Aston Villa boss Unai Emery revealed he told the players he was happy with our 1-1 draw after a difficult game against Brentford on Saturday.
Going into the encounter at the Gtech Community Stadium, it was clear that it would be a tough assignment given Brentford’s home form and desire to reduce the gap to us in the Premier League standings.
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The home side enjoyed lengthy periods of pressure and threatened on several occasions to break the deadlock, but key defensive interventions kept us in the game while Villa did show a threat of our own at times too.
However, we lacked our usual rhythm and quality in the final third that we’ve shown in our brilliant recent run and a clinical edge to our play, and after Ivan Toney’s second-half goal, it looked like a difficult afternoon could end in a defeat.
Credit to the Villa players though, as they showed great character to keep probing in the latter stages, and coupled with Emery’s changes, we were able to find an equaliser through Douglas Luiz.
Emiliano Buendia showed great composure in the box to find his teammate, and it was a top finish from the Brazilian as Villa went on to push for a winner in the final minutes.
However, we were forced to settle for a share of the spoils, and given our performance and Brentford’s impressive display, it was a really good point on the road to keep our unbeaten run going, and hopefully we can build it on and get back to winning ways in midweek against Fulham.
What Emery said on Villa’s 1-1 draw with Brentford
“For 90 minutes we didn’t control the game,” he told BBC Sport. “It was a very difficult time. Only two teams have won here this season. Our game plan was to be strong in our mentality for 90 minutes.
“We didn’t create big chances but we were defending well. Our reaction in the last 15 minutes was very good. We have to try to recover on Tuesday.
“Brentford made it difficult. We are very demanding but we have to understand the matches being difficult. I told the players I’m so happy with this draw because it was difficult.
“We can play better and we have to demand to play better for the next matches. Today here we tried to keep our game plan strong.
“The second half we were losing the ball so quickly. We didn’t keep our position. We conceded a lot of crosses. Normally play like that in 30 minutes and they could score like they did.
“The most important thing was our reaction. Try to compete and be a candidate to play in Europe. We’re there. Now is the key moment, the difficult moment, to get to the next step.”
