Aston Villa boss Unai Emery admitted he made a mistake by playing the two strikers together after Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League defeat by Monaco.
Wilfried Singo scored the only goal eight minutes into the game as the Premier League side missed the chance to seal automatic qualification for the last 16.
They now likely need to beat Celtic next week to secure their place in the top eight and avoid the play-off rounds.
Emery started with Ollie Watkins up front but brought on Jon Duran in place of Leon Bailey in the 57th minute as Villa looked for an equaliser.
“We have two good strikers. Playing with two strikers is my challenge. Both are very good players, but today it didn’t work well,” said Emery after the game.
“I made a mistake by deciding to play with two strikers. Until that moment, we were more or less controlling the game.”
FT from Monaco. pic.twitter.com/bjtOn4LyLn
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) January 21, 2025
Villa had four shots on target in the first half despite conceding a goal in the first half, but after the restart, they were limited to just one shot on target and an expected goals (xG) figure of 0.46.
“I think we played like we wanted for 70 minutes. Opponents must have a gameplan. They were good in transition,” Emery said.
“We created three or four good chances to score. Of course, if we want to stay at this level, we have to take chances. But even so, I was more or less positive.
“The last 20 to 25 minutes we were playing with two strikers and we weren’t as threatening as we were in the first 70 minutes.
“With two strikers, we weren’t as organized with positioning as I wanted.”
Duran has scored 12 goals in all competitions this season, while Watkins has 10 goals and seven assists.
Villa, who were unbeaten in their previous five matches in all competitions, dropped to eighth place with 13 points from the first leg of the Champions League.
