Wolverhampton, England, 27th February 2026. Ezri Konsa of Aston Villa starts an inquest with his fellow players during the Wolverhampton Wanderers ...
Credit: Imago
James Barker
Thu 9 April 2026 22:20, UK
Ezri Konsa put in one of his poorest Aston Villa performances against Bologna despite grabbing a goal, and Stan Collymore took to social media to express his disappointment in him.
Villa will take a two-goal lead back to Villa Park with them next Thursday night, after defeating Bologna 3-1 in their Europa League quarter-final first leg.
Indeed, it was Konsa who got the opening goal of the game just before half-time, Ollie Watkins bagged a brace in the second half, whilst Jonathan Rowe added a vital late goal for the hosts.
Unai Emery‘s side didn’t have it all their own way though, and especially so in the first half, as the Italian outfit dominated the majority of the opening 45, and were unlucky not to come away with anything to show from it.
That won’t bother Aston Villa one bit though, as they now switch focus back to the Premier League, and an important match with Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon.
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What did Stan Collymore say about Ezri Konsa?
Konsa has been superb for Aston Villa this season, and indeed, pretty much ever since he was signed from Brentford in the summer of 2019.
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However, the 28-year-old didn’t but in his best performance for England during the Three Lions’ defeat to Japan during the March international break, and that carried over into his display against Bologna.
Konsa’s 25-26 Premier League stats Result
Appearances (starts) 30 (30)
Pass accuracy 95%
Clean sheets 8
Errors leading to goals 1
Ground duels won 70%
Per Sofascore
In the midst of Villa’s slow start against Bologna on Thursday night, Konsa, and in particular the right side of the Villans’ defence, struggled to cope with the Serie A sides’ pressing and attacking patterns.
Bologna thought they had the lead when Santiago Castro’s deflected cross came off Konsa and just about crossed the line, but it was ruled out for offside, offering Villa perhaps an underserved reprieve at that stage.
It was shortly after this that former Villa star Collymore took to his official X account, and posted how he felt about Konsa’s performance at that point of the match.
“Konsa is having one,” said Collymore, but he’d soon be quote tweeting that post with the famous Homer Simpson backing into a hedge meme after the defender nodded in the opening goal of the game.
Bologna goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia completely missed a Youri Tielemans delivery from a corner kick, allowing Konsa to get the better of his man at the back post and head the ball into an empty net.
What do the stats say about Konsa’s performance vs Bologna?
So, whilst Konsa’s goal certainly helped make his overall performance considerably more forgivable, nevertheless, he still put in far from his best showing in an Aston Villa shirt at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.
As per Sofascore, he made just four defensive contributions all game, with zero tackles won, only one interception and no aerial duel wins either.
Ezri Konsa's stats from Bologna vs Aston Villa
Credit: Breaking Media/Sofascore
He also made one error leading to an opposition shot, played zero key passes, made no dribble attempts, gave the ball away three times and took one unsuccessful touch respectively.
Konsa should and will absolutely be forgiven for his sub-par showing against Bologna, but he won’t want to follow this up with a similar performance on Sunday against Nottingham Forest that’s for sure.
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