Aston Villa regret detailed after game-changing moment v Lille in Europa Conference League
Aston Villa will regret conceding a late goal to Lille in the first leg of their Europa Conference League quarter final on Thursday night (11 April), according to Dan Bardell.
It was a frustrating night for Unai Emery’s side at Villa Park as both sides had chances and the home side had a few decisions go against them.
The Villans took the lead early on as Ollie Watkins latched on to a John McGinn corner to power a header past the goalkeeper. Despite the away side having a spell of possession, the Villa captain doubled their lead as he swept home a Leon Bailey cross.
Paulo Fonseca’s men pulled one back through a Bafaode Diakate header off a corner, much to the frustration to Bardell.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Bardell said: “The state of the tie changed in the last 15 minutes of the game. Emi Martinez had a really good game as he often does. At 2-0 maybe there was a chance for Villa to get a third that would have killed the tie but it didn’t happen. They’ve conceded off a set piece and look quite vulnerable from crosses and set pieces which isn’t great for a team with three tall centre-backs in there.
“I think Villa will look back at the game with a tinge of regret. Obviously, they’ve done well to win. Most people, if they’d been offered a win in the first leg at home would have taken it for sure, having the advantage.
“I think the state of the tie has changed based on that goal and now Villa go to Lille off the back of a hard game on Sunday against Arsenal and I think Lille have only last one of their last 38 games at home so it does feel like the lead is pretty precarious now.”
How can Aston Villa fix their defensive problems?
In the last two games at Villa Park, Emery’s side have conceded four goals from crosses and another which was ruled out.
These have been caused for the most part by a lack of closing down from full-backs and poor centre-back positioning from Diego Carlos, and Pau Torres at times.
The most recent one against the French outfit came as a result of poor marking which saw the centre-half score with a free header.
According to FotMob, this chance represented 0.92 xGOT. To show how easy the chance was made for him, Watkins’ header comparatively was 0.50 xGOT.
The high line could be blamed for these issues but the game IQ is more of an issue. For a player with the experience of Carlos, he is reckless at times and moves too rashly at times.
When Matty Cash returns, moving Ezri Konsa back to centre half alongside Torres could help to cut out this problem before it becomes an even more regular occurrence.
In other Aston Villa news, Goodman has had his say on the speculation linking the Villans with one of their former players.
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