Aston Villa captain John McGinn was full of praise for Youri Tielemans and Leon Bailey after the substitutes changed the game during Sunday’s 2-1 Premier League win at Tottenham Hotspur.
The last time Aston Villa were occupying a Champions League spot at this stage of the campaign, Martin O’Neill was in the dugout, shouting instructions at Ashley Young, James Milner, Stiliyan Petrov and Gabby Agbonlahor.
Flash forward 14 years and the Villa of John McGinn, Ollie Watkins, Pau Torres and Emiliano Martinez could yet go one step further than their claret-and-blue predecessors. Unai Emery looking to guide the Midland giants into the promised land for the very first time.
Villa overtook Tottenham into fourth on Sunday. Coming from behind in North London thanks to a Pau Torres header, a devilish Douglas Luiz assist, a Watkins winner and a couple of eye-catching performances off the bench from Tielemans and Bailey.
Aston Villa beat Tottenham Hotspur
“What a win,” McGinn tells Villa TV. “We deserved to be behind at half-time, I think. I don’t know if that’s the right thing to say analysing it. Second half, we had to be brave, we had to roll our sleeves up.
“The two subs coming on, Youri and Leon, were absolutely outstanding. Brave. So clever, Youri’s pass for Olli is outstanding. And it’s a great goal.”
Tielemans and Bailey were introduced at the interval for Matty Cash and Moussa Diaby. The former, a free signing from Leicester City over the summer, is slowly but surely rediscovering the form that made him one of Europe’s most highly-rated midfielders only a couple of seasons ago, that inch-perfect slide-rule assist a reminder of what a match-winner he can be.
Youri Tielemans on the way back
“I needed to make a decision to correct it,” Emery tells the Shropshire Star, explaining his half-time reshuffle. “Offensively as well, we weren’t attacking on the right like we were on the left.
Cash was a risk on a yellow card, and the solution was Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans, trying to get two players different (on the pitch).
“One did the passes and the other for the running. They did it.”
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