The Aston Villa boss has expressed his team’s difficult moments and games as the season is approaching the end.
The Premier League has two games remaining only, but Aston Villa have yet to secure their Champions League spot. It is the target which they are supposed to have sealed by now. Yet, they are now dragged into the edge of missing out entirely after failing to snatch three points while visiting Burnley’s home turf, Turf Moor, on Sunday.
They are now still collecting 59 points, sitting fifth and sharing the same point as Liverpool. Yet, the Reds are on the fourth with a better goal difference.
Unai Emery shares how difficult it is for his team to stay in the current position and reach the final in the continental competition at the same time, as reported by The Independent.
“It’s been difficult to be fifth in the league until game 36, very difficult. And it’s been very difficult to be in the top five for Liverpool; they are with us, with the same points.
“Today the point is not enough; I know it’s not enough, but I know the difficulty to achieve three points here. But how we compete, how the players show their wishes to win, I am so, so proud of them. And, of course, after on Thursday we achieved the final in the Europa League, showing how we are doing in both competitions. To play in Europe and to play in the Premier League in the top positions is very difficult.
Villa will have to strive to pick up a win at home while playing host to Liverpool next weekend, just a few days prior to the Europa League final against Freiburg in Istanbul.
The Lions seem to have an inconsistency issue. Their dismal result versus Burnley appears to justify it. After a stunning 4-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the Europa League midweek, they are expected to continue their positive run in the Premier League.
Unai Emery only made three changes in the lineup, with Tyrone Mings, Ross Barkley and Ian Maatsen fielded to replace Pau Torres, Emi Buendia and Lucas Digne. Unfortunately, they blow their huge opportunity to seal the UCL spot after only sharing spoils with the Clarets in a 2-2 draw.
Villa conceded first as Jadon Anthony opened the scoring. Ollie Watkins tried to equalise, but his goal was disallowed by VAR. The Lions eventually got their goal to respond to the host as Ross Barkley headed home following John McGinn’s corner kick. Early in the second half, Ollie Watkins put them in front as he found the back of the net. However, their lead did not last long as Zian Flemming equalised three minutes later.
The Spanish manager also shared his words on how they should have won the game as reported by the club’s official site, avfc.co.uk.
“We deserved more; we deserved to win, but we conceded three real and clear chances, and they scored two goals. Conceding clear chances like we did is difficult, but of course we created enough chances to win; we scored one goal offside, so tight.
“We created, offensively, a lot of corners, and I think we played to win. The players showed, as well, their wishes to achieve those three points.”
Set-piece goals must be optimized
Emery’s attempt to make slight changes to give some rest to several key men appears to have failed. Some other names who were in form last Thursday in the Europa League could not replicate their top form either. Those include Morgan Rogers, Matty Cash and Victor Lindelof. However, only the latter two were substituted.
The villa seems to be in need of optimising the dead ball situations to score more. Both of their goals yesterday were initiated by such a scenario. Barkley’s goal was preceded by a corner kick, whereas Watkins’ goal was set up from Emiliano Martinez’s goal kick. The Lions’ set-piece specialist coach, Austin MacPhee, might need to intensify their set-piece training for scoring more.
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