Peter Crouch expressed his frustration at one Aston Villa star’s actions against Olympiacos, as Unai Emery watched his side’s European journey come to an end.
It was another disappointing night for Aston Villa against Olympiacos, as the Greek side got the better of the Midlands club once again in the Europa Conference League semi-final.
After losing the first leg 4-2, it was hoped from a Villa point of view that Unai Emery’s side would have enough in the tank to overcome the two-goal deficit in Greece, something that never looked like happening on the night.
In Piraeus, Olympiacos won 2-0 to see the semi-final end on an aggregate score of 6-2, marking the end of the Villans European journey for the 2023/24 campaign.
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While it was always going to be a significant task to conquer, Villa looked way off the pace in the second leg on Thursday night, something that the hosts capitalised on through Ayoub El Kaabi.
A number of Emery’s players were below-par over the tie, with one name standing out for the wrong reasons at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium.
Lucas Digne criticised by Peter Crouch during Olympiacos defeat
Going in at halftime in the second leg a goal behind was not what Emery would have planned; however, that was the reality after El Kaabi’s strike in only the 10th minute of play.
When analysing the Moroccan’s first goal, TNT Sports pundit Peter Crouch expressed his disappointment with Lucas Digne, noticing the £120k-a-week Frenchman showing a lack of effort to defend against the clinical Olympiacos talisman.
“It’s just disappointing really, if you watch McGinn he’s racing back, that’s the desire you have to show, Digne on the other hand was walking.
“You see the movement there, Digne can definitely be more in.”
El Kaabi crept in behind Pau Torres to get on the end of a low-driven cross, with Digne arriving way behind schedule after failing to smell danger as the attack built.
Ayoub El Kaabi was too much for Aston Villa to handle
The two legs were far from glamorous for Emery’s defence, who conceded five of the six goals over the tie to El Kaabi.
The 30-year-old’s threat was evident in the first leg as he took home the match ball at Villa Park although the Morocco international was allowed to get in behind twice in the second leg.
It was lackadaisical defending from Villa as a collective, epitomising the jaded edge that the Premier League club played with in Greece, seeing the tie taken away from their reach.
Conceding six goals over the semi-final will be something for Emery and his coaching team to study in the coming days, with the actions of Digne needing little examination as the Frenchman simply failed to step up when needed early into the decisive fixture.
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