Unai Emery must axe Moussa Diaby to save Aston Villa v Olympiacos after first-half disaster
Unai Emery must hook attacker Moussa Diaby at half-time in order to save Aston Villa from disaster against Olympiacos.
The Villans find themselves 2-1 down to the Greek side at half-time at Villa Park after two goals from Ayoub El Kaabi, after he broke the offside trap twice to slot past Robin Olsen.
But the home side are still not out of the game with 45 minutes left to play in the first-leg before a trip to Greece, and the manager must look to assert dominance in midfield to get a foot-hold on the clash.
Moussa Diaby must be hooked after first-half stinker for Aston Villa
There aren’t many things that the Spaniard has done wrong during his time at Villa, but Emery’s decision to go with an increasingly attacking starting line-up now seems like a mistake.
Moussa Diaby, Leon Bailey, Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins all started ahead of a midfield two of John McGinn and Douglas Luiz, leaving no real defensive platform in the middle third of the pitch to build from.
That showed with Diaby in particular, who is playing in the number ten role, managing just 12 touches throughout the opening 45 minutes [via Sofascore].
Along with that he completed just eight of 11 passes, and failed to register a single shot, key pass, cross, or dribble attempt during the first half until the final moments when he provided an assist for Watkins’ goal.
Emery must look to take the French international off and bring on a more natural midfielder, with Youri Tielemans and Tim Iroegbunam both on the bench and able to provide more flexibility tactically to combat the Olympiacos high press.
Bailey, Watkins, and Rogers are all in better form currently too, and provide a solid goal threat for the team to launch a much-needed second-half comeback, and Emery needs to pull the trigger as soon as possible.
In other Aston Villa news, Emery made an error by axing this 82% star from his starting lineup against Olympiacos.
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