Tyrone Mings fires 'ruthless' Aston Villa demand as next step revealed
Tyrone Mings insists Aston Villa's next step in their development is to build a "ruthless winning mentality".
Unai Emery's side were defeated 1-0 by Monaco on Tuesday night in the Champions League when they had the opportunity to all but secure their place in the top eight of the league phase table.
"It's really disappointing," Mings admitted after full-time. "I think it was a really tight game. The goal we gave away was very disappointing, I gave the ball away and didn’t defend the corner. That is the simplicity of football in a tight game. We came out on the wrong side of that moment and couldn’t get back into the game.
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"I don’t have any excuses whatsoever, I think we had enough energy and quality to win the game but I don’t think we controlled the transition very well either.
"They had quite a lot of balls that broke to them with us not quite being in the right position, which made the game more open. It made controlling possession in their half tougher but as I said, we had enough out there today to win the game or at least come away with something. That’s why we’re really disappointed.
"Now that we’re in and around it, we have to have an ambition to finish in the top eight. It's a chance to play less games. But we want to give a good account of ourselves every time we step out on the pitch, and accept the result that comes our way after.
"We can play well and lose or we can play poorly and win but the most important thing for us is to give everything and show our personality on the pitch. Of course we’d love to finish in the top eight."
Speaking of next week's clash against the Scottish champions, Mings said: "Listen, we deal with pressure and big games all the time, that’s a game that will hopefully be a classic for the right reasons. We’ll give everything to come out on the right side of it. We know it’ll be a tough game but everything now is gearing up for West Ham, a difficult game for different reasons.
“It’s one we’re really looking forward to. We can’t let anything affect our mood, I think if we win, draw or lose we have to be exactly the same with the level of focus going into the next game."
After staging a comeback against Wolves following a win over BSC Young Boys in September, Villa have failed to claim victory in their last five matches proceeding a Champions League match. They have the chance to end that run on Sunday when they host West Ham at Villa Park in the Premier League.
"Our league form cannot take a dip because we’re disappointed tonight, that’s a completely different competition and different focus," Mings insisted. "What we need to do is have that ruthless winning mentality that means every game we go into we have the exact same aim to win. We never think any differently regardless of the opposition. West Ham will be another test of course."
Mings added: "We can only take care of ourselves and the most important thing is to get into a habit of winning and a habit of picking up points when we’re not playing well. That’s why it’s disappointing tonight that we didn’t. For sure, we will give everything to try and win the game at the weekend. Our focus will turn to that as of when we leave here."
Mings made his fifth successive start for Villa on Tuesday after coming into the side following the injury suffered by Pau Torres. The 31-year-old has made an impressive return from an ACL injury and claims he has probably surprised the club's medical staff considering how long had been on the sidelines.
"Of course I’m going to be feeling the effects of it after so long but I don’t think that contributed to anything that happened tonight," Mings said. "I’m feeling good, I’ve probably surprised myself and a few of the medical staff in terms of how I’ve coped with the games we’ve played so far.
"Listen, we prepare well, we have great nutrition and we have great recovery strategies so I’m just focused on staying fit, playing well and contributing to what can hopefully be a good second half of the season."