“Got it wrong” – Unai Emery criticised for costly decision in Aston Villa’s defeat to PSG | OneFootball

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has been criticised for his slightly bizarre decision to sub Marcus Rashford off in last night’s game against Paris Saint-Germain.

Villa won 3-2 against PSG on the night, but were knocked out 5-4 on aggregate by the Ligue 1 champions.

Still, it proved to be a memorable Champions League campaign for Villa as they showed their credentials on the biggest stage.

Things could even perhaps have gone a bit better if Emery hadn’t made the wrong call by taking Rashford off in the second half, according to former Villa man Stephen Warnock.

Speaking during punditry duty on the BBC, Warnock admitted he couldn’t understand why Emery removed Rashford when he’d been playing so well.

Unai Emery got it wrong by subbing Marcus Rashford

Marcus Rashford prepares to take a corner for Aston Villa against PSG (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Warnock singled out this slightly bizarre call by Emery, saying: “I don’t know what Unai Emery saw, with the way Marcus Rashford was playing, he got it wrong.

“Rashford was brilliant. Rashford was involved in everything and everything which was good was coming from him.

“It felt like the tempo dropped when he made that substitution. You need a goal – why are you taking a striker off?

“If you want to pin PSG back, you play Rashford and Watkins in between the full-back and centre-halves and you stretch those balls over the top.”

Rashford has proven a fine signing since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United in January, and fans will surely be hoping he stays at the club permanently.

It’s hard to imagine Rashford will be getting back into the Man Utd team any time soon, but he’s given fans a reminder of his quality at Villa Park.

It will also be frustrating for Villa fans, however, that he wasn’t given more of a chance to influence this game as they were only narrowly knocked out by PSG in the end.