Unai Emery reveals ‘mistake’ he made during Aston Villa’s Champions League defeat
Unai Emery claims he made a mistake playing Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran together during Aston Villa’s Champions League defeat to Monaco.
The Aston Villa boss was ruing his own decision-making as Villa suffered their second loss of the league phase with a 1-0 defeat on Tuesday night.
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Villa controlled the match in large parts but left Monaco empty-handedCredit: Getty
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The Watkins and Duran experiment didn’t workCredit: AFPWilfried Singo was the only one on the scoreboard at the Stade Louis II, scoring early in the eighth minute.
He headed home from close range after Emiliano Martinez saved Thilo Kehrer’s initial effort.
Speaking after the match, Emery said it was his mistake to play two strikers as his side chased an equaliser.
“We lost control of the game. We were very weak in the middle. I watched it not work well,” Emery said.
READ MORE FOOTBALLHe added: “I think we played 70 minutes like I want. The opponent of course have a game plan as well. They were good in transition.
“We created three or four good chances to score. Of course if we want to be at this level we have to take the chances we had. But despite that I was more or less positive.
“The last 20-25 minutes we were playing with two strikers and we were not threatening like the first 70 minutes.
“I was especially happy with Emi Buendia today. He has the option to leave but we needed him. We played fantastic with his qualities, his mentality and his commitment to this squad.
“The last 20 minutes we played with two strikers and with two strikers we are not being organised with the positioning like I want.
“We have two good strikers. Playing with two strikers is my challenge. Both are very good players but today it didn’t work well.
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Emery admitted that playing two strikers was a mistake during the gameCredit: AFP”I made a mistake when I decided to play with two strikers. Until that moment we were more or less controlling the game.”
Villa defender Tyrone Mings said that there were no excuses for the.
“No excuses. I gave a poor ball away leading to the corner, didn’t defend the corner very well. We couldn’t get back in the game and couldn’t take the chances we had. That is the fine margins of football,” Mings said.
“We were just not good enough. We will certainly take the positives that came from the game but we have to be better.
“It wasn’t a good night, there’s not a person here who feels good about that – the fans have travelled a long way. We will go again.
“In the big moments we came out on the wrong side of them.”
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Emery praised Buendia’s performance in the match despite the loss to MonacoCredit: Getty
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Villa are still in a spot that will take them to the last 16 automaticallyThe 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 should they be victorious.
Villa round off their Champions League league phase when they entertain Celtic on January 29.
Prince William stopped off to have a pint and chat football with Aston Villa fans in surprise visit to a Wetherspoons pub
