After complaining about his lack of game time at Aston Villa, few expected miracles from Youri Tielemans for Belgium, but those who did certainly didn’t get them against Azerbaijan.
The midfielder started what was expected to be a relatively straightforward game for his home country, and while they did win 1-0, the 26-year-old didn’t finish the game, coming off in the 66th minute.
That led to some more discontent in Belgium about his performance, or lack thereof, but Domenico Tedesco, speaking to the media on Monday, jumped to defend the Aston Villa player, relayed by DH.
Signed from Leicester City on a free, many expected Tielemans to be an integral part of Unai Emery’s plans this season.
However, the Spanish manager has preferred to keep last year’s successful midfield untouched for the most part, leaving the new signing on the bench more often than not.
DH also have a separate article looking at Tielemans’ form and what has gone wrong for him, and highlight one action in the Azerbaijan game that encapsulates everything.
They point to a moment when he could have sent Romelu Lukaku through on goal, and those were the kind of passes he always gave ‘with his eyes closed’.
This time? The ball went out for a throw-in.
