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Ezri Konsa calls on Aston Villa to regroup after City controversy

Ezri Konsa has called on Villa to regroup after slamming the “ridiculous” offside call which triggered Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat at Manchester City.

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Bernardo Silva netted the opener 11 minutes from time after Villa defender Tyrone Mings had been dispossessed by Rodri, who was coming back from an offside position.

Villa boss Dean Smith was sent-off for his protests but the Premier League’s officiating body, PGMOL, later claimed referee Jon Moss had interpreted the law correctly.

Mings later described the rule as “nonsense” and Konsa, his central defensive partner, was in agreement.

He said: “I think it is a ridiculous rule where a player comes from an offside position and then as soon as Tyrone takes a touch he is onside. That baffles me.

“We were very frustrated. We didn’t know that was a rule. We all believed it was offside.”

Villa are quickly back in action when they host Newcastle tomorrow night and Konsa added: “We have to move on and look to Saturday. Overall I thought we put in a great shift on Wednesday against a top team.

“We had our chances and if we put those away, we would have come away with something.”

Villa will be without John McGinn for the visit of the Magpies after the midfielder picked up his fifth booking of the season at the Etihad, another decision which infuriated Smith.

“If he (Moss) books Douglas Luiz for the initial tackle, not a problem,” said Smith. “But delaying the restart?

“It was about half a second after the tackle and we were about to make two subs. Again it looked like he just couldn’t wait to get the (card) out.”

Villa will also assess the fitness of Matt Targett after the left-back was forced off late in Wednesday’s match through injury. Targett later revealed he had been one of the nine Villa players to test positive for coronavirus during the recent outbreak at Bodymoor Heath.

Talks remain ongoing with Marseille over a deal for Morgan Sanson. The French club’s boss, Andre Villas-Boas, has claimed Villa’s initial bid for the midfielder was rejected.