Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ZEROES & VILLANS
Mings in call for unity after a spineless, gutless, clueless display
TYRONE MINGS picked at the carcass of a wretched defeat and admitted: “Something has to change.”
Aston Villa were not just bad at St Mary’s, a ground where they specialise in warming up for cup finals by serving up tripe. They were gutless, clueless, spineless, useless.
And that’s being kind. Villa’s show ponies and strolling millionaires left a trail of ruins on the road to Wembley.
If they play like this against Manchester City in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final, they need not wait for relegation to spell out the brutal truth. They can go full Francis Ford Coppola and have their apocalypse now.
Mings, who handed his shirt to a supporter, was one of only two players to approach 3,500 seething Villa fans on the final whistle – substitute Conor Hourihane was the other.
None of the others dared to venture within 40 yards of the vocal away support. Mings preached unity, adding: “We can have no complaints because it wasn’t good enough.
“We’re in a relegation battle and the minimum requirement is to fight and battle – and we didn’t do that.
“The next time we play, we may well be in the relegation zone, so something needs to change, but we’ll figure it out behind closed doors.
“The last thing we need to do now is fracture and lose faith in each other, so we’ll prepare for the League Cup final and it might be a welcome distraction.”
Manager Dean Smith did not hide behind excuses. But when the standard bearer for a club like Villa uses words such as “embarrassment”, “dreadful” and “lowest of the low” to describe a performance, you have to fear for his job.
Smith (above) did not spare his players, raging: “It’s not about me – it’s about them. They’ve let themselves down.”
Villa spent £140million on 13 players in their trolley dash after promotion last year, but Mings aside, there is a breathtaking lack of quality.
And it is hard to see Jack Grealish sticking around to get fouled at Reading or Hull every week in the Championship next season.
Shane Long’s second league goal of the season – but his eighth in 11 games against Villa – and Stuart Armstrong’s free hit into an unguarded net in added time was the least Saints deserved. Five years ago, Villa sleepwalked into St Mary’s two weeks before the FA Cup Final and got hammered 6-1.
Long’s sensational hit from 40 yards in that game is often overlooked, but his revival as a goal-scorer deserves credit.
After just 12 goals in his previous 132 appearances, the Republic of Ireland striker looked to have a bright future behind him.
But three in his last six games have restored a spring to Long’s step and he said: “I feel I’ve been playing well lately and it’s nice to get a few goals to back that up.”