Aston Villa suffered a horrendous defeat at Villa Park in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night, as Everton rewrote their fortune in the Midlands this season with a 2-1 victory.
Unai Emery’s side were dealt their second cup defeat in the past six days, with their Europa Conference League opener ending in a similar fashion, as Legia Warsaw were 3-2 winners last Thursday.
A goal in the opening 15 minutes of play for the visitors seemed to set the tone of the match, as the hosts failed to cause Sean Dyche’s squad any problems, with their second goal coming just five minutes after the interval.
The Villans did get one back through Boubacar Kamara, however it wasn’t enough to get the win as the Midlands giants crashed out of the cup in the third round.
How did Aston Villa play against Everton?
In an opening 45 minutes of play that was described to be “calamitous” by Sky Sports commentator Gary Taphouse, Emery’s rotated side looked unrecognisable to the quality of the 11 that slayed Everton 4-0 just last month.
It was an evening of terrible individual performances for the hosts that accumulated a disastrous and disconnected team display, with the squad statistics telling a different story to what was seen on the pitch.
Villa held 68% of possession, which was inconclusive as the Blues recorded four big chances to the Villans’ zero, telling of just how dominant Everton were in the final third, and how anonymous the home side were, via Sofascore.
Changes were made to the usual XI, which naturally caused problems for the cohesion of the side, with the changes in midfield proving costly and reinforcing just how influential the presence of Douglas Luiz and Kamara is in the favoured lineup.
Leander Dendoncker and Youri Tielemans were added to the fold, and were ironically two of the poorest players on the pitch, as highlighted by Dendoncker’s Sofascore match rating of 6.4.
The former Wolves midfielder was dubbed an “unmitigated disaster” by members of the media during the game, as he failed to make an impact, leading to him being withdrawn at half-time.
The 28-year-old’s insignificant display was made to look better thanks to his countryman, as Tielemans was undeniably Villa’s worst performer on the night.
How did Youri Tielemans play against Everton?
Criticised for his “largely anonymous” career in the Midlands so far by podcaster Dan Rolinson, the former Leicester City whiz had an evening to forget against Everton, as he recorded an abysmal Sofascore match rating of 5.9.
The £150k-per-week dud was at fault for Everton’s second goal, misplacing a pass in midfield to allow Dominic Calvert-Lewin to race through the final third to finish, with such sequence of play branded as “sloppy” by journalist John Townley.
Aside from his match-defining error, the Belgian won just two out of his nine attempted ground duels and lost possession 11 times, leaving WhoScored’s Martin Lawrence “amazed” that he survived the half-time changes.
The 26-year-old has already hit out publicly at Emery for his “not pleasant” start to life at Villa due to limited game time, however after last night’s performance, the former Anderlecht sensation has not helped his cause.