Aston Villa secured a 3-1 win over Fulham on Saturday, and Unai Emery praised his side for their comeback after falling behind early on.
Goals from Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and an own goal ensured we turned things around and sealed the three points, but it was a shaky start and Emiliano Martinez’s penalty save was crucial in the win.
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Emery singled out the Villa shot-stopper for praise after his decisive impact, while he hailed the maturity with which we kept our composure after conceding in the early stages before fighting back to secure another victory.
As the game went on, Villa continued to gain more control and find our rhythm and fluidity to cause Fulham problems, and so the recovery after starting poorly was undoubtedly a major positive.
It also gave the Villa boss an opportunity to rest key individuals ahead of our Champions League clash with Bologna on Tuesday, and with such a strong bench at his disposal, we look in good shape going into a critical run in our campaign.
“Very proud of our mentality here,” he said in his post-match interview, as per BirminghamLive. “The supporters travelled with us to be here because it is through this competition we can be in Europe again. We are trying to get it. Then, enjoying it as well and competing in the Champions League too. At the moment, we are getting good results. Today, we needed to play this match competing against Fulham who are in a very good moment.
“It is always difficult to win here. The first thing is to compete and avoid their style and idea, how they are playing. We wanted to stop them playing with the ball and stop them offensively because they are strong. We did a fantastic job.
“Even when they had a penalty and scored first, we focused together. The first half we finished drawing and playing like we wanted. The second half we managed to keep that. We respected them until the last minute because here they are feeling strong. I am proud of our work and now we can change our mind to Tuesday.
“Emiliano Martinez is the best goalkeeper in the world. Before the penalty, I was sat down on the bench dreaming he would save it… and he did.”
As always though, Emery continues to strive for improvement and progress, and naturally he was disappointed with the goal we conceded, as Pau Torres was outmuscled by Raul Jimenez before the Fulham striker converted his chance.
It’s an area of the Spaniard’s game that still requires development, and the Villa boss confirmed that they are working with him on improving in that department. Given the influence he’s had on almost every other player in the squad to improve them, there is a high level of confidence that Torres will rectify that particular issue too in the coming weeks and months to continue to be a fundamental figure for us.
“Pau Torres needs to be stronger in his duels with his opponent,” Emery added. “But he knows. We are working on it and he reacted fantastic after the goal.”