‘He did nothing’… ESPN pundit slams ‘awful’ Aston Villa man after FA Cup defeat to Chelsea

Add as preferred source on Google

ESPN pundit Steve Nicol has slammed Unai Emery after Aston Villa’s FA Cup exit at home to Chelsea last night.

Aston Villa were well-beaten by Mauricio Pochettino’s side during Wednesday night’s fourth-round replay. 

The Villains found themselves 2-0 down after 21 minutes played, with both Nicolas Jackson and Conor Gallagher on target.

Things got worse for Villa after the break as Enzo Fernandez netted a stunning free-kick in the 54th minute. 

It was arguably Villa’s worst performance at home for quite some time and the 3-1 defeat took many by surprise.

Now, Steve Nicol has criticised Unai Emery for failing to make changes during the game.

Nicol slams Emery after Chelsea beat Villa

Speaking on ESPN FC, Nicol slammed Emery for doing ‘nothing’ while his side were outplayed for 70 minutes. 

“You’ve got to question Unai Emery,” the pundit said. “We’re always saying how great he is with his tactics and everything else.

“This was about man management. How could he not get his team up for this game? They weren’t up for this game.

“You get a chance to get them in at halftime, you get a chance to get them going. He didn’t make any changes.

“The question is, do you give them a kick up the backside or do you make changes? So, we thought ok, he’s kicked them up the backside, he’s going to give them a chance.

“Basically after five minutes, it went back to what it was in the first half. What did he do? Nothing. He did nothing until the 70th minute.

“This was awful and a complete headscratcher. The fact that in a fourth-round FA Cup tie there was no intensity. Strange.” 

Villa certainly weren’t at the races last night and a late Moussa Diaby goal didn’t quite gloss over a poor performance.

Nevertheless, Nicol’s criticism of Emery feels harsh when you consider the fact that Villa are flying under the Spaniard.

Of course, he has every right to question Emery’s in-game management last night as the Villains struggled against an out-of-form Chelsea side. 

But you could just put last night’s display down to a rare off-day for Villa as they have been consistently brilliant this season.