Aston Villa boss Unai Emery revealed his pride in his players after our 2-0 win over Feyenoord in the Europa League.
Goals from Emiliano Buendia and John McGinn secured all three points in Rotterdam, as Villa made it two wins in two to start our European campaign.
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Further, it’s now a third consecutive win across all competitions as we’re starting to recover some confidence, form and quality after a dismal start to the season, and so there is undoubtedly a more positive and upbeat mood around the club after an excellent week of results.
Emery was keen to praise his players, and was particularly pleased with three individuals who proved to be decisive on the night, with Buendia and McGinn continuing their important impact in recent games with a goal apiece, while Marco Bizot produced a superb performance after a late injury ruled Emiliano Martinez out of the contest.
“My expectation was more or less tough like the match was,” he said, as quoted by BBC Sport. “We were ready to compete. The test we had today was a fantastic test. They had chances in the first half, their goalkeeper was fantastic. Second half we changed a little bit and dominated more. We were getting confidence and it was a fantastic win. I am so proud of how the players responded on the field.”
On late goalkeeper change: “We had to be ready. We are trying to work tactically individually and try to focus everyone. The goalkeeper [Marco Bizot] was fantastic, he is a very good guy and goalkeeper and he is accepting his role.
“When we had six players out like we did today the other players responded fantastically. It was fantastic how the goalkeeper replaced Martinez.”
On Emi Buendia: “He knows how we are building the team and how we are building tactically. His position is clear. He has capacity to assist and score goals.”
On John McGinn: “His challenge as captain as well is something more than tactically and individually. He is playing with a lot of emotions. He respond in a difficult moment. He is a player very important in the dressing room and he is always happy and always smiling, when we need more than tactical and individual performances he is always trying to get positive energy.”
There’s still improvement to come from Villa as we were under significant pressure in the first half and weren’t good enough, but the second-half performance will surely have delighted Emery as it looked like we were regaining confidence and starting to show our identity and way of playing again.
Naturally, that process is going to be harder with six players missing as Tyrone Mings, Youri Tielemans, Amadou Onana, Ross Barkley, Andres Garcia and Jadon Sancho missed out due to injury and illness in the case of our loanee, and so it’s hoped that we’re able to get back to full strength sooner rather than later.
Time will tell if we’re able to recover any of the six named above in time to face Burnley this weekend ahead of the international break, but Villa will hopefully now go into that encounter in a much better place as we look to make it four wins on the bounce and really ensure that our season is firmly on track after a difficult slump to start the year.
Importantly, Emery is getting his tweaks and changes right too as we saw the Villa boss expose some of Fulham’s flaws on Sunday before our changes for the second half allowed us to take control and secure the win over Feyenoord, and hopefully that continues against Burnley this weekend to keep our upturn in form going.
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