Unai Emery, that absolute muppet of a manager, has finally admitted he made a massive cock-up by playing Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran together during Aston Villa's embarrassing Champions League defeat to Monaco. About bloody time he owned up to his mistakes, innit?
Emery's tactics are a shambles
The Villa boss was left spewing about his own decision-making after watching his team get properly turned over, suffering their second loss of the league phase with a 1-0 defeat on Tuesday night. What an absolute shambles.
Villa controlled the match but still lost
Villa may have controlled the match for large parts, but they still left Monaco empty-handed. Just goes to show that having possession means jack sh*t if you can't put the ball in the back of the net. Emery needs to sort his strikers out sharpish or Villa are gonna keep dropping points.
Watkins and Duran experiment fails miserably
The Watkins and Duran experiment was a complete disaster. Emery thought he was being clever playing two up top, but it backfired spectacularly. The two of them were running around like headless chickens, getting in each other's way. No cohesion, no chemistry, no goals. Shocking stuff.
Monaco's early goal proves decisive
Wilfried Singo's early header in the eighth minute was enough to settle the tie. Martinez made a decent save from Kehrer's initial effort, but Singo was there to nod home the rebound from close range. Villa's defending from set-pieces was an absolute joke. Schoolboy errors.
Emery takes responsibility for Villa's tactical failings
After the match, Emery fronted up and admitted it was his mistake to play two strikers as his side chased an equaliser. He said they lost control of the game and were weak in the middle. Well, no sh*t Sherlock! Even Stevie Wonder could see that Villa were all over the shop.
Emery praised Emi Buendia's performance, saying he was "fantastic" and showed great commitment. That's all well and good, but one player isn't enough to win you a game of footy. The rest of the team needs to pull their finger out and start putting in a proper shift.
Mings laments Villa's poor performance
Villa defender Tyrone Mings said there were no excuses for the defeat. He gave a poor ball away leading to the corner and defended poorly for the goal. "We were just not good enough," Mings said. "We will certainly take the positives that came from the game but we have to be better."
He's bang on the money there. Villa need to shape up quickly or they're going to get found out at this level. The Champions League ain't no joke. You can't just rock up and expect to get a result. You have to earn it through blood, sweat and tears.
Villa still in the hunt for the last 16
The defeat leaves Villa in eighth place in the Champions League table, in the final spot for automatic qualification. However, Brest, Bayern Munich and AC Milan could all leapfrog Emery's side on Wednesday evening if they win their games. No room for slip-ups now.
Villa round off their Champions League league phase when they entertain Celtic on January 29. That's a massive game now. They need to turn up and put in a big performance, otherwise they could be staring down the barrel of the Europa League. And no one wants that, do they?
