Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was delighted with his side’s performance as we secured a 4-0 win over Everton at Villa Park on Sunday.
A reaction was undoubtedly needed after our heavy defeat at Newcastle Utd on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, and that is what the Villa boss got in an impressive performance.
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Goals from John McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Leon Bailey and Jhon Duran sealed the victory with Villa also keeping a vital clean sheet, and it was an ideal way to bounce back after that loss and the injuries suffered by Emiliano Buendia and Tyrone Mings.
Emery was pleased with the response from his players and once again praised the Villa supporters as we registered an eighth consecutive home Premier League win, with the Spanish tactician becoming the first Villa manager to achieve such a feat.
While we switch our attention to Hibernian away in the Europa Conference League play-off round in midweek, we’ll now look to get it right on the road away at Burnley next weekend in the league too.
“We needed this reaction today because after the match we played against Newcastle it was really embarrassing for us and everybody,” he told VillaTV. “It can happen but in the last 30 minutes we lost our competitive way like we were doing in pre-season and last year.
“It was a match today when I was excited in the beginning to see how we were reacting, and we were really brilliant.
“I am very happy with the atmosphere we created here. The supporters were with us, connecting with us, and we were trying to play with good control of the game and positions on the pitch.
“We were keeping ball possession for as long as possible and trying to be aggressive, trying to be demanding in the attacking third. We did it and we scored four goals.
“We had a clean sheet as well which was very important. This is the first step at home, the second step in the Premier League and we will stay balanced today like we did after last week.”
Emery went on to discuss the key difference between the two performances so far this season, as he insisted that the aim is always to impose our style on the game and control it in the way we want to.
While there were some positive periods against Newcastle, it wasn’t sustained enough, and although Everton did have opportunities, we certainly limited them well and caused them plenty of problems throughout by imposing ourselves and maintaining control through possession and positioning.
The challenge now will be to maintain the standard set on Sunday, and hopefully we’ll have a good week ahead as we look to build momentum and progress in Europe as well as up the Premier League table before the international break.
“Each match is different but always we want to impose our idea. We want to impose our style and threaten the opponent,” he added. “Last week we didn’t do that. We did in some moments, but they were better than us. Today, we did, and we were better than Everton.
“That is the Premier League, every match is difficult. We have to respect every opponent. Last week they played very well against Fulham and today we were trying to avoid their transition and moments when they can feel good on the pitch.
“We did it and then we imposed ourselves and won the match feeling good and being strong.”
