Aston Villa return to action on Thursday night in the Europa Conference League, giving one of Unai Emery’s stars the opportunity to redeem himself after making one continual error against Brentford.
The scene is set for Villa Park to play host to the first leg of the Europa Conference League quarter-final, as Aston Villa welcome LOSC Lille to the Midlands.
It’s poised to be a thriller between the two exciting sides, with Lille arriving with high confidence and still unbeaten in the Conference League.
The French side sit fourth in Ligue 1 and will pose a significant challenge to the Villans, who have more than enough to give it back to Paulo Fonseca’s squad.
That being said, Villa themselves will want to bolster their performance levels ahead of the first leg, as Unai Emery’s side continue to weather a purple patch of form, having won just one of their previous five in the Premier League.
The most recent fixture was a particularly frustrating one for the Villans, who threw away a 2-0 lead to draw 3-3 with Brentford, with one player advised to fix one element of his game to avoid history repeating itself.
Leon Bailey has been urged to fix one element of his game before Lille battle
Just as Villa looked to be cruising against the Bees, the hosts crumbled as Brentford applied the pressure for nine crucial minutes, scoring three times.
One traceable weakness from the nine minutes of madness was that all of Brentford’s goals stemmed from the left side, seeing Ezri Konsa exposed.
All of the blame can’t go on the Englishman, who was not responsible for the chances being converted into goals however, it wasn’t only the central defenders that were critiqued for their part.
Speaking on the 1874 podcast, journalist Gregg Evans criticised Leon Bailey for not helping out defensively at a time of need.
“Bailey was just not giving Konsa enough protection down the right side and they just lacked a defensive midfielder at that point as well.”
Playing on the right flank doesn’t just warrant exciting and explosive play in the wide channels, but in a 4-4-2 system, means an effort to track back is also expected.
Against Brentford, the Jamaican switched off when it came to helping Konsa limit the threat of Sergio Reguilon, something that he must look to fix against Lille.
Leon Bailey must be more aware defensively against Lille
With Matty Cash out injured, it’s almost certainly going to be Konsa who starts on the right side of defence again, giving Bailey the opportunity to redeem himself to his teammate.
More attentive cover must be provided by the £25m winger, who is expected to face the force of Lille’s dynamic attack on Thursday, with the likely front three expected to be Remy Cabella, Edon Zhegrova and Jonathon David.
Lille’s front three have made a combined figure of 57 goal contributions in all competitions this season, telling of how wary the Villans will have to be.
Bailey will have a crucial part to play in the tie, with everyone aware of his stellar attacking qualities, with the hope that the Jamaica international can do more when his side aren’t in possession.
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