Aston Villa legend Gabby Agbonlahor has criticised current defender Bjorn Engels for his costly error against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Engels failed to clear the ball and allowed Heung-Min Son to race through and score past Pepe Reina in stoppage time to hand the visitors a 3-2 victory at Villa Park.
Agbonlahor can’t understand why Engels went to clear the ball with his studs instead of just putting his full foot through the ball.
When speaking live on Sky Sports after the match on Sunday, he said:
That goal, he has to hook the ball clear. He is trying to get his studs on the ball and it is amateur defending from Engels.
There is nothing you can do about this [Engels mistake]. He has to hold his hand up and say it’s a shocking piece of defending.
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We agree with the former Villa striker that Engels should have just hooked the ball away from danger.
But besides that mistake, the centre-back was pretty solid throughout the match. He made three interceptions and five clearances, more than anyone else in the Villa team (WhoScored).
We feel that fatigue may have played a big part in the mistake because the centre-back hadn’t played a full match since 4th January in the FA Cup against Fulham.
However, manager Dean Smith had no natural central defenders on the bench to replace Engels with, meaning the Belgian had to remain on the pitch.
If Tyrone Mings was fit, then we feel as if the ending could have been so different.
