Aston Villa crashed out of the Europa Conference League after suffering defeat to Olympiacos in the semi-final, seeing one Unai Emery decision questioned.
The job was clear for Aston Villa going into the second leg of the Europa Conference League semi-final clash with Olympiacos, score at least two goals and keep a clean sheet.
Unfortunately, it took only 10 minutes for Unai Emery’s hopes of overcoming a two-goal deficit to be derailed, as Ayoub El Kaabi extended the Greek side’s lead in the tie.
READ MORE: Two Aston Villa players spotted having ‘heated words’ during Olympiacos loss
The Moroccan striker, who scored a hattrick at Villa Park in the first leg, netted two more goals in Piraeus to take his tally over the two legs to five goals.
It’s astonishing that Villa allowed the talisman to find space in the box on Thursday evening, with his opener seeing Lucas Digne dubbed ‘disappointing’ by Peter Crouch for his lack of defensive effort.
From the lackadaisical defensive approach to a lack of potency in the final third, Emery watched his side struggle against Olympiacos, resulting in the Spaniard having one key element of his game management questioned.
Unai Emery questioned over decision to play Matty Cash against Olympiacos
There was some speculation before the game as to whether the Villa boss would play Matty Cash or Ezri Konsa at right-back, with the actual team news revealing that both would play on the right side.
Deployed as a winger, the Poland international was trusted to cause problems down the right flank, something that did not work as hoped for Emery, as the 26-year-old’s lack of attacking knowledge shone through.
On Twitter, BBC journalist Raj Chohan dubbed the decision to play Cash on the wing as ‘disastrous’ during the first half.
“Matty Cash as the width at RW has been disastrous. Mendilibar setting up Olympiacos back 4 narrow on purpose and he can’t take advantage of the space.”
Chohan then returned to his original tweet in the second half when Emery finally decided to make a shift on the right, blasting the manager’s ‘disappointing delay’ to implement change.
“Took Emery 66 minutes to make the change of getting Bailey RW and removing Cash from there. Meanwhile Cash wasted 2 more opportunities to create goals in the 2nd half. Disappointing delay from Unai.”
Unai Emery made the wrong call against Olympiacos
While Cash didn’t play particularly badly, the right-back played as a defensive player would when called into action further up-field, failing to anticipate attacking play inside the box.
For that reason, it was a bold call for Emery to field the 26-year-old on the flank in a game that required Villa to score.
By playing Cash on the wing, the Spaniard not only jeopardised the attacking balance on the flank but disrupted the flow of Leon Bailey, who has been largely ineffective this season when on the left wing instead of his favoured right.
There will be a list of analysis to work through to determine exactly what went wrong against Olympiacos on Thursday night, with the attacking set-up a definite weak spot.
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