Tyrone Mings branded Aston Villa’s performance “not good enough” as they fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Monaco.
The Villans missed the chance to secure a place in the Champions League last 16 after suffering only the second defeat of their campaign thanks to an early header from Wilfried Singo.
Villa lacked inspiration as they struggled to get into the game after that early setback and it proved insufficient as they lost ground on their top eight rivals.
Speaking to TNT Sports, defender Mings said: “No excuses. I gave away a bad ball leading to the corner, I didn’t defend the corner very well. We couldn’t get back into the game and we couldn’t take advantage of the chances we had. This is the fine line in football.
“We just weren’t good enough.
“We will definitely take the positives from the match but we have to be better. We must try to stay balanced and be the same if we win when we lose. We need a consistent mood and attitude.
“It wasn’t a good night, there’s no one here who feels good about it – the fans have come a long way. We’ll go back.
“In the big moments, we came out 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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Emery: “Calling Duran was a mistake”
Coach Unai Emery was more positive about his side’s performance, but admitted they had failed to match their previous performances in the competition, which include wins against 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 game plan. 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 risks we had. But despite this, 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 chased the game and admitted to losing their footing in the game from that point on.
He added: “The last 20-25 minutes we were playing with two attackers and we were not threatening like the first 70 minutes.
“The last 20 minutes we played with two attackers and with two attackers we are not organized with the positioning as I want.
“We have two good attackers. Playing with two attackers is my challenge. They are both very good players but today it didn’t work well.
“I made a mistake by deciding to play with two attackers. Up until that point, we were more or less in control of the game.”
A bright spot from the evening in Monte Carlo was the performance of Emiliano Buendia, who was undoubtedly Villa’s best source of attacking threat after creating good opportunities for Watkins, Leon Bailey and Morgan Rogers.
About the Argentinian, who returned from a long injury this season, he added: “I was particularly happy with Emi Buendia today. He has the possibility of leaving but we needed him. We played fantastically with his qualities, his mentality and his commitment to this team.
