Key events
9 min Rogers carries into the Vila half and is tugged back; the Lille players who’ve been fasting take the opportunity to eat and drink. Ramadan Karim, lads – and to anyone else celebrating.
8 min Villa emerge into the game, playing a little higher up the pitch, only for Luiz to clatter Haraldsson – “Someone you have to get in and around,” reckons Keown, without quite explaining what that entails.
7 min Villa have yet to venture out of their own half, sitting back as Lille probe. And as I type, Sancho is caught in possession – I may just stick those words on my clipboard – but the ball runs back to Pau, who gets rid.
5 min And what a mullet. Understated, but oh so bouncy.
4 min ““Incidentally – and pedantically – that’s the 83-85 kit,” says Allan Castle. “Keown arrived in 86. But your point stands. It’s a banger!”
Yes, I was just thinking that – he wore the Mita kit with the horizontal stripes, also good though less so and a picture of which I couldn’t find.
2 min When the sides last met, Martinez got involved with the home fans, so there’s plenty of jeering as he clears. The ground isn’t full or even close to it, but the noise isn’t bad at all – even if it’s the more drony ultra-style of the same song over and over again.
1 min Mbemba flights a speculative pass down the right and Lille mass to contest the second ball, but eventually the ball goes behind for Villa goalkick.
1 min Away we go!
Lille have got the old tifo going, a big banner of a woman with a sword, above the words “French never die”. Surely they can come up with a better slogan than that.
I’ve actually been to Lille away twice, but never been to a game in Lille. The first time, the famous Fergie Out one in 2005, was in Paris, and the second, the famous Lille flouncing off the pitch and teargas game in 2007, was in Lens. Tonight, though, they’re at home.
…and here they come!
Our teams are tunnelled…
I actually think Forest have a chance of doing something in this competition – any side with a Sangare/Anderson/Gibbs-White midfield can be a difficult night for anyone. Otherwise, though, I’m looking at the Stuttgart v Porto tie, though Roma, who visit Bologna in the other early game, are also worth paying attention to.
“These guys will be seeing a big web traffic spike,” notes my colleague Luke McLaughlin. “Emery won’t want a wooden performance.”
Nor a big old log cabin of one, says 11 -year-old 47-year-old me.
Emery, of course, is a Europa League specialist, having won it four times – thrice with Sevilla and once with Villarreal – and this is a proper chance to do so again. In form, Villa might well be the best side in this competition – as they should be, given the money they’ve spent – and it’s his job to get them ready to deliver the best version of themselves now it’s getting tight.
Emery laughs that he doesn’t yet know if the week off has been beneficial, but they needed time to recover confidence and this is a huge test to see if Villa can get their form back.
The team have been really good in this competition so far, but they know what a hard game it is having lost in Lille two years ago. The atmosphere will be hot but his team feel they can keep their structure and good things they do from now until the end of the season.
Otherwise, he says McGinn is important in the dressing room as well as on the pitch and should be able to play some minutes tonight.
As for Lille, they’ll use Giroud as a pivot, playing into him with Perrin and Haraldsson looking to run by seeking flicks and flick-ons. They’ll know there’s often space in behind Digne, so will, I’m sure target that area, with André making third-man runs into the box.
So where is the game? Well, Villa will look to get Rogers on the ball, coming inside off the left. He won’t keep the width in attack, which’ll be supplied by Lucas Digne; rather, he’ll wander about in the inside-left half-space looking to get shots off. Otherwise, Buendia will slip balls down the sides of the centre-backs for Ollie Watkins, while Amadou Onana and Douglas Luiz look to bottle up the middle of the pitch in front of the defence.
Tangentially, the kit Keown wore when he started at Villa is an absolute jazzer.
Martin Keown thinks Villa are going to win. More news as I get it.
Also going on:
Otherwise, i’d not be at all surprised to see Giroud stick himself on Pau Torres, who is a lovely passer but doesn’t have much in the way of speed or strength; I guess he’s in to build attacks, but Tyrone Mings would be a better match-up, especially away from home.
I don’t know, I’d not be playing Jadon Sancho wide right in a 4-4-2, ever – he doesn’t have the pace, power or desire to go on the outside, nor is he someone upon who I’d rely to get back. That said, though Uefa think Villa are playing that formation, TNT have gone for a 4-2-3-1, which is also feasible given the personnel.
As for Villa, headline news is that John McGinn is back but on the bench; otherwise there are four changes to the side spanked by Chelsea with Matty Cash, Tyrone Mings, Ian Maatsen and Leon Bailey left out; Lucas Digne, Pau Torres, Lamare Bogarde and Jadon Sancho come in.
I can’t lie, I’m disappointed we’ll not get to see Ayyoub Bouaddi from the start – I’ve heard great things – and he’s one of three changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Lorient on Sunday. His spot in midfield goes to Ngal’Ayel Mukau while, at the back, Chancel Mbemba replaces Nathan Ngoy and up front, Mathias Fernande-Pardo drops out with young Olivier Giroud coming in.
Teams!
Lille (4-3-3): Ozer; Santos, Mbemba, Mandi, Perroud; Mukou, Andre, Bentaleb; Perrin, Giroud, Haraldsson. Subs: Bodart, Lanssade, Ngoy, Alexsandro, Fernandez-Pardo, Miller, Edjouma, Verdonk, Correia, Bouaddi, Diaoune, Boussadia.
Aston Villa (4-4-2): Martinez; Bogarde, Konsa, Pau, Digne; Sancho, Luiz, Onana, Rogers; Buendia, Watkins. Subs: Bizot, Wright, Mings, Lindelof, Maatsen, Garcia, McGinn, Elliott, Bailey, Abraham.
Referee: José María Sánchez (Spain)
Preamble
Football is weird and so are people – that’s one reason we’re all here. But even by the standard, Aston Villa are in the midst of a weird season, still with plenty of scope for epochal glory and abject failure.
They opened the season poorly, failing to win in their first six games, but from there, Unai Emery’s men went on a run of 17 from 19, playing not that well, before the Ghost of xG past began its haunting; the following 15 fixtures yielded just six victories and they arrive at this one having lost three and drawn one of their last four. As such, the Champions League spot that looked almost certain to be theirs is now in serious jeopardy, while tonight’s tie, against the sixth-best team in Ligue 1, looks a lot more losable that would previously have been the case.
It’s not difficult to grasp why: any team would miss players as good as Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans, never mind at the same time, with Matt E. Cash freshly absent. But, at the same time, this doesn’t explain why they’ve scored nine goals fewer than the next-worst in the Premier League top six, while the home tousing they took from Chelsea last time out highlighted their vulnerability to channel-balls in behind, the issue systemic rather than one of personnel.
However, club captain John McGinn is fit again, his return bringing an uplift as much mental as technical, and with attackers as talented as Morgan Rogers and Emi Buendía in their XI, they’re always a game away from clicking. They know that, in form, they’ve a serious shot at immortality but, out of it, only regret and shame await. And because football and people are weird, those of us without skin in the game now get to enjoy watching them squirm.
Kick-off: 5.45pm GMT
