Aston Villa crashed out of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night after a bitterly disappointing display in a 2-1 defeat to Everton.
Hopes were high this season that Unai Emery could lead his side on deep runs in the cup competitions, but our journey in this particular one ended at the first time of asking in our third round tie at Villa Park.
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Everton scored relatively early in both halves as they punished our mistakes, and on a night where Villa produced a woeful performance over the course of the 90 minutes, well below the standard set since Emery arrived, there was little to no response aside from Boubacar Kamara’s late deflected strike.
After defeat last week in Warsaw and now another loss in midweek in domestic cup action, Villa still have work to do if we wish to compete on multiple fronts and match our positive start in the Premier League.
Aston Villa player ratings vs Everton:
Robin Olsen, 4 – Made some decent saves throughout the game, but ultimately he cost us with the first goal. Put under pressure by his teammates which wasn’t helpful, but his distribution is still panicked and rushed, and it simply isn’t good enough given our desire to play out from the back.
Matty Cash, 5 – Energetic display, but as we’ll see in a common trend with most Villa players on the night, there wasn’t much quality that came with it as he didn’t make the most of occasions where he got into advanced positions to threaten.
Ezri Konsa, 5 – Part of a collectively sloppy and vulnerable backline that didn’t show the same level of composure and decisiveness in our build-up play or in keeping things tight defensively to nullify Everton’s threat. Sold short by Tielemans for the second goal, but will be disappointed he didn’t do better.
Pau Torres, 5 – Did ok on the ball as he played his way out of trouble to get us moving up the pitch, but not one of his better performances since he arrived and probably suffered as a result of the lack of movement and effort in front of him.
John McGinn, 5 – Emery experimented by starting him at left-back, and while he had some good moments going forward, it ultimately didn’t work as he was replaced at half-time.
Leon Bailey, 5 – Lasted 30 minutes before coming off with an injury, and given he appeared to be clutching his hamstring area, he could be out for a while.
Leander Dendoncker, 5 – Did well at times in breaking up play and keeping possession ticking over, but looked laboured and slow in his distribution as he failed to impose him in the heart of the midfield battle as he was one in particular who just looked lacklustre. First start of the season, and it showed.
Douglas Luiz, 6 – Continued to probe and provide an option off the ball, but was let down by many around him, and that in turn impacted his influence and overall display.
Youri Tielemans, 4 – Really struggling to understand where the pre-season version of the Belgian international has disappeared to. The positional tweak to the left side doesn’t suit him, but he has to do better. Sloppy on the ball, and that was never more evident than when he played a dreadful pass that led to Everton’s second goal.
Moussa Diaby, 5.5 – Perhaps our most threatening player with his pace and directness in the final third, and forced Pickford into an excellent save at 2-0. However, not at his decisive best when given an important role on the night to break Everton down.
Jhon Duran, 4.5 – Didn’t understand the decision to play long balls up to him as that seemed to suit Everton’s defenders, and yet we persisted with it. Didn’t add much to our attacking play, and sent his only effort on goal sailing into the Holte End.
Substitutes:
Nicolo Zaniolo, 6 – Added energy and presence with his driving runs forward on the ball, and was arguably our most creative outlet. However, couldn’t make the all-important contribution in front of goal that’s still missing from him.
Boubacar Kamara, 6 – Scored the goal that should have at least sparked a late rally, while he added composure and calmness in possession and bite in midfield in the latter stages.
Ollie Watkins, 5 – Didn’t really add much after coming on as he didn’t threaten Everton’s goal.
Lucas Digne, 5 – Similar to Watkins in that he didn’t make much difference to the eventual outcome.
Omari Kellyman, N/A