst Ezri Konsa will hope to feature for England against Finland at Wembley.
Ollie Watkins withdrew from Lee Carsley’s first England squad as interim manager, with the striker staying at Villa to manage his fitness after no pre-season and a difficult start to the new campaign on an individual level.
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Unai Emery will likely have watched on with interest on Monday night as three of his players did battle in the Nations League clash between France and Belgium.
Belgian media critical of Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans vs France
Lucas Digne lined up for France after his fine start to the season saw him earn his first international call-up for two years, whilst Villa’s midfield pair of Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans continued their partnership for Belgium.
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It was Digne who was victorious in Lyon, as goals from Randal Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembele saw France win 2-0.
Digne was impressive, but the displays of Onana and Tielemans left Belgian media unimpressed.
RTBF Actus rated both players a four out of ten, commenting on Onana: “Associated once again with Tielemans, Amadou Onana started the match well before fading.
“He only touched 12 balls in 60 minutes. Lots of inaccuracies. The Villa duo did not manage the infiltrations of the French midfielders well.”
Whilst about Tielemans they added: “Youri Tielemans stood out with a nice opening for Openda at the start of the match. Villa’s two midfielders were good against Israel, against France they were not up to par.”
Nieuwsblad were equally disappointed with that they saw from the Villa duo, scoring both a five out of ten, explaining that Onana “failed to stop French infiltrations from midfield. In addition, it was very unclean during the build-up a few times”, before adding that the 23-year-old “can be better”.
They were less critical of Tielemans, saying: “Started well, was one of the crucial pawns in the high pressure, but faded with the team.”
Onana and Tielemans will be crucial to Aston Villa against Everton
Despite a difficult evening against France on Monday night, another game together at the heart of the midfield can’t be a bad thing for Onana and Tielemans.
The two players have flourished for Villa at the start of the campaign, with their relationship from Belgium undoubtedly a factor in Onana settling so quickly after his £50 million summer move.
Next up for Villa is Saturday evening’s home match against Everton and Onana will be determined to continue his fine start to life under Emery against his former club.
Onana and Tielemans have started all three games together so far this season and have been the driving force behind Villa’s decent start to the new campaign, with that expected to continue against bottom-club Everton.
