Aston Villa certainly didn’t shame themselves against PSG on Wednesday evening. Unai Emery’s side went ahead but then faced something of an onslaught from Luis Enrique’s slick attack.
Ligue 1 has provided the perfect opportunity for the Spanish manager to test out and fine tune his approach, given the title hasn’t been in danger for a long time.
Indeed, PSG are 22 points clear of Marseille in second, haven’t lost a league game all season, and sealed the Ligue 1 title at the weekend.
That has been their practise ground for the Champions League, the trophy they really want, and Aston Villa found it hard to compete as the match went on.
L’Equipe rated Aston Villa players at a mixture of 3/10 to 6/10, and have shared their reasoning. The French newspaper is always tough on ratings, and have backed up their thinking.
Matty Cash got 3/10, and L’Equipe state: ‘The right-back had clearly been targeted as the weak point in Villa’s defence. And rightly so. Struggling from kickoff until his exit, he was unable to win a duel and showed signs of nervousness with the ball.’
Alex Disasi replaced the Poland international, but he was also only rated 3/10: ‘Supposed to provide solidity on the right flank while Cash had been booked, the Frenchman took a beating very quickly when Kvaratskhelia accelerated, finding himself on his backside like Boateng facing Messi.’
Jacob Ramsey was another 3/10, and the French newspaper suggest they believe he made an effort but wasn’t able to have an impact: ‘He really struggled to exist offensively, due to the low number of balls he received, but also because Rashford often exiled himself on his side. If the English winger certainly made some effective returns to his box (7th, 52nd), his record is very insufficient.’
Marcus Rashford wasn’t able to have a similar impact to his heroic Manchester United performances against PSG, and got 4/10: ‘Certainly, he did launch Youri Tielemans into the action of Aston Villa’s goal (35th), and some of his accelerations caused a few cold sweats within the PSG defense (30th, 42nd). But the English international was also often stopped in his tracks by a Parisian (55th, 69th) and his avoidable ball losses put his team in difficulty.’
John McGinn impressed with his effort but was also only given 4/10: ‘He can be given credit for winning back the ball that often initiated his team’s rare offensives, such as the one that led to Villa’s goal (35th) or a good strike from Rogers (73rd). But overall, the Scot had a very limited influence on the course of this match.’
Morgan Rogers got the first goal which was enough for him to be joint highest for Aston Villa on 6/10, with the only other rating of that level going to… a Frenchman.
Lucas Digne got 6/10, and L’Equipe’s opinion of his performance boiled down to: ‘Not spectacular, but very rigorous.’
Unai Emery was given a bit of a kicking along with his 3/10: ‘His team refused to play and was understandably punished. Furthermore, the Spanish coach failed to find any solutions to secure his team’s right wing: in this sense, the introduction of Axel Disasi proved counterproductive.’
Some revenge fuel ahead of the return leg.
