- Emery replaced Durán to play alongside Watkins in the second half in Monaco.
- He also targeted several of his players, appearing to question mentalities.
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Unai Emery took the blame for Aston Villa's defeat in Monaco but reserved his harshest criticism for some of his players.
The Villa manager accused his team of lacking ruthlessness in front of goal and suggested that not all of his team had the mental strength required for elite football.
“We are being very demanding with the players and some of them are not following the plan,” said Emery, who admitted that the decision to pair Jhon Duran with Ollie Watkins after 55 minutes had backfired.
'This is my goal now, to build the team to be as strong as possible with a mentality that we are building progressively.
“We were horrible at set pieces. And when we had two forwards on the field we lost position. I made a mistake by deciding to play with two forwards.
'Morgan Rogers was a little sick. Emiliano Buendía played a fantastic game. Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans, Ezri Konsa, Matty Cash, Emiliano Martinez and Tyrone Mings played doing everything we were planning.'
Unai Emery admits it was a “mistake” to play against Ollie Watkins and Jhan Duran against Monaco
Watkins (left) started the game, with Durán (right) introduced in the second half of the match.
Emery questioned the mentality of several of his players while defending others
The players Emery didn't mention were Leon Bailey, Watkins, Lucas Digne, Ian Maatsen and Duran. Bailey had a bad game and was replaced by Durán 10 minutes into the second half.
Watkins and Bailey missed opportunities in the first half and Emery added: “We created three or four chances and if we want to be at this level we have to take advantage of them.”