Tyrone Mings: Aston Villa's plan to deal with 'huge error' revealed by expert
Keith Hackett believes Aston Villa will deal with Tyrone Mings’ “huge error” in the Champions League through analysis with the club’s sports psychologist.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-FIFA and Premier League referee claimed he “cannot recall a similar incident” after over 50 years of officiating.
The 31-year-old displayed a moment of madness on Wednesday (6 November) when he picked up the ball inside his own box after a goal kick from Emi Martinez, which led to Club Brugge being awarded a penalty.
Hans Vanaken converted the opportunity and scored the game’s only goal as Villa slumped to eighth in the Champions League table.
Unai Emery is now set to communicate with the club’s psychologist to discuss the situation and ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
Aston Villa are going to use the club’s psychologist to deal with Tyrone Mings’ Champions League error
Hackett told Football Insider, “In the UEFA Champions League game Club Brugge v Aston Villa, we saw the home team deliver a shock win against an in-form Aston Villa after the most incredible error by Villa's Tyrone Mings.
“One loss of concentration by Tyrone Mings saw him rather bizarrely pick up the ball after his goalkeeper had clearly restarted the game with a short pass goal kick directly to Mings.
“It was an incident that could easily have been missed by the referee who was making his usual way to the hallway line to monitor the dropping zone, anticipating that the ball was going to be kicked long by the home team goalkeeper.
“He and his colleagues were monitoring the re-start and witnessed what had taken place and the referee looking shocked walked towards the penalty area, no doubt gathering his thoughts and checking with his colleagues what he had seen before pointing to the penalty mark.
“It was the correct decision and proved to be very costly for Aston Villa who lost the game 1-0 having been favourites to win.
“In over fifty years of officiating at all levels of the game, I cannot recall a similar incident, and it will certainly be one that Tyrone Mings will not forget.
“Maintaining concentration is such an important criteria for match referees in their decision-making, and [there’s] no doubt the manager of Aston Villa will review this with the club's Sports Psychologist to ensure that his players never make such a huge error in the future.”
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