Shan dissects Youth League victory

Jimmy Shan gave his reaction as his Aston Villa side picked up their first points of the UEFA Youth League campaign on Wednesday.

Villa’s Under-19s side defeated Fenerbahçe 2-1 at Bodymoor Heath, thanks to goals in each half from in-form Daniel Adediran and substitute Erin Orebowale.

And, while he was pleased to have bagged a first league phase win in the competition, Shan felt there was still plenty of work to be done by his side.

Villa’s Under-21 Head Coach said: “Delighted we got three points on the board. I spoke to the boys about this being a knockout competition.

“We need to qualify out of the group, and hopefully we can look back in three or four games’ time and recognise that it wasn’t a great performance, but we got three points.

“We’ve not played for three weeks, and I think it showed in our performance.

“We had enough time to piece together a gameplan, and throughout moments, we exploited it really well.

“There was a little bit of a subtle change in our shape, more so defensively, on how we pressed and how we regrouped.

“I thought there were some good moments of it, but nowhere near the level of quality that we would demand and expect from our group of players.”

Shan elaborated further on what he felt his players executed well, and what he felt they could have done better, before looking ahead to Saturday’s trip to Burnley and next week’s return to Youth League action against Viking.

“I thought we could have been three or four goals up in the first half – we need to be a bit more ruthless in and around the final third,” he added.

“Both goals we scored were great – both via restarts. The first one was a well-worked routine, a well-rehearsed routine and great execution.

“At half-time we spoke about where we thought we could be a bit more aggressive on the press and a bit more consistent with it, gaining a bit more control.

“We were able to play through our midfield box more frequently, they didn’t recognise or see it well enough.

“It’s a big three points for us, but I’m a little bit disappointed if we’re being perfect honest, with the way that we performed today.

“As a coaching department and as a playing department, we know we can be better. We go again on Saturday in the PL2 against Burnley, and then back to the Youth League next Wednesday against Viking.”

Click below to watch highlights from the game.