Lille vs Villa and the Europa League Big Picture
Can Emery’s Villa rediscover their best form in France, and does the Europa League now represent their most realistic route back to the Champions League?
Thursday’s Europa League last sixteen first leg against Lille arrives at the most pressured moment of Aston Villa’s season. Five points from the last six league games. Seventeenth in the form table. A trip to Old Trafford four days later. A squad still missing three of its most influential midfielders.
In the latest episode of the My Old Man Said podcast, the show takes a full look at what the Lille tie means beyond the scoreline and why getting through it matters as much for the season’s momentum as it does for European ambition.
The Europa League as Jump Start
The show draws a direct comparison with October’s win over Bologna at Villa Park, a scruffy hard-fought result against a team Villa had no business beating on the form at the time, which nonetheless triggered an eleven-game winning run. Villa don’t just need to get through Lille. They need Lille to do what Bologna did.
With Villa 3/1 favourites to win the tournament and Emery’s record in the Europa League unmatched with four trophies, the route to Istanbul is viable. The draw offers no easy passage from here, however. Roma, Porto, Stuttgart and a Nottingham Forest side nobody is taking seriously enough all await on Villa’s side of the bracket.
The Lille Assessment
Lille are not the side Villa faced in that Conference League quarter-final two seasons ago. They’ve lost their goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier, Jonathan David and Leny Yoro since then. Currently sixth in Ligue 1 with unconvincing home form, their Europa League attendances this season suggest even their own supporters aren’t fully invested, but we look at where the threat may come.
The Selection Dilemma
With Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, Emery faces a genuine rotation question. The show looks at what that rotation may look like across the two games and where Emery’s priorities may lie.
The Tammy Abraham Situation
The show also tackles the Tammy Abraham situation head on, and why his supporters’ player of the month award for February says something uncomfortable about how Emery is currently operating.
The Europa League Tournament Threats
We also zoom out to take a look at the Europa League as a whole and look at the main threats to Villa’s aim of lifting the trophy and providing Emery with his fifth title.
Three Points+
Elsewhere, we look at KSI’s foray into football at Dagenham and Redbridge, Filipe Luís’s remarkable sacking at Flamengo, Lincoln City’s rise in League One, Villa’s Youth teams exploits, and the difficulties Grok and AI are causing in football social media space.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Credits:
David Michael – @myoldmansaid
Chris Budd – @BUDD_music
Phillip Shaw – @prsgame
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