Aston Villa announced themselves in the Champions League by outclassing Young Boys 3-0 in Bern on Tuesday.
Before a ball was kicked, fans would have accepted and taken a simple 1-0 win, to get the ball rolling and three points on the board.
But Unai Emery’s side put on a show against Young Boys, with three goals scored and the first clean sheet of the new season.
There were a lot of positives to take for Aston Villa, from Youri Tielemans’ Man of the Match display to Morgan Rogers running rings around everyone.
But there was one negative and Ally McCoist was left baffled by what he was seeing as he was sat in the gantry in the Swiss capital.
Emery didn’t make any changes to his XI from the Everton win, with Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres continuing their partnership at the heart of the defence.
But, at the half-time break, Lamare Bogarde was subbed off and Diego Carlos came on for his first minutes of the campaign.
At 2-0, and as the Swiss champions were trying to put pressure on Aston Villa, Carlos needlessly gifted the ball straight to the opposition on the edge of his own box.
Emi Martinez was forced into a save and the ball was cleared, but McCoist couldn’t quite understand what Carlos was doing because he nearly cost his team a goal, as he told TNT Sports (17/09/24 at 7:20 pm).
Diego Carlos’ mistake
‘What is Carlos thinking about?” screamed a baffled McCoist. “What is he thinking about?”
“When you get yourself in a position like this, don’t make the mistake to cost yourself, and they almost did it there,” added lead commentator Darren Fletcher.
McCoist then stated: “Well, I have just said that it has been so comfortable. They have absolutely cruised this second half and they saw how they got their own second goal from a mistake from the centre-back, so why would you take a chance there.”
Diego Carlos’ Aston Villa future
There was talk of Carlos possibly leaving Villa this summer, but it seems as though the club didn’t get the money they wanted.
Emery hardly used the 31-year-old towards the back end of pre-season and he only earned his first set of minutes against Young Boys.
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It’s clear that the Villa boss would prefer to move the hard-hitting Brazilian on and don’t be surprised if that happens in January.
Added with Tyrone Mings, who is returning from a long-term injury, Villa have two centre-backs who are 30+ and that isn’t healthy.
