Amidst reports of ex-Benfica manager Bruno Lage replacing Dean Smith at Aston Villa, here is an assessment of Lage’s time at Benfica, his tactical philosophy, and how he might implement his system at Aston Villa in the Premier League next season. #AVFC

In Bruno Lage’s Benfica tenure he took charge of 48 league games – winning 38 and losing just 5 at 2.48 points per game. This included a run of 55 points from just 19 games to win the league by 2 points after being written off pre-Lage.

The side scored 131 goals in the 48 league games, conceding just 39 as Benfica did not falter for a moment until a string of draws and two disappointing losses lead to Lage resigning as manager of Benfica.

In Lage’s time at Benfica he utilised an attacking 4-4-2 system including attacking full backs, a deep-lying playmaker to distribute quickly to the wings, two centre forwards – with one playing off the other – and high-output wingers.

Bruno Lage gave a large amount of responsibility to Brazilian midfielder Gabriel in the midfield 2 as a deep-lying playmaker instructed to receive the ball and quickly distribute to the wide areas and carry the ball through the midfield.

Gabriel’s role could be adapted to both Douglas Luiz and John McGinn who could form a 2 man midfield with a high defensive output and ability to regularly feed the wingers. The role of Andreas Samaris as Gabriel’s partner was not too different, either.

Another key role of the midfielders in Lage’s time at Benfica was to counter-press the opposition after losing possession. Winning the ball as the opposition looked to counter allowed Benfica to score a number of goals throughout Lage’s stay.

While Benfica’s counter-pressing did at yield tremendous attacking results, towards the back end of Lages system Benfica did become vulnerable on the counter as they pulled themselves out of position at times leading to an increase in goals conceded.

Lage’s Benfica were certainly attack minded and that was best shown in the roles of their full backs as Aléx Grimaldo and André Almedia picked up 12 and 11 assists respectively in the 2018/19 season – the 3rd and 4th most in Portugal.

The full backs would regularly receive the ball from Gabriel in space to cross from. Such a role would massively benefit Matt Targett, who was only bettered by Andrew Robertson and Lucas Digne as the 3rd most creative (xAssists per 90) left back in the Premier League this season.

The stand-out player in Lage’s successful 2018/19 side, however, was Joao Felix. Felix was given his first chance in the first team by Bruno Lage who thrust him into the first team with great success. Felix was sold to Atletico Madrid last summer for £113 million.

Felix’s role – performed this season by Chiquinho – was to drop away from the front 2 and into a #10 position to receive the ball, create space, and create opportunities for the wingers and strike partner. This role would likely require a signing to fill.

As for the partner, however, Wesley Moraes could finally be used in his preferred front 2 and be supplied with the ball at his feet. While Wesley had a disappointing season, I believe he would benefit the most of anyone from Lage’s football.

Lage’s wingers – Pizzi and Rafa – were relied on to score goals and provide assists. For me, signings either side would be necessary to bring in quick wingers with experience contributing a large number of goals. This may be pricey, but necessary.

Defensively Benfica rarely had to defend deep as Lage encouraged a pressing style of defence, but could fall into a deeper 4-4-2 when needed. In the first 17 games of the 2019/20 season they kept 12 clean sheets – conceding just 6 times.

In the back end of Lage’s stay, however, Benfica leaked more goals than they would have liked, being overrun in the midfield and forced into wide areas while on the ball and left too easy to exploit on the counter.

Lage also faced criticism for his poor game management and use of substitutions as Lage would at times ‘panic’ in games and simply throw on more centre forwards and compromising Benfica’s patient style.

Although Lage’s system would be easy to implement on the current squad while only requiring a few premium additions, Lage’s Villa would naturally have to be more defensive minded than Benfica were as a weaker side in a tougher league.

On the whole, I believe that Lage would be a fantastic appointment for Villa to push on to the next level. Lage cold bring the same attacking, pressing football that I had hoped for under Schmidt and is proven at a good level, winning the 2019 league title.

Despite Smith keeping us up, Villa were less than impressive for the most part of this season. Sacking Smith would be harsh, yes, but Lage would represent serious ambition from the board for Villa to improve.

If Smith were to be sacked, would you be happy with Bruno Lage? #AVFC

Note: While I am aware of reports from England that Smith will keep him job, I won't rule out Portuguese reports just yet and as Lage is such a talking point right now I felt this thread would be necessary anyway.