Tyrone Mings branded Aston Villa’s performance “not good enough” as they suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Monaco.
The Villans missed the chance to secure a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League after suffering only their second defeat of the season thanks to Wilfried Singo’s early header.
Villa lacked inspiration as they struggled to get into the game after that early setback and that proved not to be enough as they lost ground to their top eight rivals.
Speaking to TNT Sports, defender Mings said: “No excuses. I took a bad ball to the corner and didn’t defend the corner very well. We couldn’t get back into the game and couldn’t take advantage of our chances. These are the fine boundaries of football.
“We just weren’t good enough.
“We will certainly take the positives from the game, but we have to get better. We have to try to stay balanced and be the same when we win even when we lose. We need a unified mood and attitude.
“It wasn’t a good evening, there’s no one here who feels good about it – the fans traveled a long way. We will come back.
“In the big moments we were on the wrong side.”
“Football is a very simple game and we weren’t good enough.”
An honest assessment of Aston Villa’s performance in Monaco by Tyrone Mings.
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Coach Unai Emery was more positive about his team’s performance, but admitted they were unable to match their previous performances in the competition, which included wins against Young Boys, Bayern Munich, Bologna and RB Leipzig.
The Spanish coach said: “I think we played the way I wanted for 70 minutes. Of course, the opponent also has a game plan. They were good in the transition.
“We created three or four good chances to score. If we want to reach this level, we obviously have to take advantage of the chances we had. But still I was more or less positive.”
Emery made the rare move of bringing on Jhon Duran alongside fellow striker Ollie Watkins in the second half as Villa watched the game and admitted they had lost their grip on the game from that moment on.
He added: “The last 20 to 25 minutes we played with two strikers and we weren’t as threatening as we were in the first 70 minutes.
“For the last 20 minutes we played with two strikers and with two strikers we are not as positioned as I would like.
“We have two good strikers. Playing with two strikers is my challenge. Both are very good players, but things didn’t work out well today.
“I made a mistake when I decided to play with two strikers. Until that moment we were more or less in control of the game.”
A positive aspect of the evening in Monte Carlo was the performance of Emiliano Buendia, who was undoubtedly Villa’s best source of attack after providing good opportunities for Watkins, Leon Bailey and Morgan Rogers.
Speaking about the Argentine returning from a long-term injury this season, he added: “I was particularly happy with Emi Buendia today. He has the opportunity to leave, but we needed him. We played fantastically with his qualities, his mentality and his commitment to this squad.
