Naive Aston Villa lose on European return in Poland | OneFootball

The best way to describe Aston Villa’s performance last night would be naive. Legia Warsaw spoke about the riches of the Premier League in the build-up to the game and that Villa would need to match their determination to take anything from the fixture. They weren’t wrong just as they proved against Leicester City in 2021.

The performance was a frustrating watch for both the supporters and manager, Unai Emery and although I am not overly worried (at the moment) we, as a club need to learn quickly from this.

As we have seen in defeats against Newcastle and Liverpool in the Premier League, these teams will punish you if you are not at the top of your game. I don’t buy this “they should be easy to beat as they are in the Conference League” talk. These are experienced European outfits who will punish you if you can’t do the basics right and once again, we got it so very wrong.

One worry I do have about Aston Villa this year and I don’t want this to come across as going over the top but I don’t think one performance has looked like we have got out of second gear and the same applied last night. Losing key players won’t help this but if we are to evolve, it’s part and parcel of the game and it’s something we need to learn to be able to cope with.

Report: Legia Warsaw 3-2 Aston Villa

As Aston Villa fans enjoyed the sunshine and beers flowing in the city of Warsaw the fans of Legia were less welcoming with their giant gorilla tifo with a message saying “Welcome to the Jungle”. The atmosphere has been described as one of the best ever by some of the travelling Villa faithful, something we as Villa fans could learn from.

Emery opted to make five changes to the side that beat Crystal Palace at the weekend as Matty Cash and Pau Torres were rested with Calum Chambers and Clement Lenglet replacing them in defence. Youri Tielemans and Leon Bailey replaced Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby in midfielder while Ollie Watkins was replaced by Jhon Duran.

And it took just two minutes for the hosts to take the lead and what was more worrying was how easy it was to get through the back line. Ernest Muçi sent Patryk Kun down the right-hand side and with Chambers struggling to block his cross he found Paweł Wszołek who was unmarked to slot home.

The one good thing about Villa under Emery is, they tend to score and it took them just six minutes to get back on level terms. Nicolò Zaniolo’s effort was pushed onto the bar by Legia goalkeeper Kacper Tobiasz and forward Duran was quickest to react as he headed home from close range.

The home side soon found themselves back in the lead as they once again cut through the Villa backline. Goalscorer Wszołek became a provider as he crossed the ball and this time found Muçi to smash beyond Emi Martinez.

But once again, Emery’s men were able to get themselves back in the game seven minutes before half-time when John McGinn’s effort fell back out to Lucas Digne to make it 2-2.

The second half wasn’t half as entertaining as the first after the hosts got themselves the third. Marc Gual picked out Muçi who was pushed out wide by Chambers but was still able to pick out a shot into the far bottom corner.

The hosts then sat back and invited Villa to break them down, which they couldn’t do, despite the introduction of those who were left out before the game.

What Emery Said:

“I believe in our squad and our players and we could have lost this game with other players on the pitch.

“Every match away in Europe is difficult and this is a new step where we have to learn.

“We still have the possibility to react again, we are going to play another five matches. It’s not a good result but we have to learn and have to understand how we’re going to face the next matches and this competition.

“We have to build a squad who will play a lot of matches and we will need players in the squad to give them opportunities to play, to use their qualities.

“In the second half, we started well but in one click, we conceded another opportunity and they scored a goal.

“They had a plan, they did good and we couldn’t stop them in some moments.”

Up Next

Aston Villa will head down to the capital to take on Chelsea on Sunday in the Premier League.