Aston Villa know Youri Tielemans' weaknesses, and Manchester United are exposing them

I was disappointed when Youri Tielemans left Aston Villa in the summer, although I think I've probably reached the point now where I can admit to taking a little bit of satisfaction from the fact that things haven't worked out particularly well for him at Manchester United so far.

That's not because I've got anything against Tielemans personally, quite the opposite in fact, because I thought he was an excellent player for Villa, conducted himself brilliantly during his time at the club and left without any of the nonsense that can sometimes accompany a high-profile departure.

However, I did question whether Manchester United were signing a player who would be quite as effective for them as he had been for us, because I think there's a strong argument that Unai Emery was getting absolutely everything possible out of Tielemans during his time at Villa Park.

On our latest 1874 preview, Dave Reed admitted that he was gutted when Tielemans left and initially thought Manchester United had made an excellent signing, particularly given his experience and the price they paid for him. Dave did have some reservations about the length of his contract, but felt that if United played in a way that suited the players at their disposal, Tielemans could be a really important addition.

The problem, as Dave explained, is that Manchester United aren't playing that way, and the football they're attempting to produce under Michael Carrick is leaving Tielemans in situations that Villa generally worked very hard to avoid.

We know that Tielemans doesn't particularly want to be defending large spaces, and I don't think anybody who watched him regularly at Villa would disagree with that assessment. He was excellent at receiving possession, controlling the tempo and finding passes that could open up an opposition defence, but there were limitations to his game that Emery understood and accounted for.

At Manchester United, those limitations are being exposed far more regularly because they're not particularly compact, their midfield can become stretched and the players in front of Tielemans aren't always providing the protection that he enjoyed at Villa.

Dave made an interesting observation during our discussion when he suggested that a midfield partnership of Tielemans and Kobbie Mainoo could actually work very well if they were playing for Aston Villa, because Emery would build the structure around their qualities rather than asking them to perform roles that don't necessarily suit them.

I think that's a fair point, and it also says quite a lot about the difference between the coaching at the two clubs at the moment.

I questioned whether Tielemans and Mainoo could work together when United signed him, and although I could see a potential partnership developing between Tielemans and Carlos Baleba, I still wasn't convinced there was an obvious combination that would give Manchester United the balance they needed.

We've also seen Tielemans used further forward, which I don't think particularly helps him, and the overall impression is of a player who hasn't been given anything like the same platform to perform that he enjoyed under Emery.

Dave was sympathetic towards Tielemans, particularly after he was left answering difficult questions about United's recruitment and the quality of their players following the controversy surrounding Lisandro Martínez. His argument was that Tielemans is clearly good enough to play for Manchester United, but that the club needs to start using him properly.

I agree with that, although I also think there's a wider point about what happens when players leave Aston Villa, because we're now seeing several footballers who have moved on from Emery's team and it will be interesting to see how many of them actually improve upon the level they reached while playing for him.

Morgan Rogers is an exceptional talent and somebody who could thrive in almost any environment, while Ezri Konsa has continued to perform well at Arsenal, but I do wonder whether Tielemans will ever play better football than he did during his final couple of seasons at Villa.

He might win trophies at Manchester United, and they've certainly demonstrated over recent years that they can pick up silverware even when things aren't going particularly well in the Premier League, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll become a better individual player.

For me, there's a very good chance that we've already seen the best version of Youri Tielemans, and that version was playing for Aston Villa under Unai Emery.

Looking ahead to Sunday, it will be interesting to see whether Tielemans even starts, particularly with United having a few different options in midfield, but if he does, Villa should have a pretty good understanding of how to make life difficult for him.

We know exactly what he's good at, but we also know the situations he doesn't particularly enjoy, and if Villa can move the ball through midfield quickly, draw United out of their shape and attack the spaces that open up, there's an opportunity to exploit some of the weaknesses that Emery was so effective at protecting.

It's not a case of Tielemans suddenly becoming a bad footballer because he's left Aston Villa, and I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually has a much better period at Manchester United than he's enjoying at the moment.

But I do think his situation demonstrates just how important the environment around a player can be, and how much credit Emery deserves for the performances he consistently managed to get out of him.

I'd rather Tielemans was still playing for Villa, because I know how good he can be, but now he's wearing a Manchester United shirt, I hope we spend Sunday afternoon making him uncomfortable in the areas of the pitch where we know he can be vulnerable.