Unai Emery sat down with the media at the Red Bull Arena after Aston Villa’s 3-2 win over RB Leipzig.
Ross Barkley came off the bench to score the winning goal for Villa after Leipzig twice pegged their visitors back following strikes from John McGinn and Jhon Duran either side of half-time. Here is every word Emery said in his post-match press conference…
How are you feeling after the win, Unai?
“Yes, I am happy. We are trying to separate this competition and after we recovered our confidence by winning the last two matches in the league, today was important to keep consistent in the Champions League and try to do another step forward with our circumstances to be contenders in the top eight.
“We were talking about the result at home against Juventus. This draw was fantastic because we got the chance to be in the top 24. We achieved at this point trying to focus on this match. Leipzig was important, but today we spoke about the possibility of winning to get in the top eight.
“We played seriously and disciplined, controlling the game and now we have 13 points and more or less recovering confidence. Some players are also feeling better and hopefully we can keep going and try to be consistent in the next match against Nottingham Forest. In the Champions League we are feeling strong and comfortable.”
A word on your substitutes scoring in the second half…
“It’s very important. In the first half Watkins had a small injury and Duran replaced him and played the same level and scored one goal, the other was offside. The most important was about how he played tactically as well. Emi and Kosta helped us. Then, Barkley scored one goal and he continued the work that we were doing with Tielemans and that’s the example for other players.”
What was the thought process behind tweaking the system?
“After the injury to Bailey and Philogene is a process, I decided to use Cash playing as a full-back defending low but attacking high and wide. He has the potential to do it. He played the beginning of his career like a winger and today he worked fantastic.
“Kosta as well his characteristics are similar to Cash. He has his process in the team, but today he had the opportunity to play minutes and he helped us and I’m happy for him.”
Do you think both goals you conceded were avoidable?
“Yes but we have to accept the opponent. Brugge was a very strange mistake, and was not normal and we forget it. The two mistakes we made today as well is because they have two high level strikers who are fast, like Openda. He surprised us because he was attacking from behind. The goalkeeper and centre-back weren’t connected.
“They are mistakes that we will analyse and try to avoid. Today we made two mistakes but we will correct and work on those mistakes. It was also because they have very good players.”
A word on the travelling Villa fans…
“We are thankful for their support because we are trying to transmit our wishes to win and they are supporting us. We were at the beginning trying to be protagonists. Now we achieved to be in the top 24 and maybe today we achieved being in the top 16 and now we have the chance to be in the top eight.
“We have to play two more matches and we will be motivated and our target now is higher than it was when we started this competition.”
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