Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was pleased with his side’s efforts as we prevailed 2-1 in our Carabao Cup clash with Wycombe Wanderers.
Second-half goals from Emiliano Buendia and Jhon Duran set us on our path into the next round, and although it wasn’t entirely convincing and we did concede late on, it was ultimately job done as we advance in the competition.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Wycombe: Decisive duo impress in Carabao Cup win
Emery opted to make a raft of changes as he rested key players and gave minutes to others with important roles to play this season, while it was a young and inexperienced bench, which in turn put pressure on the starting XI to deliver.
Fortunately, we managed to secure the win without too many scares along the way, and Emery was happy with the performance and win, particularly given the difficult of having to play away from home against lower-league opposition, as he appreciates just how tricky that can be.
“It’s always difficult to play against teams at home with their supporters, they have a big opportunity to try to show their capacity, to fight against teams in the Premier League,” he told Sky Sports in his post-match interview. “We were focused in the match, difficult, tried to dominate and impose our positioning with the ball, try to use our capacity and individual skill to beat them, and progressively we did it.
“But of course, sometimes we were struggling and in the second half they were pushing, but I think we played the match more or less trying to get confident, minutes, some players like Buendia he needs time to play, some young players as well, I am very happy because we finished with some young players, some needed minutes, and we won, the most important at the end is the result.
“They were playing motivated and played well, we were in the first half trying to control the game with our positioning. We didn’t have a lot of chances, but I was happy, then progressively when we were creating chances, we were clinical.
“He [Buendia] needs time. Of course, we will need him to get his good feet and playing like he played today, getting minutes, for him it’s very important.
“We are playing Carabao Cup, on Sunday in the Premier League and next week in the Champions League. We have to be focused in each competition with the idea that we have and this is the way.”
The Villa boss spoke prior to this game about having obvious priorities this season with the Premier League and Champions League taking on more importance, but ultimately he added that he respects and understands the desire to see us compete for silverware this year, even if it’s in the form of the Carabao Cup, and that was reflected in the team that he selected.
We’ll have tougher tests ahead if we can make a deep run, but Villa have safely booked their place in the next round, while being able to rotate and rest players as others gained valuable minutes to continue to push for more prominent roles themselves in the coming weeks.
It’s away at Ipswich Town next in the Premier League on Sunday before the Champions League comes back around with Bayern Munich visiting Villa Park on October 2, and so although it’s been a brilliant start to the campaign across all fronts, it will only get more difficult from this point onwards.
