I understand Unai Emery's approach to the League Cup, but Aston Villa have missed an opportunity

I don't think too many Aston Villa supporters will have been particularly surprised by what happened at Bournemouth on Wednesday evening, although there's a difference between expecting a difficult night and watching your team get beaten 3-0 in a game where they never really looked comfortable.

I've said previously that I don't believe the Carabao Cup is particularly high on Unai Emery's list of priorities, and the team selection certainly suggested that was the case again. Nine changes were made from the Manchester City victory, with opportunities handed to players who haven't featured regularly this season, and ultimately very few of them did enough to suggest they should be involved more frequently.

I understand the thinking behind it, particularly when you consider the schedule Villa have had throughout October. We've been competing in the Premier League and Champions League, performing extremely well in both competitions, and the demands on this squad have been enormous. If you'd asked me before the month started which game I'd be most prepared to sacrifice, this probably would have been the one.

That doesn't mean I have to like it, though.

Villa haven't won a domestic trophy this century, and while we've enjoyed some extraordinary experiences under Emery, there's still something frustrating about watching another opportunity for silverware disappear without really giving ourselves the best possible chance of progressing.

The disappointing thing is that we weren't necessarily a million miles away from having a genuine opportunity in this competition. Get through Bournemouth, find yourself in a quarter-final, potentially with a favourable home draw, and suddenly you're looking at a route towards Wembley. I suspect Emery's approach would have changed had Villa reached that stage, but unfortunately we've fallen before getting there.

We've seen something similar before, of course. I remember going to Villa Park for the League Cup defeat against Crystal Palace a couple of seasons ago and feeling frustrated by the strength of the team we'd put out. There was a sense that the competition was being treated as an opportunity to give minutes to fringe players rather than something we were particularly desperate to win, and Wednesday evening had a familiar feel to it.

What I would say is that Bournemouth also made eight changes, so we can't simply use rotation as an explanation for everything that happened. They looked more organised, more comfortable with each other and better equipped to deal with the game, despite making almost as many alterations to their starting eleven.

I don't necessarily agree with suggestions that Villa's players weren't trying, because there were periods where we showed some decent attacking intent and created opportunities. The problem was that we conceded two really poor goals at particularly damaging moments, and once the second went in shortly after half-time, I never really believed we were going to get back into the contest.

My biggest sympathy is reserved for the supporters who travelled down to Bournemouth on a Wednesday evening. It's a long journey, particularly at this time of year, and regardless of how important a competition might be to the manager, those people deserve to see a performance considerably better than the one Villa produced.

I don't think Emery will lose much sleep over this result, and I certainly don't think it should detract from the excellent work he's doing at Aston Villa. He's earned more than enough credit to make difficult decisions about where his priorities lie, even when supporters might disagree with them.

The interesting thing now is what happens against Fulham at the weekend. If Villa return to winning ways and continue climbing the Premier League table, I suspect this defeat will disappear from most people's minds relatively quickly. If we fail to win, there will inevitably be questions about whether sacrificing another cup opportunity was worthwhile.

I can understand why Emery has approached the competition this way, but I still think there's room to be disappointed that Aston Villa won't be competing for another trophy this season.