Tyrone Mings slammed Aston Villa’s performance as “not good enough” as they slumped to a disappointing 1-0 defeat at Monaco.
The Villans missed the chance to book themselves a place in the Champions League knockout stages after suffering just their second defeat of the campaign through Wilfried Singo’s early header.
Villa lacked inspiration as they struggled to get into the game after that early setback and it proved not to be enough as they lost ground to their top eight rivals.
Speaking to TNT Sports, defender Mings said: “No excuses. I gave a bad ball that went into the corner, I didn’t defend the corner very well. We couldn’t get back into the game and we couldn’t take the chances we had. These are the fine margins of football.
“We weren’t good enough.
“We’ll definitely take the positives that came out of the game, but we have to be better. We must try to stay balanced and be the same if we were winning when we are losing. We need a consistent attitude and attitude.
“It wasn’t a good night, there’s nobody here who feels good about it – the fans have traveled a long way. We will go again.
“In the big moments we came out on the wrong side of them.”
“Football is a very simple game and we weren’t good enough.”
An honest assessment of Aston Villa’s performance in Monaco from Tyrone Mings.
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— Soccer on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 21, 2025
Emery: “Bringing Duran was a mistake”
Manager Unai Emery was more positive about his side’s performance but admitted they failed to live up to their previous performances in the competition, which include wins over Young Boys, Bayern Munich, Bologna and RB Leipzig.
The Spanish coach said: “I think we played 70 minutes as I wanted. The opponent of course also has a gameplan. They were good in transition.
“We created three or four good scoring chances. Of course if we want to be at this level we have to take the opportunities we had. But still I was more or less positive.”
Emery made the rare move of bringing on John Duran alongside fellow striker Ollie Watkins in the second half as Villa chased the game and admitted he had lost a place in the game since then.
He added: “In the last 20-25 minutes we played with two strikers and we were not as threatening as in the first 70 minutes.
“The last 20 minutes we played with two strikers and with two strikers we are not organized with the positioning as 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 out well.
“I made a mistake when I decided to play with two strikers. Up until that moment we pretty much controlled the game.”
One positive from the night in Monte Carlo was the emergence of Emiliano Buendia, who was arguably Villa’s best source of attacking threat after creating good chances for Watkins, Leon Bailey and Morgan Rogers.
Of the Argentine, who has returned from a long-term injury this season, he added: “I was particularly happy with Emi Buendia today. He has the option to leave but we needed him. We played fantastically with his ability, his mentality and his commitment to this team.
2025-01-22 00:13:00
