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da bet esporte： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.
Aston Villa were condemned to defeat at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon leaving them in the relegation zone.
Snapshot
Villa took a surprise lead in the first half through John McGinn and would have certainly fancied their chances as Gunners deputy right-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles received a second yellow card before the break.
Though, a defensive mistake allowed the home side back into the game as Nicolas Pepe fired in a penalty thanks to Bjorn Engels’ foul on Matteo Guendouzi, though, barely a minute later Wesley regained the lead for the visitors.
Dean Smith’s first substitution came seven minutes later as Ahmed Elmohamady replaced the dangerous-looking Trezeguet, who scored a 7.72 rating alongside three successful dribbles and two shots at goal, per WhoScored.
But he didn’t substitute defensive midfielder Marvelous Nakamba until the 85th minute, and by then, Arsenal had surprisingly taken the lead thanks to a Calum Chambers strike and a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang freekick.
Off the Bench
Villa were playing against ten men for the second time in a week.
Therefore, you’d have expected their manager Smith to learn from his mistakes on Monday as they had to endure a 0-0 stalemate against West Ham at Villa Park.
But it appears that wasn’t the case.
They were up against a ten-man Arsenal side for the best part of 50 minutes yet lost the match, even after holding the lead twice in the game.
Just after the hour mark, Smith withdrew one of their most influential attacking outlets and replaced him with a defender.
Elmohamady can play out on the wing, so it wasn’t the worst possible change, but it was still strange to take Trezeguet off as he was threatening Sead Kolasinac all game.
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The better substitution to have made was one he eventually utilised but only when it was far too late – taking Nakamba, a defensive midfielder, off in favour of a more attacking option.
By staying too defensive – despite having a man advantage – it invited pressure back on the visitors, who in the last 20 minutes looked like they were the team playing with ten men with Arsenal recording 12 shots in that time compared to Villa’s two.
Football FanCast have previously highlighted how Henri Lansbury can be an unlikely option off the bench this season, and he would have been a far better man to introduce as they went 2-1 up.
Smith cost Villa for the second time in a week with his bizarre substitutions and when you’re playing in the top-flight, you just don’t get away with it.