• ‘Some are not following the plan,’ says manager
• Ollie Watkins and Jhon Durán ‘didn’t work well’

A seething Unai Emery questioned the mentality of some of his Aston Villa players and conceded his ­latest attempt to partner Ollie Watkins and Jhon Durán backfired after they blew an opportunity to qualify automatically for the Champions League last 16.

Emery accused several of his Villa players of “not following the plan” after an insipid 1-0 defeat in Monaco. Asked to elaborate on his comments, the Villa manager tapped his temple with his index finger and said: “We want it and we need it.” He added: “We are being demanding with the players we have and some are not following the plan we are doing. This is the objective I have now, to try to build the team as strong as possible with a mentality we are building.”