Aston Villa boss Unai Emery conceded that he was left a little frustrated as we were held to a 2-2 draw by Brighton on Monday night.
Goals from Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers either side of half-time had turned things around in our favour, but the visitors scored early and late to take a share of the spoils as our frustrating defensive deficiencies continue to be a problem.
READ MORE: Aston Villa player ratings vs Brighton: Decisive duo not enough in frustrating draw
While Villa were wasteful in this game too and should have killed it off before Brighton found their equaliser, we’ve now conceded 10 goals in our last five games across all competitions with no clean sheets, and so it’s relatively clear where one of our biggest issues lies.
Emery was right in that our performance was really good for the most part as we looked the stronger of the two teams either side of the interval, but there remain key problems that the Villa boss must fix, and he conceded that our inability to see out the game and secure all three points was frustrating.
“We played a very fantastic match more or less only the first 20 minutes we started lower than we were planning and we conceded one goal,” he is quoted as saying by BBC Sport. “We reacted and came back with 2-1. I have to accept it but I am a little bit frustrated with it. The table is very tight but we are in the race for the second part of the season.
“The result is at risk when you score one goal. We created some attacking third action and the corner we had with Ollie Watkins was maybe the key moment to win the match. We are ninth in the table and we have to try to start again against Leicester.
“We reacted very well. We played a fantastic match after the goal. I accept the result and we finish the first part of the season with 29 points, it’s not the best but not the worst. This league is very tight and we have to try to improve and correct why we are conceding a lot of goals. We started the second half perfectly when scoring goals and creating chances. We created enough chances to score and win the match.
“We have to be proud of the year. We have to try to accept it and be happy with the result we had in 2024. Happy New Year to everybody.”
Meanwhile, the Villa boss also provided updates on some of his players, as Pau Torres was forced off with an injury in the first half and it looked to be serious as the Spaniard was carried down the tunnel. Unfortunately, it sounds as though we’ll be without the centre-half for some time as he suffered a possible broken metatarsal, while the news was more positive on Mings, who was seemingly struggling with fatigue in the latter stages as he went down on a couple of occasions with a calf issue.
On Tyrone Mings: “He will be OK,” Emery added. “He was just tired. He has his process of getting minutes and getting confidence. hopefully, we will be OK for Saturday.”
On Pau Torres injury:Â “I think it’s not a big injury but I think he maybe broke his metatarsal, maybe. We have players to replace him but he is very important. Tomorrow will confirm the injury he has.”
The expectation is that Mings will now get an extended run in the side, and while we have Matty Cash returning from suspension this weekend, it could be that the Mings-Ezri Konsa partnership is restored in the heart of the Villa defence in the coming weeks.
Given our defensive woes so far this season, it’s hoped that proves to be fundamental in shoring things up at the back and making us harder to beat, but we’ll certainly need to step up our level and produce a dominant performance this weekend when we host Leicester City.
The backline will be desperate to keep a much-needed clean sheet, and that in turn will give us a solid foundation to go on and win the game and start 2025 on a positive note as we look to improve on what we’ve produced through the first half of the campaign.
