Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has now explained one bizarre decision he made in last night’s fourth-round FA Cup defeat against Chelsea.
After demolishing Sheffield United 5-0 on Saturday, Aston Villa were expected to kick on against Chelsea on Wednesday night and hand the Blues further misery.
Unfortunately, the Villans were beaten 3-1 and weren’t at the races for most of the evening as the hosts failed to match the desire and intensity of the visitors.
There were many poor individual displays, as midfielder Douglas Luiz was slammed for his ‘weak’ showing while centre-back Diego Carlos frustrated fans with his bitterly poor performance.
From failing to throw many punches in attack to losing the engine room battle, many called for Unai Emery to make changes in the contest.
After all, he did have the likes of Nicolo Zaniolo, Moussa Diaby and Jacob Ramsey to call upon from the bench to potentially add some attacking vigour.
Emery, though, was questioned as to why he left it until the 72nd minute to introduce Ramsey and Diaby before bringing on Tim Iroegbunam and Zaniolo 15 minutes later.
The Spaniard has now explained the reasoning behind this decision.
Why did Unai Emery leave it late to make substitutions?
Speaking in his post-match interview, Emery said: “I decided to keep the same players until the minute I changed because I have to give them confidence and minutes playing together. The subs made a good impact.”
It’s a difficult situation that Emery found himself in, as while calls to substitute some of his players were understandable, he picked that starting XI for a reason, and they just didn’t perform for him on the night.
Diaby, who has been criticised for his performances in recent weeks, did inject a fresh impetus onto proceedings and scored with a beautifully curled effort into the bottom right corner.
He was a rare positive from the bench as Villa lost their fifth successive FA Cup match at Villa Park, and must now turn their attention to their fixture against Manchester United on Sunday.
The Villans are well within the mix to qualify for the Champions League and while their home form has dipped in recent weeks having lost their last two matches, the players will surely be up for the match against United.
It’s an opportunity for Emery’s players to redeem themselves as they embark on a run that they hope will see them finish in the top four.
