Swissquote match analysis: Aston Villa 2-1 Lille

Aston Villa secured a 2-1 home victory against a competitive Lille side in the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final on Thursday.

In this article brought to you by Swissquote, the UEFA technical observer Markus Allbäck – working together with UEFA's analysis unit – examines how both teams attacked with guile and creativity in central areas in a game where all three goals came from clever set pieces.

Villa's central area success

"Aston Villa clearly knew that putting the ball central and deep was going to be a key factor for them to attack," said Allbäck. Despite Lille dominating possession in the first half (61%), Villa posed a big threat from central areas in build-up play.

The first video showcases the home team's intent, with three first-half attacks involving penetrative forward passes into the centre-circle before exploiting space out wide to enter the final third. Allbäck noted the impact of 21-year-old Morgan Rogers – nominally a wide attacker in a 4-3-3 set-up – who drifted inside to vacate space for the full-back and former Lille player Lucas Digne to attack. The effectiveness is clear in clip one, which also shows intelligent movement from Villa's opening goalscorer, Ollie Watkins, dropping deeper to advance play into wide areas.

The second clip highlights the clever midfield movement by Villa captain and player of match, John McGinn. The Scotland international draws Lille's Nabil Bentaleb out wide to vacate space for Watkins to receive and turn. Clip three shows another example of the potency of Rogers and Watkins combining in central areas to penetrate.

Villa play through pressure

At the start of the second half, Villa assumed more control in possession. Clip one in the second video highlights the cat-and-mouse nature of the game at this stage, with Villa seeking to build patiently against what Allbäck called Lille's "more aggressive pressing approach towards the player on the ball". Villa's structure in deep build-up play is clearly evident. Utilising the excellence in possession of the FIFA World Cup-winning Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, Villa players take up good angles and distances to stretch the play and bypass Lille's dynamic high-pressing front four. Allbäck noted the versatility of Villa's striker here: "Watkins was always willing to stretch the defence and pull into wide areas. This shows a different aspect of his flexible role."

The second clip illustrates the contrasting approaches on either side of the pitch by Villa. Whereas Rogers often vacated the left wing, Leon Bailey clings to the touchline on the right (as also seen in clip one) as Villa probe. At the point Bailey receives a forward pass from Ezri Konsa, Villa's strategy has attracted seven opponents to the right vertical half of the pitch. "From this position they can create the switch by McGinn to exploit the width through Digne and progress to the final third," explained Allbäck. "It was the opposite of theme one. In this case, they played wide to go through or over the Lille press horizontally." Just three minutes later, Villa's fluid and creative attacking approach yielded another corner (one of seven in total against Lille's three), resulting in the crucial second goal for Unai Emery's side.

Haraldsson's role for Lille

"We showed ambition," said Paulo Fonseca, the Lille coach, who declared himself "satisfied with the courage" showed by his players. No one exemplified this boldness more than the 20-year-old attacking midfielder Hákon Arnar Haraldsson. Up against the former European Cup winners in Lille's first-ever appearance in a quarter-final of a European competition, Haraldsson excelled. "He was Lille's best player, constantly on the move, good on the ball, threatening a lot in high areas," concluded Allbäck. "And if he didn't get the ball, he dropped deeper and controlled the game at times."

The third video offers a display of the young Iceland international's mobility and game intelligence, which allowed Lille to flit between a 4-2-3-1 system and a bold and offensive 4-2-4 set-up with the wingers pushing high and wide. In all three clips, Haraldsson is always poised to receive on the half-turn and exploit pockets of space by running in behind Youri Tielemans, one of Villa's two holding midfielders.

In the first clip, Haraldsson occupies three Villa players with clever positioning in the build-up before receiving wide and finding winger Gabriel Gudmundsson driving towards goal in a classic outside-to-in run. Gudmundsson, the 24-year-old Sweden international, also caught the UEFA technical observer's eye. "On the left, he [Gudmundsson] was a constant threat," noted Allbäck. "He's really explosive player with a very good left foot."

In clips two and three, we see Villa's Martínez deny defender Bafodé Diakité and Jonathan David after both were put through on goal by Haraldsson's astute forward passes.

Diakité's 84th-minute header from a corner finally gained a reward for Lille's endeavours, leaving the tie open after a fascinating first-leg encounter described accurately by the Villa coach as "a tight result and a tight match".